it's not what you think
  <[link removed]>  
Friend,

 

The 116th Congress had an approval rating that averaged about 20%. Yet in
2020, when these leaders were up for reelection, 95% of them got reelected.

 

How is that possible? If Americans don’t approve of the job that their elected
officials are doing, why do they reelect them? 

 

Turns out, most of us don’t actually elect them. 

 

This week, Unite America released a new report: The Primary Problem: How
partisan primaries disenfranchise voters, distort representation, and fuel
political division <[link removed]>.
The paper provides a new urgency for the reform movement, and we’ve got a lot
to say about it. 

 

Despite record turnout in the general election this year, the majority of
Congressional races had already been decided in the primary election months
earlier. Because the majority of Congress serves a district that’s considered
“safe” for one party or the other — due both to partisan gerrymandering and
geographic self-sorting — the majority of general elections aren’t competitive.
Which means the primary election is the only election that matters. 

 

But primary elections are low-participation elections. Not every voter is
allowed to participate, and the majority of voters don’t. 

 

In fact, in 2020, we found that only 10% of all eligible voters cast ballots
in primaries that effectively elected 83% of Congress. 

 

This is how Congress has hit record lows for approval and why our politics is
so divided. Primary elections create a system in which a small,
unrepresentative sliver of the population has an outsized influence on our
political system. 

 

This is the Primary Problem, and it’s the primary problem with our politics
today. 

 

So let’s dive in.

We have a video! <[link removed]>
<[link removed]>

We love an animated explainer video here at Unite America, and you better
believe we produced one to break down the Primary Problem. Learn about the
primary problem, what it is, and how we can solve it below:

    <[link removed]>


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<[link removed]>
Nick Troiano: Party Primaries Must Go.
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A lot of the division and dysfunction we see today can be attributed to the
Primary Problem dynamic. An extreme minority of the population is electing the
majority of our Congress, and it’s warping the incentive structure of our
political system.Instead of listening to all their constituents, elected
leaders are listening only to the small base of their party that elects and
reelects them. 

 

It’s why, after rioters stormed the Capital on January 6th, 147 Republicans
still voted to overturn the results of the Electoral College — if they didn’t,
they were all but guaranteed a primary challenger. 


This week, Nick Troiano breaks down the Primary Problem for The Atlantic
<[link removed]>
, highlighting not only the forces driving the divide, but also how to solve
it: nonpartisan primaries (combined with ranked choice voting!). We saw it pass
in Alaska in November. We can do it again.



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<[link removed]>
Denver Riggleman: a case study.
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In 2020, Congressman Denver Riggleman faced a primary challenger in his
district; Riggleman, a Republican, had angered the base of his party after he
officiated a wedding between two gay men. He was an independent thinker, and
was working to represent the people of his district, rather than the party
line. So a primary challenger emerged. 

 

In a drive-through primary held in a church parking lot, just about 2,500
people showed up to participate.Riggleman lost. In a primary that was decided
by just 0.3% of his district, Riggleman was ousted, and his successor was all
but guaranteed a victory in the general election. 

 

What happened to Denver Riggleman is a perfect example of the Primary Problem
in action — a good leader gets taken out because he steps outside of party
ideology. In an unrepresentative election, decided by a minority of voters,
Riggleman loses, and is replaced by a more extreme leader. Riggleman wrote about
his experience in the Richmond Times Dispatch
<[link removed]>
. Check it out. 



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<[link removed]>
It’s been a HUGE week at Unite America. Be sure to check out The Primary
Problem on our website
<[link removed]> to read the report
for yourself. 

 

Brett
__
Brett Maney
Senior Communications Manager
Unite America
DONATE <[link removed]>


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