The Latest: Progressives challenge establishment in Democratic primaries in Wisconsin and Minnesota

The Latest: Progressives challenge establishment in Democratic primaries in Wisconsin and Minnesota

Advertisement

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com

- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper

- Access News Break, our award-winning app

- Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com

- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper

- Access News Break, our award-winning app

- Play interactive puzzles

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

President Donald Trump is scheduled to swear in Todd Blanche, his old personal lawyer, as attorney general Monday after the Senate voted to confirm him early Saturday. Blanche’s path toward confirmation exposed deep concerns — from some Republicans as well as Democrats — over installing Trump’s close ally atop a Justice Department that historically prided itself on its independence from the White House.

Progressive candidates for governor in Wisconsin and U.S. Senate in Minnesota are making their final pushes ahead of Tuesday’s election, increasing the pressure on the Democratic establishment. In Wisconsin, democratic socialist Francesca Hong seeks to win a four-way Democratic primary for governor. Minnesota voters will choose between moderate U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in a Democratic U.S. Senate primary in the aftermath of Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement surge.

Iran says it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States lifts its blockade on the strait, pays compensation for months of war damage, lifts economic sanctions and releases Iran’s frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has become the war’s most lasting consequence.

Here’s the latest:

Iran presses demands on US as shipping standoff grinds on

An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Iran will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the United States meets its conditions.

“It is up to the U.S. side to stop and make amends for its illegal and destructive actions,” Esmail Baghaei said Monday, noting the American blockade of Iranian ports.

Iran wants the U.S. to lift its blockade on the Strait, pay compensation for months of war damage, lift economic sanctions and release Iran’s frozen assets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that normally carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies — has become the war’s most lasting consequence. The impasse has kept energy prices as a major focus of U.S. politics ahead of November’s midterm elections.

Iran is holding separate talks with Oman over transit through the strait, including potentially a temporary shipping corridor, but has said any actual reopening is contingent on talks with the U.S.

Wisconsin’s chaotic primary pits progressive against governor’s pick

Democratic socialist Francesca Hong is trying to win a four-way Democratic primary for governor in Wisconsin, where her top opponent has been endorsed by popular Gov. Tony Evers, who isn’t seeking a third term.

Evers got behind Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley on July 18, the same day Crowley reentered the race after dropping out 10 days earlier. Crowley rejoined after the candidate he backed, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, ended her candidacy amid a campaign finance scandal.

Evers and more establishment Democrats were hoping to finally coalesce around Crowley in the final days of the chaotic primary that saw two other candidates drop out, most notably former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes on July 29.

Republicans are spending to support a Hong victory, betting she’s the better matchup for Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany in November. The Republican Governors Association has spent nearly $3.6 million through its Right Direction Wisconsin PAC on ads contrasting Hong with Trump and playing up her liberal proposals.

Trump’s immigration crackdown looms over Minnesota’s bruising Senate primary

Efforts to resist Trump found their footing in the streets surrounding a drab federal office complex next to the Minneapolis airport. As U.S. immigration agents staged at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal Building for a monthslong deportation campaign, protesters with whistles and cellphone cameras assembled to oppose them. Two were shot and killed in the city’s streets before Trump pulled back under pressure.

Months later, those confrontations remain the backdrop to Minnesota’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, which features establishment-backed U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and the more progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan. The immigration debate is an added schism in a race that otherwise echoes many of the other left versus center divides that have played out across the United States this year.