IT WAS Wisconsin that did it. Hillary Clinton, confident that she would win the reliably Democratic Midwestern state in the 2016 presidential election, neglected to campaign there. Donald Trump carried the state, the first time a Republican managed to do so since 1984. Ever since, Midwestern elections have been closely watched. Two of them—Wisconsin and Minnesota—voted on August 14th in primary elections that will determine the candidates for mid-term elections in November. Both showed that Mr Trump has lost little of his popularity: Republican candidates who praised the president were rewarded by voters; those who repudiated him were punished.

Take Minnesota. Tim Pawlenty, a former two-term governor of the state, has in the past called Mr Trump “unsound, uninformed, unhinged and unfit to be president”. His opponent in the Republican primary to become the party’s candidate for governor, Jeff Johnson, a former state lawmaker, had also been critical of Mr Trump. But Mr Johnson argued more convincingly to voters that he had thrown his support behind the president after the 2016 elections. Despite Mr Pawlenty’s establishment support and bigger campaign chest, voters granted Mr Johnson the candidacy. “The Republican Party has shifted,” Mr Pawlenty reportedly said at his election-night gathering. “It is the era of Trump, and I am just not a Trump-like politician.”

Just to the east, in Wisconsin, fundersspent some $12m in totalon the year’s most expensive Senate primary battle, as two Republican candidates fought to take on Tammy Baldwin, a first-term Democratic senator. Kevin Nicholson, a businessman, was backed by Richard Uihlein, a Republican mega-donor who financed several groups that spent millions on ads boosting him. His opponent, Leah Vukmir, a state senator, was backed by the state Republican Party, the outgoing speaker Paul Ryan, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s inner circle. Ms Vukmir had made sure to say lots of nice things about Mr Trump. She prevailed and was promptly endorsed by the president. (His endorsement would have been more helpful in the run-up to the election, but Ms Vukmir is also backed by the billionaire Koch brothers with whom Mr Trump is feuding.)

Yet cleaving to the president in Republican primaries may not amount to much in the general elections. Mr Walker (pictured), himself a former contender for the presidency, has warned about the build-up of a “blue wave” ever since the start of the year, when a state house seat flipped unexpectedly. Democrats in his state yesterday chose Tony Evers, the Wisconsin schools superintendent, as their candidate to face Mr Walker in November’s race for governor. He had made Mr Walker’s slashing of school funding the centerpiece of his campaign. Though the scholarly, bespectacled 66-year-old Mr Evers is not well known, NBC/Marist released a poll in July showing him ahead of Mr Walker by 13 points. Another poll, by Emerson College, had him ahead by seven. This set alarm bells ringing. On the evening of August 14th the Wisconsin Republican Party announced a $500,000 attack ad against the school superintendent. The governor embarked on a statewide tour on August 15th.

Democratic energy—and its rejection of Mr Trump’s values—was palpable in its choice of candidates in a number of primaries outside the Midwest too. Christine Hallquist, the former boss of a public utility who ran on a progressive message of universal health care and higher minimum wages, won the Democratic nomination for Vermont’s governorship. If she wins she could become the country’s first transgender governor. But she will face a tough battle against Governor Phil Scott, the Republican incumbent. In Connecticut, Jahana Hayes won the Democratic primary for a seat in Congress and is likely to become the first black woman to represent her state in the House. And in Minnesota, Ilhan Omar, a Somali immigrant, also won a Democratic primary for a seat in Congress, which could make her the first Muslim woman elected to Congress.

Back in Wisconsin, Randy Bryce (nicknamed “Iron stache”), an iron worker with a history of arrests, easily beat out Cathy Myers, a member of the local school board, in the Democratic primary for Paul Ryan’s seat in Congress. After launching his campaign with an appealing video clip in June 2017, Mr Bryce became a favourite of progressives, and was profiled in the New Yorker. He champions organised labour, a minimum wage of $15 per hour, universal health care and the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. His opposite number in what is likely to be a nasty battle will be Bryan Steil, a lawyer, who prevailed in the Republican primary over Paul Nehlen, who is best described as a white nationalist. Republican voters in the Midwest may like the president, but they retain their famous common sense.