Minnesota primary is latest Democratic proxy fight for Senate and a test for Trump-backed hopefuls

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The factional fight gripping the Democratic Party moved to Minnesota on Tuesday as voters were settling another moderate-versus-progressive U.S. Senate primary.

The race between centrist U.S. Rep. Angie Craig and progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan was playing out in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration surge, which led to the shooting death of two protesters by federal officers in Minneapolis and galvanized the president’s liberal opposition.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. CDT in a race that was taking the temperature of Democratic primary voters a week after progressive Abdul El-Sayed won a bitter and divisive primary in Michigan that fired up the left and fueled anxiety among party leaders that Democrats will alienate moderate swing voters.

Whoever wins the primary for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, as it’s known in Minnesota, will be the front-runner in November. Minne...