Top Two Primary System is Flawed
Citing a desire to not “thin the field of Democrats” in the primary, Deb Wallace withdrew from the 3rd district race to replace Rep. Brian Baird. This is yet another example of why the “top two” primary system is undermining the electoral process. If we did not have political parties, the top two primary would make sense. It would be the “best man (woman) wins”. But when you have a system where you have to minimize the number of contenders in each party or try to keep the number running in each political party equal in order to have a fair race, democracy suffers. If Deb Wallace had remained in the race and lost, she would be seen as a spoiler if two Republican candidates ended up the top two vote getters. This is because she would be seen as dividing the Democratic vote up to the benefit of the Republicans. So because Denny Heck has more money and Craig Pridemore is more of a populist, Deb is boxed into a corner with no way out but to withdraw. This is not how democracy is supposed to work. Now we will never know if the voters in the 3rd Congressional District wanted to elect Deb Wallace.
The system is broken…
If the Ds had run a second candidate in Pam Brokaw’s Top-2 Primary, Pam would be our Clark County Commissioner right now – the Rs had 7 candidates! (My goodness, was nobody strategizing at the top Dem levels.) However, parties aside, what Top-2 really does is let an Independent in the race. I think nationwide Top-2 would cause a revolutionary change in American politics – eliminating extreme partisianship! The weakness of a 2-party system is that there’s only 2 parties. If American politics is really “broken,” the the Top-2 Primary system would be the easiest way to fix it.
But for the stranglehold the two parties have on our political system, I agree with you. My point is the top two system puts pressure on candidates to drop out or “shadow” candidates to run in order to manipulate the outcome for one party or another. This is not how democracy should work. Your example regarding Brokaw’s campaign is a case in point. Why should she win just because she pays another person to run against her?
If we eliminate all parties and just have people run on their own merits, the top two system works. We could eliminate the primaries altogether. He/She who gets the most votes win. But absent some kind of revolution, this will never happen.
For once John, I couldn’t agree with your view more. The top two primary is a disaster for us both. Imagine how outraged any of us would be, on either side of the aisle, should two members of the same party ever take the top two slots.
I don’t think either of us desires that.
I’ll also say that I was shocked to see Deb Wallace drop out so soon with her being well ahead of her party members running, save Denny Heck. I honestly thought Pridemore would fall out before she did.
This is off topic but good nevertheless.