[M]“You’d need a Boeing 747 to fit all of the baggage Randy Bryce is carrying into November,” said Chris Martin[/M], National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman.
Democrats rode a wave of firsts on Tuesday, becoming in Vermont the first major party to nominate an openly transgender person for governor, while potentially picking the first African-American Democrat to serve in the House from Connecticut.
They were among the big highlights from a round of primaries across Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut and Vermont that also featured state Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim woman who emerged as the Democratic nominee for a House seat currently held by another Muslim, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.).
{mosads}Meanwhile, establishment candidates prevailed in Senate races in Wisconsin, where state Sen. Leah Vukmir, who won the endorsement of the state GOP earlier this year, emerged victorious over Marine Corps veteran Kevin Nicholson, a former Democrat who cast himself as a political outsider.
Likewise, in Minnesota, Sen. Tina Smith (D) overcame a challenge from Richard Painter, a former ethics lawyer for President George W. Bush, in one of the state’s Democratic Senate primaries.
Here are the five takeaways from Tuesday’s primaries:
The establishment flexes its muscle
It was a good night for the establishment, especially in Wisconsin’s GOP primary for Senate.
Vukmir, who won the Wisconsin Republican Party’s endorsement in May, edged out first-time candidate Nicholson in the state’s GOP Senate primary, setting her up to challenge incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) in November.
Vukmir won the support of prominent Republicans and conservatives groups, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), former White House chief of staff and Wisconsin GOP Chairman Reince Priebus, and the National Rifle Association.
Nicholson sought to cast Vukmir, a longtime player in Wisconsin Republican politics and an ally of Gov. Scott Walker (R), as a political insider. But that line of attack failed to work with Wisconsin’s GOP primary voters.