To curb extremists' clout, abolish partisan primaries

In open seats, widely covered “Stop the Steal” freshmen Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn won primary run-offs with 8% and 5% support, respectively, from all eligible voters in their districts –– sealing their victories in solidly Republican districts months before Election Day. Of course, any system that is, by its design, producing unrepresentative outcomes can be redesigned to produce more representative outcomes. Alaska voters did just that by passing a major electoral reform at the ballot last November that will replace their state’s partisan primaries with a single nonpartisan primary beginning in 2022. Under this new system, voters select their preferred candidate regardless of party in the primary, the top four finishers advance to the general election, and whoever earns majority support -- through a ranked-choice instant runoff, if necessary -- wins. The impact of the Alaska reform was immediate. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who is up for reelection next year, voted to convict former President Trump in his impeachment trial knowing full well that her decision will be judged by all of the voters she represents, not just the base of her party, in the next election. Notably, the same goes for three House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump; they come from the only two other states with nonpartisan primaries, California and Washington. Even if a fringe group of activists and conspiracy mongers want to make the GOP an anti-democratic cult of personality that denies basic facts, most Republicans do not.
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