Both major political parties are engaged in a huge electoral battle across the nation for control of Congress. Barely below the surface, however, internal tensions within the warring camps have rumbled.

For out-of-state Democrats this week, a big rift between the ideological left and center drove primary races — a follow-up to the 2025 victory of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdami, a democratic socialist.

Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, won the Democratic nod as the leftier contender for U.S. Senate against centrist Rep. Angie Craig. In Wisconsin, however, democratic socialist State Rep. Francesca Hong — who had been heavily favored to win the Democratic primary for governor — lost to moderate David Crowley, the Milwaukee County executive.

After brutal fights like this the question becomes whether voters who backed the losers in contested primaries will come out in November for the winners.

There are tensions among........

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