No Labels co-founder warns against No Labels’ impact on presidential race
William Galston with an op-ed in the WSJ.
Category Archives: political parties
“A Critical and Historical Analysis of Ohio’s Post-Millennium Regression to Major-Party Monopoly”
New in the Hastings Constitutional Law Quarterly, from Capital’s Mark Brown: a review of recent ballot access battles in Ohio. I suspect there’s even more to add to the “major-party monopoly” argument if you add the legislature’s all-out gerrymandering… Continue reading
“Party affiliation can be misleading in local Pa. elections. Here’s why”
Spotlight PA has a feature on Pennsylvania school board elections with closed primaries (you’ve got to be a member of the party to vote in that party’s primary) and cross-filing (in which candidates can appear on multiple parties’ ballots).
I’m… Continue reading
Ranked choice on the menu
There must be something in the water today.
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board decries a “two-party system in a one-party town,” in advocating a switch from splintered partisan primaries to a nonpartisan primary with ranked-choice voting.
Illinois state Rep. Kam… Continue reading
“For Saner Politics, Try Stronger Parties; Well-intended reforms have made the national parties weak and ineffective—and unable to resist their most extreme elements”
“Montana shelves GOP proposal to alter US Senate primary”
AP:
A proposed change to next year’s Montana U.S. Senate primary that could have hurt Democratic Sen. Jon Tester’s reelection chances is likely dead after a state legislative committee shelved the GOP-backed measure Wednesday.
Some Republican lawmakers urged on… Continue reading
Better Parties? Are they possible and how will SCOTUS shape that project?
I recently had the pleasure of talking about both of these questions with Lee Drutman on Politics in Question. As I have been spending more time talking to others about prospects for party reform–including this past week at More … Continue reading
NY trial court finds constitutional right to cast primary write-in for candidate who’s not a member of the party
Friday’s decision is here, with a little more illumination from the earlier hearing transcript here.
“N.C. lawmaker flips parties, handing state GOP a veto-proof majority”
Rep. Tricia Cotham becomes a Republican, in a district that apparently went 61-38 for Biden.
“Redistricting could leave Va. with more partisan lawmakers”
Mark Rozell discusses the impact of a redistricting map that pairs incumbents in five Virginia state legislative districts.
“Arkansas Bill Easing Ballot Access for Newly-Qualifying Parties Passes Legislature”
Hat tip to Richard Winger, of course, on the news.
I’d be intrigued to see if there’s any correlation between the major-party vote margin and the permissiveness of a state’s minor-party ballot access structure.
“Democrats Overhaul Party’s Primary Calendar, Upending a Political Tradition”
NYT:
Upending decades of political tradition, the Democratic National Committee on Saturday approved a sweeping overhaul of the Democratic primary process, a critical step in President Biden’s effort to transform the way the party picks its presidential nominees.
For years,… Continue reading
“Do We Need to Party Better to Fix U.S. Democracy?”
Didi Kuo and I recently spoke with Daniel Stid, Executive Director of Lyceum Labs about our recent article, Associational Party Building: A Path to Rebuilding Democracy. Daniel pushed us on the questions such as whether we are calling… Continue reading
“Will the Real G.O.P. Please Stand Up? A National Power Struggle Goes Local.”
NYT:
Zach Scherer, a 20-year-old car salesman and Republican activist in Pennsylvania’s Butler County, decided to run for a seat on the county commission this year — a move that ordinarily would mean seeking the endorsement of local Republican Party… Continue reading