The election is over. Trump’s comeback dominates headlines. But under the surface, our movement to transfer political power from party insiders to ordinary people made significant strides. Millions of people voted “yes” on open primaries ballot referendums across 8 states. Tens of millions more scratched their heads when the Democratic Party canceled their presidential primaries or when they voted down ballot on November 5th and saw many candidates running unopposed. Editorial boards and influencers from Portland, Maine to Hilo, Hawaii said “why do we do primaries like this?” Real, tangible growth and progress for our movement.  

The Democratic Party is reeling. To their credit, they seem (maybe) to be open to an honest examination of their failures. Much of this early examination is focused on the limitations of identity politics, which is positive. But it should also include their lack of commitment to democratic participation.  

In a new editorial for the Hill, John Opdycke and Jeremy Gruber challenge the Democratic Party to stop lecturing Americans about democracy while they themselves are so undemocratic: 

This is a crucial conversation and we’ve been having it all year.  In January, Congressman & Presidential candidate Dean Philllips appeared on the Primary Buzz to outline his hostile treatment by the DNC.  John Opdycke wrote several pieces for the Fulcrum’s Brash Tacks series about Biden’s failure to create an open process.  

The Democrats were wrong. Democracy was not on the ballot. But the lack of it was on full display. And the open primaries movement is committed to making sure that the American people - including the 51% of us who are independents - have much more of a say in 2028 than we did in 2024. Count on it. 

6% of downballot races were competitive. And it’s not just New York.  All across the country, approximately 85% of legislative, congressional and county offices were decided once the primary was over.  In Oklahoma for example, 71 of 77 races for county sheriff, a very influential and important local office, featured one candidate on the ballot.  

Most Americans have no idea just how uncompetitive our politics have become aside from a few high profile national and statewide races in a handful of states. One of our top priorities in 2025 is working with our friends, partners, and colleagues across a wide range of organizations and institutions to drive research, scholarship, public education and editorializing to highlight this growing problem. Democracy requires competition as South Dakota open primaries advocate Joe Kirby has been saying for years. And when tens of thousands of politicians run unopposed and tens of thousands more face only token opposition, we’ve got a problem on our hands.

On Tuesday, November 19 at 10:00 AM, Oklahoma United is holding a rally at the Oklahoma History Center in OKC. They will be making a MAJOR announcement about their effort to reform Oklahoma’s election system by replacing its exclusionary closed primary system with a unified ballot. 

Tell everyone you know in the Sooner state to join the rally and be the FIRST Oklahomans to hear about this major effort. RSVP Here if you can make it!

And if you can’t make the rally, check out OP SVP Jeremy Gruber and former Oklahoma State Senator AJ Griffen on the Frontier podcast as they break down the effort.

Primary Buzz 2024 Election Analysis and Conversation Coming Soon

Details are still being ironed out but we wanted to make sure you keep an eye out for our upcoming post election zoom to discuss ALL the results of this year’s open primary ballot measures. 

This promises to be a dynamic and exciting discussion featuring a diverse panel of movement leaders about what really happened in 2024, what worked, what didn’t and where we go next.

Have a great weekend,

The Open Primaries Team