This week marks the end of the 2018 primary season. Well, it almost does. Louisiana, being different from the rest of the nation, holds its primary on the day the other states hold their general elections. Even so, this week sees three primaries on three separate days. Will we see the beginning of the “blue wave” liberals have proclaimed is coming since Clinton’s defeat or will we see the further crumbling of the once proud Democratic Party into the Democratic-Socialist Party? Only time will tell.

New Hampshire started this last primary push on 9/11. With more than 70% of the vote counted, Molly Kelly has been called as the winner of the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Kelly, a former state senator, is also the 15th woman to win “governor’s nominations in this primary season, a record.” Kelly’s been cast as being backed by the “local political establishment”. Her opponent, former Portsmouth mayor, Steve Marchand, ran as the more liberal candidate. something that failed to move voters who gave Kelly an almost 2:1 win over him.

Bernie Sanders’ son, Levi, was one of 11 candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for U.S. House District 1.  With 69% of the vote tallied, the Sanders name is well down the list of candidates. Currently leading with 44% of the vote is Chris Pappas. Sanders, unable to cash in on his father’s name–or perhaps because of his father’s name–currently sits in 7th place with a grand total of 753 votes or 2% of all votes cast in the race.

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is the latest Democratic establishment incumbent fending off a political threat from the party’s progressive wing https://t.co/b7GBVL5uVc

— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) September 11, 2018

Today marks the Rhode Island primary. Gov. Gina Raimondo (D) faces off against former secretary of state Matt Brown. The latest polls show Raimondo’s victory is far from assured. Brown, capitalizing on Raimondo’s poor approval ratings, has hammered the governor for her centrist views. He has, in turn, embraced a liberal playbook that seems to be so predominant throughout Democratic primaries this year.  This is the must-watch race of the Rhode Island primary.

New York closes the primary season tomorrow. That is where we’ll see fireworks, figurative if not literal. One race to keep a close eye on is that between State Senator Jeffrey D. Klein and Alessandra Biaggi. Klein led the now-defunct Independent Democratic Conference. That brought him into direct conflict with many of his fellow Democrats for the IDC;s attempts to actually work with the other side of the aisle. His detractors saw the IDCs actions as an attempt to grab up power and prime political appointments and were often swing votes in close races.

Biaggi, a lawyer who worked on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign before joining the office of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s council, has been backed by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Among others endorsing Biaggi is the current darling of the Democrat’s move toward socialism, Alexnadria Ocasio-Cortez.Will Biaggi be one of the few of those candidates backed by Ocasio-Cortez to win her primary? We’ll find out soon enough.

Rain? What rain?!☔️@Ocasio2018 and I are out here knocking doors in the #Bronx and wanted to know—did you make your voting plan yet?

Polls open 6am-9pm on Thursday, #September13—let’s do this New York! #vote4biaggi #biaggi4ny pic.twitter.com/9MJK0ua5Ar

— Alessandra Biaggi (@Biaggi4NY) September 11, 2018

The Democratic races for governor and lieutenant governor closely resemble the 2016 Democratic primary for president. You have incumbents backed by Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton facing off against opponents backed by Bernie Sanders’s Our Revolution organization. This reinforces what many political observers have noted, something the DNC has yet to address. There is a schism happening within the party, one that will have a major impact on our nation if conservatives and libertarians fail to get out and vote come November.

Probably the most watched primary this week is the race between Governor Andrew Cuomo and former Sex in the City actress Cynthia Nixon. This is the epitome of establishment backed incumbent versus the upstart, ultra-liberal newcomer. “Nixon has identified herself as a democratic socialist and called for single-payer health care, universal rent control, ending cash bail, legalizing marijuana, abolishing ICE, and battling economic inequality.”

As for Cuomo, he is running on his record of “proven leadership” and has, in the process, managed to grab an endorsement from the New York Times. He received the endorsement despite the Times calling him, “at times bullying in his use of power, driven and maddeningly evasive.” In this day and age, that says a lot about his opponent and her lack of qualifications for the office.

As noted last week, the DNC  brought much of their problems this election cycle on themselves in 2016 by allowing Bernie Sanders to run on the Democratic ticket. That lent legitimacy to his campaign and has given us such candidates this year as Ocasio-Castor and Nixon. This week will show just how far the Democratic-Socialists have managed to ingratiate themselves into the party. We will also have a better idea about whether or not there will be the so-called Blue Wave liberals have been promising since Clinton’s loss.

If this were the old Batman TV show, I’d tell you to stay tuned until November, “same bat time, same bat channel”. Instead, I’ll remind you that this is not the time for complacency. Conservatives made the first step to undoing the harm suffered as a result of eight years of an Obama Administration. The only way to insure that recover continues is to get out and vote this week, if you live in one of the states having primaries, and then in November in the general election.

Featured Image: Vote by hannahlouise123 via Pixabay (CCO Creative Commons)