It was always a bit unfair that US Democrats were put through the wringer over some of their more radical candidates for this year’s midterm elections, while Republicans escaped relatively unscathed.

By and large, Republicans were not asked what it meant for their party that pillow mogul and famed election result denier Mike Lindell was seeking the Republican nomination to become governor of Minnesota – with President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

In part, that’s because election denial, conspiracy theories and the far-right are by now so entwined with the GOP that it has become a moot point. There is no question about a Trumpist takeover of the Republican Party – it has already happened.

But that did get a reality check on Tuesday night when Lindell, despite the president’s backing, lost the primary to Lisa Demuth, the speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

It was a good night for moderates in both parties – and a wake-up call, potentially, for their more extreme factions.

In Wisconsin, state politician and declared democratic socialist Francesca Hong lost her bid to become the Democrats’ nominee for governor of Wisconsin, losing to establishment-backed candidate David Crowley in a tight contest that the polls got wrong.

Hong, 37, came to national attention – and not in a good way – for some of her past statements, including a 2020 tweet arguing that Thanksgiving should be permanently cancelled because it celebrated colonialism.

Asked on CNN whether she stood by that view, she told an anecdote about being a chef, in a widely circulated clip that some analysts believe may have cost her the win.

Hong tried and failed to win endorsements from progressive kingmakers Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said they weren’t getting involved in gubernatorial races.

But AOC was also critical of Hong’s excesses. “Woke 1 was crazy,” she said, laughing, on America’s ABC News on Sunday, attributing the phrase to one of her local councillors.

She basically went on to say – in nicer language – that most people had moved on from some of the opinions they articulated during the COVID-19vpandemic, which more or less aligned with a time people now describe as “peak woke”.

“Especially during COVID, there was a huge opening of the Overton Window,” AOC said. “The doors were really opened in trying to entertain every and any policy that was going to get us to a better place.” She maintained that “the discussions that were had in that time were quite fruitful”.

Abdul El-Sayed, the populist progressive Democrat who won a US Senate primary in Michigan last week – beating an establishment candidate backed by the party elite and $US60 million ($85 million) in outside funding – was a much different proposition to Hong.

Articulate and seasoned, he had already recanted some of his earlier positions such as defunding the police – though he maintained a tough line on ending US military aid to Israel.

In the end, voters were savvy enough to reward the reasonable candidate, and take a pass on the outlandish one who wasn’t sure about Thanksgiving and didn’t seem quite ready for prime time.

And in Minnesota, voters were smart enough to give Lindell a wide berth – not that he’ll admit it.

The My Pillow founder refused to concede defeat on Tuesday night, insisting his team had found “anomalies” with the vote.

“I’m not going to sit by until these numbers are explained,” he said, to applause. “We will get a full report on this … I’ve been on the phone with a lot of people. As you know, I’m very good at looking at elections.”

It was true to form. Lindell was one of the most vocal proponents of the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump. He pushed false conspiracy theories about voting machines by the company then known as Dominion.

In June, Dominion and Lindell reached an undisclosed settlement in a $US1.3 billion defamation lawsuit brought by the company.

Meanwhile, the result served as a lesson in the limits of Trump’s power. Despite his good track record with endorsements, his backing was not enough to get Lindell over the line – even among Republicans.

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