Posted on 03/31/2021 3:36:27 AM PDT by cotton1706
Attorney General Jeff Landry, state Sen. Sharon Hewitt and U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise are among those spearheading the effort to move to closed primaries, where Democrats and Republicans would hold separate contests to decide who each party would send to a general election.
The move is backed by Republican activists who believe closing the primaries will lead to more ideological conservatives winning office. It's also supported by some Democrats who want their party's registered voters to have the last word in choosing Democratic candidates.
But Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser, along with several other more moderate Republicans, oppose the move. Among them are U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy and U.S. Rep. Garret Graves, both of whom recently came out against the effort.
(Excerpt) Read more at houmatoday.com ...
Closed primaries would be much better, but it is LA and expect nothing to change in that regard.
Both approaches have merit when considering tactics. I prefer a closed primary but there is occasionally a time when cross-over voting for a weak opponent is tactically sound.
Perhaps little history may be helpful here. This is how I remember the situation.
The open primary came into being because the Democrats wanted it. Back in Gov. Edwin Edwards day, the Democrats, who had absolute control over Louisiana politics at that time, would slice-and-dice each other and spend tons of money deciding who was going to run for each office.
There were so few Republicans at the time that they would meet in a smoked-filled room and decide who was going to be the Republican candidate for each office and spend no money in the process. There was also no chance for one Republican candidate to air another Republican candidate’s dirty laundry. The Republicans appeared to the voters to be one happy family.
Edwin Edwards stopped this by directing the Democrat legislature to vote to institute open primaries which forced the Republicans to campaign and spend at the same time as the Democrats.
However, apparently the Democrats never envisioned Louisiana becoming a red state. It is interesting that now it seems to be some Republicans that are the impetus behind the effort to change back to a closed primary.
You are correct about Louisiana. Their system was an attempt — and it was very successful for a long time — to ensure a permanent Democrat majority in federal and state elections. Those corrupt Democrats never envisioned that the electorate would change, and now the system actually helps Republicans although a closed primary would be greatly preferable and allow actual conservative voters to select Republican nominees (IOW, goodbye to squishes like John Kennedy).
Two other Democrat states have, within the past decade or so, implemented some form of Louisiana’s system. Those states are California and Washington, and they have been very successful in using that system to cement the permanent Democrat majority there too. Unlike Louisiana, they will have things their way for a much longer period of time.
That is how Mitch McConnell wins easily if he has a challenger.
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