Closed Primaries Are Driving America Crazy

Froma Harrop on Aug 4, 2026

How could Donald Trump with bottom-scraping approval ratings decide who would represent the Republican Party in the upcoming Texas senatorial race? The primary system offers an explanation. A simple open primary system would have let the broader public choose -- and, ironically, save Republicans from a very possible loss in November.

Open primaries let registered voters cast a ballot without being members of the party. Closed primaries allow only party members to vote. About 15 states now run genuinely open primaries. There are mixed systems that still help small numbers of voters nominate extreme candidates. Texas is one.

Texas started with an open primary in which incumbent Republican John Cornyn finished slightly ahead of Trump's choice, Ken Paxton. But because neither got more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates, Cornyn and Paxton, competed in a runoff. But under Texas rules, anyone who had voted in the Democratic primary could not participate in that contest.

Paxton had been impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House. His own top aides reported him to the FBI alleging bribery. And his wife filed for divorce citing adultery. Small wonder that recent polls show him trailing Democratic candidate James Talarico in a state said to be deep red.

Maine's primary system is even less open, which explains how Graham Platner -- he of the Nazi tattoo and creepy history with women -- became the Democrat to oppose incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Platner was a creature propped up by the hyperactive Democratic Socialists of America.

After a plausible rape charge had him dethroned as the Democratic candidate, Platner was replaced with Troy Jackson. Jackson wasn't chosen in a primary at all but by Democratic delegates at a special convention. Maine polls now have Jackson and Collins running neck-and-neck.

Most big American cities run open, "all-candidate" primaries rather than party primaries, which limit voting to party members. New York City is an exception. And that helps explain how the citizens ended up with the radical and increasingly unpopular Zohran Mamdani as mayor.

The formula for fringe groups, whether left or right, is to organize a march into thinly attended closed primaries and make their candidate nominee for a major party. That happened in New York on June 24, 2025, a day of record temperatures that made parts feel like 126 degrees. Older voters especially feared leaving their apartments.

The DSA took advantage of the situation and nominated Mamdani in a vote that was closed to the 21% of the voters registered as independents and the 11% who are Republican. Put another way, Mamdani wrangled the Democratic nomination in a primary in which only 8% of registered voters participated. Come Election Day, he got less than half the vote in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

The city's Charter Revision Commission adopted an interim report that suggested letting voters decide in November whether to move New York to open primaries. That's how Boston and Seattle do it. They allow all eligible candidates that can be on the ballot and all registered voters to participate. The top two vote getters advance to the general election.

Mamdani opposes open primaries. "I am quite content with the system of primaries that we have thus far," he said unsurprisingly.

Not content is John Opdycke, head of Open Primaries, a political-reform organization. "It's ironic," Opdycke said, "that Mayor Mamdani, who is raising important questions about the economic power of poor and working people, won't advocate for their political power." The group's own polling shows even most city Democrats favoring open primaries.

There's a reason fringe governance -- from the right, the left or both -- is driving so many of us crazy. Open primaries are a step toward saner majority rule.

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Follow Froma Harrop on Twitter @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at fharrop@gmail.com. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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