In Tuesday’s primary elections, nearly 3 million Americans were forced to watch from the sidelines as partisans determined the future of their communities. None of the states that held primaries yesterday have an open primary system:  Four of the five (Oregon, Idaho, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania) have fully closed primaries and one (North Carolina) has a semi-open primary with partisan registration. Millions of concerned citizens had to stay home.

Despite so many disenfranchised, voiceless Americans, those who could vote sent a clear message: they’re fed up with hyperpartisan politics. Candidates supported by the Democratic and Republican party leaders are being beaten by outsiders. This is good news for the Forward Party - Americans recognize that the old guard has to go.

North Carolina

GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn is ousted in North Carolina’s primary. Cawthorn was Donald Trump’s preferred candidate. A member of the polarizing Freedom Caucus, Cawthorn’s defeat comes on the heels of a range of scandals. In the Senate race, Rep. Ted Budd wins the Republican Senate primary to fill the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Richard Burr, and will face off against Democratic nominee, former state Supreme Court chief justice Cheri Beasley. 

Learn more about North Carolina’s primary system and how to help make it an open system, check out the resources here.

Idaho

In a blow to the once gold-plated endorsement of Donald Trump, Lt. Governor Janice McGeachin, who received his endorsement, failed to oust sitting governor Brad Little in the Republican primary for the state’s highest office. This isn’t the first time this primary season that extreme polarization has been stood down by the reasonability of the American people.  This is a good sign: once again, Americans are standing against the polarization tearing our country apart.

Learn more about Idaho’s primary system and how to help make it an open system that doesn’t silence hundreds of thousands of independent voters, check out the resources here.

Pennsylvania

As of the time of this publication, the GOP U.S. Senate primary election is still undecided with Dr. Oz , neck and neck with David McCormick. Oz has a very slight lead. A recount is predicted though there remain roughly 50,000-70,000 ballots left to count. On the Democrat side, John Fetterman won the Democratic nomination, and is said to be one of the best hopes to flip a seat. Fetterman opposed Connor Lamb, the establishment candidate, in the primary. Running as a different kind of Democrat, Fetterman believes that his populist message will draw support from a broader range of voters than more traditional democrats.

Learn more about Pennsylvania’s primary system and how to help make it an open system that doesn’t silence hundreds of thousands of independent voters, check out the resources here.

Oregon

The stage is set for a three-way race for governor in Oregon featuring an all-female panel of candidates.  The Republicans seem set to nominate Christine Drazan, Former House Republican Leader, though final votes are still being tallied.  Democrats nominated House Speaker Tina Kotek in yesterday’s primary.  And a well-funded unaffiliated candidate Betsy Johnson is expected to be on the ballot as well.  All historical data points to a three way race in a plurality system being bad for the independent candidate. With Ranked-Choice Voting, this election would be a true and fair representation of the will of the people, but in the current plurality system, it’s likely that Johnson will only act as a spoiler for the Democratic candidate.

Learn more about Oregon’s primary system and how to help make it an open system that doesn’t silence hundreds of thousands of independent voters, check out the resources here.

Kentucky

The biggest news out of Kentucky’s primary is that the November election for U.S. Senate will be between sitting Senator Rand Paul, and State Representative Charles Booker.  You may recognize Booker from 2020’s Democratic primary where he ran a strong campaign against Amy McGrath, the establishment supported candidate, and lost by just 3%.  This time, it’s the progressive Booker set to run against the Republican incumbent in the red state. We’ll see just how that will turn out in November.

Learn more about Kentucky’s primary system and how to help make it an open system that doesn’t silence hundreds of thousands of independent voters, check out the resources here.

In Other News

A new poll reveals that one-third of adults say they think an effort is afoot to replace native-born Americans with new immigrants for electoral purposes. Recently, the President of the National Border Patrol Council stated in an interview that the Democratic administration wants to change “the demographics of the electorate.” The “great replacement” theory is rearing its head following this past weekend’s shooting in Buffalo. The shooter cited the theory to justify his actions. 

Conspiracy theories are one way to rile up voters and incite fear of the other side. Reforming our voting processes with common-sense solutions like open & nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice voting will help keep extremist views out of our government  

Electoral reform efforts are giving the nation a real chance to change things for the better.

 

All the best,

The Forward Party Team