We finally have a Speaker!



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Hi Friend,



We finally have a House of Representatives! As in … there’s a speaker. House
members have been sworn in and now can do their jobs,which had been impairing
the government’s national security function
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.



The process it took to get there was nothing short of absolute chaos, and
we’re not talking about the normal gridlock we have grown accustomed to seeing
in Congress — we’re talking about dysfunction that hasn’t been seen sincebefore
the Civil War!


Our nation watched the House of Representatives fail to elect a speaker not
once, not twice, but14 times over a three-day period, with a majority attained
on the 15th ballot. As we witnessed this play out,Mark Cuban, among others,
offered an observation and suggestion to the Speaker dilemma, which we fully
support <[link removed]>.
Cubantweeted
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:


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We couldn’t agree more. The Primary Problem
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last week; however, solutions such as nonpartisan primaries, ranked choice
voting, and those two reforms in combination (such as in Alaska) would lessen
the chaos and increase the chances of the government getting work done for the
American people.



On that note, here are three things to think about this week:





The “Never Kevins” exemplified the Primary Problem
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As the chaotic bid for the speakership played out last week, all eyes were on
20 Republican representatives who adamantly opposed Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s
candidacy — a group now popularly known as the “Never Kevins.” As we mentioned
last week <[link removed]>, the failure
to secure a speaker on the first ballot boils down to The Primary Problem, and
in this case, it appeared on a microscale in the House chamber in what we’ve
coined asMcCarthy’s Primary Problem
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.


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Breaking it down: The 20 “Never Kevin” Republicans were elected mainly in
solidly red districts by primary voters who made up just fractions of their
districts’ electorates. Due in-part to extreme partisan gerrymandering, more
and more congressional seats have become “safe” over the years for both major
parties, which has resulted in the potential size of the majority decreasing
steadily over time. And this trend has outsized effects: the smaller the
majority, the greater the influence that just a few members can have on
governing — including, in McCarthy’s case, determining the speakership — which
is exactly what we saw play out.



Check out our Tweet thread to learn more
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.





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What the opposite of McCarthy's Primary Problem looks like
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Contrast McCarthy's plight to what a solution to the Primary Problem looks
like in action. Rep. Mary Peltola, a moderate Democrat and both the first
Alaska Native to represent Alaska in Congress and the first House member
elected under the state's new top-four voting model, started filling out her
office staff with personnel from her predecessor's office — herRepublican
predecessor. TheChristian Science Monitor writes:



When Democrat Mary Sattler Peltola went looking to hire a chief of staff, she
chose someone with hands-on experience and a deep knowledge of her home state,
Alaska. He was also a Republican. Alex Ortiz’s last job was serving in the same
role for her predecessor, Don Young, a giant in the state who died in 2022
after setting a record for longest-serving Republican congressman in United
States history.



And he wasn’t the only Republican who Representative Peltola put on her
payroll after winning a special election in August to replace Mr. Young. The
congresswoman’s scheduler, another Young veteran, and communications director
also came with experience working in the conservative trenches.



This is all but unheard of in the Capitol, where party loyalty can trump the
most impeccable résumé. Indeed, colleagues in Washington asked Ms. Peltola if
she were going to make her staff change their party affiliations.



Read more here
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for her answer — and what it says about the effort to put “country above party.”


 


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Thank you for taking our end-of-year survey!


Our end-of-year survey has concluded, and we sincerely thank you for providing
feedback! The responses we received are hugely helpful to our team, and we will
continue assessing your written responses to determine how we can best cater to
future content. In the meantime, here are two top-line responses from the
survey and resources that cater to your requests:

* Readers noted that they’d like to receive more original research and
content from Unite America, and we’re pleased to announce we have a lot on the
docket this year! One such piece includes our latestblog covering the final
passage of the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA)
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.
* Close to 70 percent of respondents are interested in hearing more about
ranked choice voting and nonpartisan primaries. We’re glad to hear it,
especially about the latter reform, since it hasn’t been as widely adopted but
takes the Primary Problem head on — and is being shown to have done so
effectively. We’ll have more research to share about it this year.


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Regards,



Alana
__
Alana Persson
Unite America

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