Primary elections were held across several US states this week. In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan won the Democratic nomination for a Senate seat. In Wisconsin, David Crowley defeated Francesca Hong for the party’s gubernatorial nomination. In South Carolina, Darline Graham Nordone advanced to a runoff in the Senate race.

What a primary actually decides

A primary does not elect anyone to office. It selects which candidate will carry a party’s name into the general election in November.

This is unusual internationally. In most democracies, parties choose their candidates internally — through members, committees or the leadership. The United States hands that decision to voters in a publicly administered election, which is why American parties are harder to control from the top than their equivalents elsewhere.

Turnout in primaries is typically far lower than in general elections, which means the people who show up have disproportionate influence over who ends up on the ballot.

Why a runoff happens

Some states require the winner to take an outright majority rather than simply more votes than anyone else. Where no candidate clears 50% — common when several are running — the top two go to a second round, held some weeks later.

Runoffs tend to have even lower turnout than the first round, and results can shift substantially between the two as supporters of eliminated candidates decide whether to return.

Reading these results carefully

Primary results are heavily used as evidence for arguments about where a party is heading — whether its voters are moving left or right, whether an establishment or insurgent wing is ascendant.

That reading deserves caution. A single nomination contest turns on local factors: name recognition, money, endorsements, whether a seat is open, and how many candidates split which vote. Drawing a national conclusion from one state’s result is the most common error in primary coverage.

What primaries do reliably indicate is who will be on the ballot in November — and in seats where one party is dominant, that effectively settles the outcome months early.

Source: Democracy Now! headlines, 12 August 2026.