Enjoyed these Steve Scully interviews of recently retired members of Congress about redistricting, polarization, and primaries: https://t.co/9qUXLaVrsg 1/6
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Garret Graves (R-Louisiana): "Why should you spend half of the election ostracizing or isolating half of the people you're going to be representing? I think the model is wrong. I think an open primary system makes more sense, and I wish that more states would do it that way.” 2/6
(Louisiana long known for its 'open' all-candidate, single-ballot primary but switched to 'closed' party-only primaries for some offices starting in 2026.) 3/6
Dan Kildee (D-Mich.): “My favorite professor at the Kennedy School of Government, Marty Linsky, said it best: leadership is the act of disappointing your own supporters at a rate they can absorb." 4/6
Kildee, continued: "You've got to tell people things they don't want to hear if you're actually functioning as a leader, and there’s not enough of that here." 5/6
Kildee: After Michigan switched to a commission for redistricting, “Now we've got competitive seats. That's better for democracy. It's harder for us. I had to go through a really tough race in 2022, but it shouldn't be about us, it should be about how the system works.” 6/6
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