“A half dozen House Democrats in safe districts have lost their primaries so far this election cycle — and many more could soon follow suit,” Axios reports.

“Many of these losses are the result of growing restlessness among the Democratic grassroots that has increasingly morphed into anger towards the party establishment.”

Dan Pfeiffer: “The first step to winning is unifying the Democratic Party. This has been a bitter primary, and it’s pretty clear there is no love lost between the candidates. Party unity is a two-way street, and Stevens and her supporters have to be willing to reciprocate, but as the winner, El-Sayed needs to take the lead in trying to bridge the divide. This requires him to be a gracious winner, something he didn’t really demonstrate down the stretch when it was clear he was going to win, and he was still calling Stevens the ‘worst candidate imaginable.'”

“Second is building a real base of support with Black voters. According to one pre-election poll, El-Sayed was losing to Stevens among Black voters by 30 points. We don’t have precise numbers from last night, but Stevens did better in the precincts with large numbers of Black voters… To win Michigan, a Democrat typically needs to win about 90% of Black voters, with high turnout. I imagine El-Sayed will be calling Barack Obama before the day is out.”

“Democratic primary voters ousted Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) on Tuesday, nominating a democratic socialist for a deep-blue district in the latest sign of the party’s hunger for new blood,” the New York Times reports.

“Mr. Thanedar narrowly lost to Donavan McKinney (D), a state representative, in the 13th Congressional District, which includes parts of Detroit and its suburbs.”

Earlier on NOTUS: Democrats in Congress don’t like Shri Thanedar. He hopes voters disagree.

“Democrat William Lawrence, a co-founder of the progressive Sunrise Movement, has won his party’s primary in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District — a big victory for the insurgent left that also sets up a dramatic general election contrast with Republicans in a crucial battleground seat,” NBC News reports.

“After racking up a series of high-profile wins this summer, the left looks ascendant in blue America,” the New York Times reports.

“In open Democratic congressional primaries this year, candidates endorsed by progressive-left groups like Our Revolution, Justice Democrats and the Democratic Socialists of America have won nearly one-third of contests in places where Kamala Harris won at least two-thirds of the presidential vote in 2024.”

“For all of those impressive victories, there’s still one big asterisk on the activist left’s success this primary season: Its wins have been largely confined to the most highly educated and heavily Democratic parts of urban America, the places where Ms. Harris did the best.”

Politico: “Running for president once and running a major federal agency, as he did at the Department of Transportation, has expanded his network, deepened friendships and opened his eyes to how politics works at the highest levels.”

“That’s part of his challenge, however. Buttigieg is a bit like a doctor able to diagnose himself. The last six years, combined with his native grasp and long study of the political game, present his obstacles in stark relief.”

“One of those is whether his measured manner works in an era that rewards provocation. Buttigieg’s bet seems to be that his dedication to a suite of structural reforms will elevate his candidacy — and that his party and the country crave two sorts of change. There’s the substance he’s promoting — expanding the Supreme Court, for example — but implicit is the break from bombast to a calm, articulate and multilingual Midwestern striver by way of Harvard and a Rhodes.”

Dan Pfeiffer: “It’s been a long time since a statewide Democratic primary brought out so much intensity and where the stakes felt so high. There is, of course, the question of whether Michiganders will pick the best candidate, something people have been debating on social media for months, and both sides could not be more dug in. But the race feels bigger than that. It has become a proxy war for the future of the Democratic Party — the most important battle in the Democratic civil war that has been taking place since at least 2024.”

“The fact that the primary is taking place in Michigan, a major swing state and now one of the five early states that will help determine the Democratic nominee in 2028, only magnifies the stakes. This isn’t one of those congressional districts that Kamala Harris won by 50 points. It’s a major swing state, so what happens tonight and in November is going to have major influence on the 2028 primary.”

“The battle to become the country’s next progressive leader in the mold of Bernie Sanders is heating up ahead of Democrats’ direction-defining Michigan Senate primary,” Politico reports.

”Nowhere is the jockeying and strategy unfolding behind the scenes more pronounced than between Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Ro Khanna of California, who have taken disparate approaches to the midterms as they build out their political brands. Khanna’s go-everywhere mentality versus Ocasio-Cortez’s more selective involvement in key races this cycle will test their political acumen and relationships, potentially setting them up for a 2028 presidential race that could decide who will inherit the movement.”

Punchbowl News: “New Hampshire Democrats, furious at a DNC push to bump the state to third in the early nominating calendar, are pledging to hold their first-in-the-nation presidential primary anyway.”

”In conversations last week, Granite State Democrats running in 2026 struck a uniformly defiant tone. Each insisted the state must abide by New Hampshire law, which requires its presidential primary to fall at least seven days before any similar contest.”