Latest / Commentary - TJ Meadows / Closed Republican Primary Debate Heats Up, Again

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Closed Republican Primary Debate Heats Up, Again · Commentary - TJ Meadows

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  Speaker 1: Two years ago. This month, West Virginia Republicans made a
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  Speaker 1: significant move. They voted to close their primary elections. Why
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  Speaker 1: Certain factions inside the party, reportedly including then gubernatorial hopeful
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  Speaker 1: Patrick Morrissey and US Senate candidate Alex Mooney, believed a
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  Speaker 1: closed primary would favor more right leaning candidates. It was
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  Speaker 1: a sharp break from the open primary system West Virginia
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  Speaker 1: had used since nineteen eighty six, a system widely credited
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  Speaker 1: with helping Republicans take control of the legislature as the
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  Speaker 1: state shifted conservative. Wary of backlash and short on time
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  Speaker 1: to notify independent voters, party leaders delayed implementation last summer.
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  Speaker 1: There was talk of repealing it before the closed primary,
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  Speaker 1: ever happened. That effort went nowhere. Now, Supporters of open
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  Speaker 1: primaries will try again at this Saturday's GOP winter meeting
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  Speaker 1: in Charleston. Broadly speaking, this debate reflects a divide inside
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  Speaker 1: the Partytional Republicans focused on economic development, pro business policies,
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  Speaker 1: tax cuts and growth tend to favor open primaries. Republican populists,
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  Speaker 1: more focused on social issues and skeptical of large institutions,
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  Speaker 1: tend to support closing them. Nobody fits neatly into a box,
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  Speaker 1: but the framing captures the tension. Here's why it matters.
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  Speaker 1: Republicans needed independents to take legislative control in twenty fourteen,
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  Speaker 1: and they still need them today. Current voter registration tells
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  Speaker 1: the story. Republicans make up about forty two percent of
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  Speaker 1: registered voters, Democrats, twenty eight percent, Independence, more than twenty
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  Speaker 1: five percent. Republicans cannot win statewide office without independent support.
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  Speaker 1: Take Kenaal County, Republicans number about forty four thousand, Democrats
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  Speaker 1: and independents combined total roughly seventy two thousand. The math
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  Speaker 1: is unforgiving. Party leaders are betting independents will continue voting
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  Speaker 1: Republican in November even if they're locked out of GOP primaries,
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  Speaker 1: but some quiet polling suggests otherwise. In a November survey,
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  Speaker 1: fifty seven percent of independence said they'd stay independent and
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  Speaker 1: vote in the Democratic primary rather than switch to Republican.
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  Speaker 1: Only seventeen percent said they'd change their registration. That's a
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  Speaker 1: grain of salt poll, but it's a big grain. There
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  Speaker 1: won't be many competitive Democratic primaries, so if you're an independent,
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  Speaker 1: why vote at all? As a protest, and that raises
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  Speaker 1: the real risk are independents who feel shut out in
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  Speaker 1: the spring likely to be forgiving in November. Nobody knows,
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  Speaker 1: and that uncertainty alone should concern Republicans. More polling is underway,
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  Speaker 1: results could surface as early as Thursday, and they're expected
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  Speaker 1: to fuel debate at Saturday's meeting, because if those early
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  Speaker 1: numbers hold, keeping the primary closed may be a gamble,
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  Speaker 1: one that trades long term stability for short term IDA
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  Speaker 1: logical control. And that's a bet we're thinking hard about