Democrats this week achieved their biggest gains to date in the second Trump era, winning a fiercely contested State Supreme Court race in Wisconsinpganonovo, while also landing relatively strong showings despite losing two Florida special elections.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s a start.

The results on Tuesday do not erase the long list of harsh realities for Democrats, who remain locked out of power in President Trump’s Washington and severely limited in their efforts to constrain him.

Their party’s popularity is at a generational low, activists are furious with their leaders, and, as Democrats have learned the hard way, victories in obscure and off-year races do not always translate into national success.

But winning is better than losing, and Democrats have indeed been doing some significant winning.

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At minimum, the Wisconsin results are a stinging rebuke to Elon Musk, the billionaire and top Trump adviser who spent millions in Wisconsin in support of the conservative candidate. The outcomes made clear that a once-demoralized Democratic base is animated again,66cassino on the same night that Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey delighted the party by completing the longest Senate speech on record, a 25-hour tirade and cri de coeur against the president and his administration.

And a substantial victory for the liberal candidate in Wisconsin — a state Mr. Trump won in November, where races are often nail-biters — instantly reverberated nationally.

ImageIn Wisconsin, the race effectively became a referendum on Elon Musk, who spent heavily and campaigned for Judge Brad Schimel, the conservative judicial candidate.Credit...Jim Vondruska for The New York Times

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Donald J. Trump did not mention Mr. Robinson once at a campaign event in Wilmington, N.C., on Saturday, and several Trump fans who attended said they understood why it was necessary to distance Mr. Trump from Mr. Robinson. The former president endorsed Mr. Robinson in March and held a fund-raiser for him at his home in Palm Beach, Fla., last year.

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