Story highlights The polls were tight going in to Tuesday's Virginia primary, but Northam pulled away

The results will be studied by Democrats plotting their way back to power

(CNN) When former congressman Tom Perriello made his surprise entrance into the Virginia Democratic gubernatorial primary in January, the stage looked set for an intra-party proxy war -- the establishment, in the form of incumbent Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, put to the test by Perriello and the party's growing progressive insurgency.

But while the campaign saw its share of sharp elbows, the dividing lines between the candidates were fuzzier than expected. The Clinton-Sanders redux race many expected -- and some hoped for -- never materialized. Instead, the animating questions were both broader, with President Donald Trump's long shadow looming, and narrower, as the candidates jostled over issues unique to the Commonwealth.

Northam came out on top, picking up about 55% of the vote to Perriello's 45%, with 81% of the state reporting.

In the end, his initial focus on the White House might have tripped up Perriello, whose profile is less of a state politician than megaphone for the Trump-era angst of the national party. And that could be the ultimate implication of this race for Democrats, who will continue to ask whether making Trump the focus of every contest is a more direct path back to power than zeroing in on local issues.

If Northam's victory is any indication -- and that too will be up for debate -- then Democrats might be wise not to bank on "the resistance" for too much, at least when they're vying for the support of their own party's rank-and-file.

Read More