Key Points• In an increasingly polarized nation, one party often dominates in a state while the other is seemingly consigned to permanent irrelevance. In such states, primary voters for the dominant party are able to flex their muscles to nominate a comparatively extreme candidate, who is all but assured a […] Read more »
Why California Wants to Recall Its Most Progressive Prosecutors
San Francisco and Los Angeles are two of America’s most liberal large counties. Democrats dominate their elected offices up and down the ballot. Yet in both places, serious efforts are under way to recall left-leaning district attorneys who have not even completed their first term. San Francisco’s Chesa Boudin and […] Read more »
It’s not just Latinos and younger voters. Democrats are slipping among Black voters too.
Black voters form the core of the Democratic Party base. They cast ballots for Democrats in greater proportions than pretty much any other demographic group. Without the massive backing of Black voters, the last three Democratic nominees (Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama) would not have made it to […] Read more »
Instead of boosting democracy, primary elections are undermining it
… Understanding why the GOP is catering to extreme voters, even in places where trying to appeal to moderates seems more politically expedient, requires scrutiny of U.S. political history. The Founding Fathers feared political parties and demagogues, and designed institutions that would thwart them. But changes to the constitutional system, […] Read more »
The Democratic message from Utah — of all places
… At the hotly contested convention, Utah Democrats opted by a 782-to-594 vote not to endorse their own candidate for the Senate seat held by embattled right-winger Mike Lee. Instead, Utah Democrats endorsed the independent candidacy of Evan McMullin, a former CIA agent who ran as a never-Trump Republican protest […] Read more »
How to Make School Board Culture Wars Even Worse
… The overwhelming majority of school board races around the country are nonpartisan. This was the case in Tennessee until Republican lawmakers, during an emergency session called to deal with Covid-related issues, rammed through legislation permitting county parties to hold primary elections to select school board nominees, who can then […] Read more »