Florida appears poised to hold no presidential primary election for Democrats this cycle after the state party submitted only President Joe Biden’s name as a candidate up for the nomination.
The move to leave Rep. Dean Phillips off the primary ballot left the Minnesota Democrat enraged on Thursday. In a statement first provided to POLITICO, Phillips, who has launched a longshot primary bid against Biden, accused Florida Democratic Party officials of rigging the primary. He threatened a lawsuit and a convention fight if he didn’t win ballot access in the state.
“Americans would expect the absence of democracy in Tehran, not Tallahassee,” said Phillips. “The intentional disenfranchisement of voters runs counter to everything for which our Democratic Party and country stand. Our mission as Democrats is to defeat authoritarians, not become them.”
It should be clear to all of us, whether you are a Biden supporter or not, that this is not only hypocritical and undemocratic, but with polls showing Biden losing to Trump it is incredibly dangerous for our democracy. This is a the Democratic establishment showing that they do not actually believe in democratic governance or the people’s ability to vote in their own self interest. How many times have progressives been condescendingly told to vote in primaries?
Further analysis available here: Humanist Report.
What the hell is the point of being able to vote if we don’t get a say in who is on the ballot in the first place?
“You can pick between these 2 flavors of ours” isn’t choice, it’s distraction.
right, so you fully approve ranked choice voting, and pushing for mandatory voting for every elected position. got it. thanks for your support!
This is a weird non-sequitur to my criticism, but I suppose you’re just deflecting rather than admitting that “stop whining there are bigger issues” is a terrible argument for you to have made.
And yes, I do support RCV and government positions being elected rather than appointed, if that’s what you mean by “mandatory voting”. If you mean “everyone must vote for someone every time”, I would ask you to explain how that logically follows from me demanding that people have a say in the choice of candidates
…because from my perspective it just sounds like you are implying that people who don’t vote don’t deserve to vote, and that would mean you think voting is a Privilege rather than a Right.
i guess my point is, support change that matters. spending time and energy fixing one election seems like a waste of time when you will be back here doing it again because it didnt get fixed the first time.
i just see everyone spinning their wheels with zero momentum, demanding their wheels go faster.
I think that this is a change that matters. The DNC choosing to bypass primaries would effectively prevent any progressive from ever having a shot at the presidency for decades. Does it surprise me that they don’t want to have to worry about future Sanders-like primary challengers? Not at all. Does it worry me? 100000% That’s a sure way to disenfranchise actual progressive Democrat voters.
And I think this is a precedent that we can actually nip in the bud, given the attention that Dean Philips is putting on it (he may not be famous, but he’s got more clout in politics and news than any of us).
I remember thinking in 2020 when the GOP skipped primaries for Trump - ‘How undemocratic. People should have a choice.’ It would be hipocritical of me not to apply the same to the Democrats.
I say let Dean Philips run. He’s mostly unknown, but he only got into politics because of Trump, in 2017, and only announced his bid for the presidency like a month ago. Give us time to get to know the man outside his own state; I’d prefer him to people I know are in corporate pockets like Newsom.
i agree here in part, but the DNC is not part of the solution. youre not seein the forest through the trees.
the best method is pushing for major election changes in states with direct voting of laws by citizens, ie CA/FL.
bypass the party altogether, because i guarantee you the DNC is not interested in fixing these things. they are also the problem.