The number of Democrats aiming to unseat Republican incumbents in the midterm elections is rewriting the record books. According to the Campaign Finance Institute, by last fall the Democrats were fielding about twice the number of challengers as Republicans managed in 2009, the height of the Tea Party insurgency.
More candidates, more activism, more enthusiasm: What’s not to like?
Well, there is reason for concern. In a recent study for the Brookings Institution, we took a close look at the post-Trump mobilization and found it to be a potentially transformative step toward the amateurization of American politics — a trend that should trouble people who worry about political polarization and government dysfunction. CONT.
Jonathan Rauch (Brookings) & Raymond J. La Raja (UMass Amherst), New York Times