How Minority Parties (Might) Compete in One-Party States (if you can't beat 'em, undermine 'em!)

rasmussenreports.com ^ | 4/28/22 | Louis Jacobson

[cotton1706]

Playing in other party’s primary or backing an independent candidate are two possible options.

KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE

— In an increasingly polarized nation, one party often dominates in a state while the other is seemingly consigned to permanent irrelevance. In such states, primary voters for the dominant party are able to flex their muscles to nominate a comparatively extreme candidate, who is all but assured a victory in the general election.

— One creative way that minority parties in at least some of these states could fight back is to stop running candidates for major offices like senator and governor, and instead encourage their voters to vote for the more moderate candidate in the dominant party’s primary. This is at least theoretically possible in states where primaries are “open” to all voters, rather than just those registered to the party in question.

— Another is to back an independent candidate instead of nominating their own candidate, as Democrats recently chose to do in Utah.

[calenel]

Or you could run in the single party and just lie about how you will vote, like the Dems already do. Just wander off the reservation the other direction.

[rellic]

You could do that but you’ll never be assigned to a committee and that is where the real power is.
System was never designed to work this way but it is what it is.

[rxh4n1]

The Republicans in blue states could try running conservatives instead of running as Democrat Lites. Of course, they’ll never try. They’d rather lose than support conservatives.

[Boogieman]

Well, there are no “blue states” really, just red states that happen to be dominated by a blue city or a few blue counties with a high population.

Plenty of Republicans run in those redder areas, they just can’t usually get elected Governor, or take a majority in the state house, and they’ll be lucky to get one of the two Senate seats.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

My understanding is that the Conservative Party of NY does not always field a candidate, but will throw its support behind one of the declared candidates.

In close contests their support could turn an election in exchange for passing a particular bill that supports conservative values.