Solid South – former Confederate states during Civil War and some border states → completely dominated by conservative Dems
Repubs with Union side of Civil War, Dems split
Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965 → shift in politics in South
Conservative Dems switched parties
Young southern conservatives → Republicans
Now: Repubs in South, Black American voter in Dems
Ranked-choice Voting
Ranked-choice voting (RCV) – voters rank each of the candidates in a rance
Ranked 1 on more than 50% of ballots = win
Candidate with fewest 1st place = eliminated, voters relocated to 2nd choice
4. Major Political Parties in the US Today
About 47% lean to Dem, 43% lean to Repub
July 2021, 2 indep Senators
Angus King – Maine
Bernie Sanders – Vermont, ran for dem party for pres
States: no indep or minor party governors
Repubs have more state offices than dems
Parties, Voters, and Candidates
Major political parties – no formal members
Org made for candidates
Anonymous voters – can’t see who are loyal voters
Direct primaries → decreased influence of party organization over nominations
Mass communication → candidates communicate directly to voters, not thru party
Own fundraising too
Parties = service orgs
Only supports candidates with extra funding, not directly picking and controlling
Parties influence candidates thru their services (data on voters, donors, training..)
Committee assignments used to punish disloyal members (Congress, state legislatures)
Party Organizations
Structure of major parties: national, state, local
Top: democratic and republican National Committees – coordinates overall election strategy, raise money, run party’s national convention every 4 yrs
Most of $ goes to supporting pres candidate
Members of national committees:
National chair, members form all 50 states
Chair of each state party, 1 national committeeman & 1 national committeewoman chosen by state party
National chairs elected by other committee members (actually, nat chair that controls presidency handpicked by pres)
2 congressional campaign committees:
House of Reps: Dem Congressional Campaign Committee and National Repub Congressional Committee
Senate: Dem Senatorial Campaign Committee, Nat Repub Senatorial Committee
Incumbent members of Congress
State party organizations
State leaders meet every 4yrs to nominate pres candidate
Nat committees started using mass marketing techniques to raise money
1960s, Money went from nat committees → states, used to be opposite
More power to states
Parties organized at local level
County-level committees – by volunteers
Role: recruiting good candidates to run in local races
City council/district judges
Sometimes state legislator is prat-time – not attractive to ambitious politicians
Good candidates might be scared for running for office bc of media, don’t like fundraising
5. Nominating Candidates and Adopting Platforms
Types of Primaries
Closed primary system – voters declare party affiliation when they register to vote
Those registered for a certain party can vote in that party’s primary
Nominated by true party loyalists → leader is accepted
Candidates not incentivized to appeal to independents or other party supporters
Open primary system – all registered voter can participate in primary for any party
Voters must participate in same party’s primary for all offices
Flexibility for voters
Leader who has broader appeal, but maybe less acceptance
Strategic voting → Dem can vote for Repub in primary to nominate weakest candidate
9 states fully closed, 15 open, others partially
Partially closed – party can let independents vote
Partially open – voter publicly declares which ballot they choose (recorded)
Independents can vote in any party primary but voters registered with a party can’t cross over
“Top two” primary – all candidates from all parties run in a single primary
Top two face off in general election →point to have ppl with broadest appeal
CA and Washington
Nebraska, Louisiana, Alaska – unique systems
Louisiana: majority runoff – no primary, general election majority winner
Other variations:
Simple plurality vote or if min % of vote is needed (usually 50 but maybe lower)
Some states, state party can endorse one of the primary candidates
Endorsement on ballot
National Conventions
Presidential nominees usually chosen at nat conventions /4yrs
State party leaders – controlled votes of their delegates
Used to be “smoke-filled room” – secret negotiations
1968, new party rules: each state has certain # of candidates at nat convention who are pledged to specific candidates for at least one ballot
Pledge – not legally binding but fail = kicked out
\
# of delegates – decided by pres primary or caucus
Caucus – meeting that voters go to at set time and place
Chooses delegates for next level caucus → delegates pledge to support certain candidates
Caucuses; hard to attend at set time = non-representative
Nominees chosen at nat convention by majority vote
Dems have super delegates– elected officials and party leader who auto have a vote bc of their position
Can only vote if no candidate has majority in 1st round
Other delegates might be freed from pledges
Adopt party’s official platform at convention – statement of principles and positions on public policy issues to unify party and guide candidates/officeholders
Effective?
Document is not binding
Platform overtaken by events (unplanned things might be prioritized)
6. Partisan Politics
Red States and Blue States
Red = Repub states, blue = Dem states
Actually just urban (D) vs rural (R)
race/ethnicity, education, age, gender, religion affect party affiliation
Not always true / always variation
Mixed with interests i.e. Repubs with business
Evangelical Christians big part of R
Parties in Government
After election, party → imp force in organizing gov
Pres apts admin
Congress explicitly organized along partisan lines
Speaker of House → leader of majority party in House
Chairs of committees in both House/Senate from majority party…
Makes situation where small shift in partisan loyalties = big implications
Dems have majority bc VP Kamala Harris can tie-break
Now, partisanship in Congress super high
Can’t negotiate = can’t pass bills
Back then, parties didn’t have as distinct choices on policy
ex) Dems had conservative southern policians, moderate and liberal politicians
ex) Repubs had Rockefeller Republicans (moderate to liberal)
To appeal to “swing” voters
Parties want position of median voter – middle in political spectrum
Current strategy: max voter turnout by base of supporters
Not rly appealing to swing voters
If one party passes bill, other half of country might consider it too extreme