Yesterday, four states held their primaries leading up to November’s general election. Despite what the media would have us believe, there were few surprises. The media might focus on the hold President Trump has on the Republican Party but the real questions coming out of yesterday’s primaries surround the Democratic Party, but more on that later.

As the media is quick to point out, history was made last night. Christine Hallquist won Vermont’s Democratic primary for governor.  Her primary win makes her the first transgender to win a major party’s nomination for a governorship. Hallquist, a former utility executive, faced little serious opposition in what the New York Times called a “fairly sleepy affair” and will face the Republican incumbent, Phil Scott, in November. Scott is running for his second term as governor. If yesterday’s vote tallies are any indication, Scott’s re-election is far from guaranteed.

Bernie Sanders easily won the Democratic primary for senator. This shouldn’t come as any surprise. However, it does raise questions for the DNC, questions it has refused to address in the past and, it seems, will continue to do so. Sanders is NOT a Democrat by his own admission. Yet, like all good socialists, he has no qualms running on the Democratic ticket during the primary, preventing any other potential candidate from taking the nomination. If, as is assumed, he once again turns down the nomination to run as an “Independent”, he will again leave Vermont without a Democratic candidate in November.  How long will the DNC sit still and let this continue? Perhaps the more appropriate question should be how long before the DNC finally admits it is not long the “Democratic” Party but is, in fact, the “Socialist” Party?

In Minnesota, the race to watch was that for the governorship. Democrat Mark Dayton was not seeking a third term, leaving both parties scrambling to find a strong candidate to replace him. Tim Walz won the Democratic primary and Jeff Johnson the Republican primary.  As with the Vermont races, many more Democrats made their way to the polls in Minnesota. That isn’t too surprising. However, it is a talking point the media is making much of and it presents a challenge to the Republicans. How do they motivate their voters come November to get out and vote? Conservatives cannot sit back and assume there will be a repeat of November 2016. We have to get out and vote in even greater numbers if we want to keep control of both the Senate and the House. We have to do so in order to win the local and state elections as well.

Minnesota Democrats also turned out to select lhan Omar as their candidate for District 5 of the U. S. House of Representatives. You might remember Omar. She’s the candidate backed by CAIR and Linda Sarsour. She’s also got some rather dodgy history when it comes to her divorce. She is also not a fan of one of our country’s most important allies, Israel. Omar won the nomination with little trouble and will face off against Republican Jennifer Zielinski in November.

As if that wasn’t enough, Minnesota voters of the Democratic persuasion also gave Keith Ellison the primary win for state attorney general. This despite allegations of abuse. Funny, if he happened to be a Republican, you know the Dems would be shouting to the skies how unfit he was for office. Yet, that good ole double-standard once again reared its ugly head where Ellison is concerned.

Connecticut’s Republican primary for governor was a very tight race. Bob Stefanowski currently leads in a field of five with 29% of the vote. Democrat Ned Lamont easily won the Democratic nomination. In another “first”, Jahana Hayes, a former National Teacher of the Year, is hoping to become the state’s first black Democrat to serve in Congress. She won the Democratic nomination by approximately 9,000 votes.

In Wisconsin, Republican incumbent, Governor Scott Walker, took almost 92% of the vote cast in his primary race. His opponent, Democrat Tom Evers won 41.7% of the ballots cast in his race. Walker received more than 400,000 votes compared to Evers’ 224,544. Despite being dubbed “one of the most vulnerable” Republicans during this midterm election cycle, only time will tell if Evers can convert the votes cast for his opponent in the primary to votes cast for him in the general election.

Republicans also chose State Senator Leah Vukmir to go up against Senator Tammy Baldwin. Baldwin is a first term Democrat and Vukmir did not bend to pressure from the media and others to denounce President Trump. Guess which one is getting more positive press this morning? I know, it’s an easy question to answer, especially when the linked article notes that she “was careful to heap praise on Mr. Trump while harnessing the support of state party leaders.” See what the Times did there? It very carefully implied that praising the President is somehow not something the state party leaders would be onboard with. That sort of stirring of the post is exactly what we have to be prepared for as the general election nears.

Rounding out the election news yesterday, Jeff Colyer conceded, giving up his hopes to return for another term as Kansas’ governor.  The discovery of new, uncounted ballots turned a close win for Colyer into a razor-thin one for Secretary of State Kris W. Kobach. Kobach won a late endorsement from President Trump and that might have helped sway the election in his direction. Colyer will not seek a recount, saying, “Kansas is too important, the people of Kansas are too important, our children are too important.”

So, what’s the takeaway from yesterday’s primaries? If you believe the media, yesterday presented more proof that this is the year of the woman, the marginalized, the “name your cause” in politics. The media, at least much of it, still believes there will be a Blue Wave and is banking on the “wave” overriding any concerns Democrats might have over the ideology of their candidates. (Yes, they are looking at Vermont and even Nebraska.) Some incumbents lost. NBC seems to think this is a big deal but, guess what, it happens in every election. And oh how NBC loves the fact that Democratic Socialists won outside of Vermont. In fact, you’d almost think NBC was jumping up and down in glee as it noted not only Eastman’s win in Nebraska but the fact that two won nominations for state representative in Pennsylvania.

Despite all that, there isn’t a Blue Wave, at least not yet. The media is acting as if the general election has already happened. It ignores indicators that Conservatives haven’t lost the advantages gained in the last general election. Indicators like the fact Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has more union support in the Philadelphia suburbs than his opponent.  But the media is right about one thing. In many of the primaries we’ve been tracking, more Dems got out to vote than Republicans. As Conservatives, we can’t sit back and assume everyone else who believes as we do will vote. We need to get up and get to the polls. But we have to do more than that. We have to make sure we are educated on the issues and that we not let the opposition get away with misconstruing what those issues are.

So, whether your state has held its primaries yet or not, get up, get out and get involved. That is the only way we can stop the socialist slide this country has been on for so very long. We took a stand in 2016. Let’s not backslide now.