John --



In the final remaining election challenge of the midterm cycle, Sen. Raphael Warnock held onto his seat <[link removed]>, defeating Republican opponent Herschel Walker in yesterday’s runoff election in Georgia. Kudos to Warnock’s team for making a concerted effort to appeal to independent and Republican-leaning voters with an inclusive, unifying campaign. As campaign manager Quentin Fulks pointed out, “There could have been other campaign operatives or another campaign that could have said, ‘Okay, Herschel Walker has all this baggage, so we’re just going to run to the left and just try to turn out as many of our voters and just let Republicans eat their own.’ We didn’t do that.”



Warnock’s team correctly ascertained that many voters are disillusioned with their party or with both of the two major parties. As Michael Schaus writes in The Nevada Independent <[link removed]>, “As it turns out, not all voters view the ballot as a binary contest between two large political factions—some voters, apparently, care about what name is next to the letter that denotes a particular party affiliation. Those voters who split their ticket should be considered a warning to partisans that the traditional team-sport approach to elections is going to have to change with a growing percentage of the public feeling disillusioned about our current state of political affairs. And make no mistake, plenty of voters apparently feel disillusioned—the ever-increasing market share of unaffiliated voter registrations being one obvious manifestation of such discontent.” We couldn’t have said it any better ourselves.



The midterm election has given rise to some hopeful signs that at least a few of our leaders in Washington are getting the message that the American people have had it with division and dysfunction and are seeking a better way. There is currently bipartisan energy in Congress on immigration <[link removed]>, veterans services <[link removed]>, pharma <[link removed]>, and addressing the alarming rise of antisemitism <[link removed]>. That’s what can happen when we make our voices heard through our votes.



But there’s a long way to go. The system makes it too difficult—or even impossible, in some cases—for those who don’t fit neatly into an R or D box (i.e., most of us) to fully express our power in the voting booth. Without voting reform, we’ll never get to a place where a truly functional government that works in the best interests of all Americans is the norm, rather than the exception.



- Don’t vote for just one: Ranked-choice voting is gaining ground —The CT Mirror <[link removed]>





- <[link removed]>Burlington residents to use ranked-choice voting in special election —CBS News <[link removed]>





- <[link removed]>Group wants to ask voters for open primaries again —South Dakota Public Broadcasting <[link removed]>





- <[link removed]>William Kibler: I’m suing New Jersey because I shouldn’t have to vote for a Democrat or a Republican —NJ.com <[link removed]>





- <[link removed]>Aaron Hamlin: Democracy is under threat; let’s protect it with smart election reform —The Hill <[link removed]>











OTHER NEWS & VIEWS



United against corporate PAC money

“In the 118th Congress, a growing contingent of lawmakers is telling corporate PACs: We don’t want your cash. More than 70 members say they are swearing off such contributions, indicating that a trend, almost exclusively among Democrats, that caught on during the 2018 election cycle has persisted. Despite the growth, the move has not led to the enactment of major campaign finance policy or legislative changes. With divided control of Congress next year, even a minor overhaul of political money laws seems unlikely. Nevertheless, business political action committees, or PACs, which are not indexed for inflation and must follow disclosure requirements, face an uncertain future as the bang for their bucks diminishes.” —Roll Call <[link removed]>



Iowa is out

Taking the lead from President Biden, who has called for greater diversity in the presidential primary process, a Democratic committee voted last week to remove Iowa as the leadoff state on the presidential nominating calendar. It would be replaced with South Carolina beginning with the 2024 primary elections. Biden suggested South Carolina because it is more racially diverse than Iowa, and would thus ensure that voters of color aren’t marginalized as Democrats choose a presidential nominee. The president also advised Democrats to scrap “restrictive” caucuses like Iowa’s altogether, as they require in-person participation that can sometimes exclude working-class and other voters. —Associated Press <[link removed]>



A truce in the war on mail voting?

“For the past two years, Republican officials in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania have blasted mail voting, firing off lawsuits and bills aimed at crippling the balloting method that has become increasingly popular post-pandemic. In the wake of a midterm cycle that proved disastrous for them, they’re wondering if their antipathy to the idea cost them the election. ‘Republican and conservative activists need to embrace mail-in voting, as it isn’t going away any time soon,’ wrote GOP state Rep. Russ Diamond in a post-mortem on his website. ‘Our goal isn’t to convince regular voters to vote by mail, but to figure out how to cultivate mail-in votes from those registered Republicans who vote infrequently or don’t vote at all.’” —Politico <[link removed]>



Anderson: It’s time for real election reform 

“[Ranked-choice voting] is basically a winnowing process. While recognizing the candidate preferred by most voters—not simply by Democratic or Republican voters—it also tests how deep that preference goes. And eliminates those that are not strongly preferred by most voters. No more two-person, ‘lesser of two evils’ choices. And it has the potential to advantage candidates who are more centrist as well, since they would not be eliminated in a sharply partisan primary election where only the purest party identifiers tend to vote. Gerrymanders and party primary voting have poisoned the political well. So, let’s be at least willing to try something else.” —R. Bruce Anderson in The Ledger <[link removed]>



Forward is more than a party. We stand with the unifiers, the reformers, and the doers on any political “team” who get it—that it’s not about the letter next to the name, but about the people that name represents. We’ll keep working to ensure that every American is well-represented and has an equal say in who works for them.



All the best,

The Forward Party Team







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Forward Party - PO Box 9172, Fredericksburg, VA 22403, United States

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