How is this, in any way, “bad news”?
This^^
A harshly competitive Dem primary is great news for Republicans. One thing that happened in the last two Pres primaries, was Liberals jumping into the Republican primaries in "open primary" states, to vote for the weakest, most liberal candidate on the (R) side. They could do this because the Dem candidate was assured.
In a competitive Dem race, this will work in our favor and against the Dems, as they will tend to vote in the Dem primary, and leave the Repub primary to conservatives.