OPINION:
The relevance, finances and power of political party committees have steadily declined for years following the rise of super PACs and the Citizens United decision. Advocacy organizations have become more powerful than traditional party committees, along with individual donors who can swamp an election with their own money — and agendas — using other political organizations and even, albeit illegally, nonprofits as cover.
It has long been argued that open primaries will increase turnout and involve more people in elections. While there is some logic to this argument in our era of more independent, unaffiliated and disaffected voters, the data on that is mixed at best.
There are many reasons why voters may or may not show up for a primary: political inertia, low-quality candidates, scandals, hot topics, and parties who strive to consolidate early around one nominee, to name a few.
With the powerful, left-wing political ecosystem of human, financial and information infrastructure dwarfing that of the American conservative movement, refocusing on the importance of party members choosing their party’s nominees is critical.
Conservatives love to wring their hands and complain about the Soros network and the power of the Democrats’ apparatus, but little is done to counter it.
We are dealing with the rise of Marxism in America and the active erosion of our basic moral, ethical and political standards. One need only look at the weaponization of government during the Biden administration against its political opposition to know we are in uncharted territory for a nation of laws and liberties.
Inclusion may be the liberal buzzword du jour. Still, for Republicans who have long championed life, morality buttressed by faith, free markets, lower taxation, fewer regulations and a strong national defense, returning to a posture of exclusivity may be necessary to protect the integrity of the party’s principles.
Organizing left-leaning independents and Democrats to vote in a Republican primary in such numbers as to regularly alter the outcome of those elections would be complex. Concern about this phenomenon can be overblown, as it was during this year’s New Hampshire primary, when the Trump campaign used the specter of former Democrats and independents voting for Nikki Haley to hedge if the race turned out closer than expected there.
We’ve already seen Democrats spend millions on Republican primaries to influence the outcomes for their benefit, driving votes to candidates the left believes are more beatable in a general election. We should expect that some degree of primary hijacking could be the next act of the left’s political infrastructure.
The risks and rewards of this experiment with open primaries are worthy of further analysis in several states.
In 2023, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas were among the top recipients of Americans fleeing high-cost, Democratic-controlled states. All of those states are key to Republican relevance. Of those, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas have some form of open primaries.
These “new movers” are largely not looking to turn Texas into California or Tennessee into New York.
Those states benefiting from the success of their conservative policies and, therefore, increasing political influence should consider themselves in the crosshairs of the left’s political apparatus. Open primary states need to consider tightening their registration and participation rules to make it harder for the left to influence Republican primaries for state and local offices in the future.
There is no reason to doubt that leftists will try.
An erosion of core Republican values through increasing influence of left-wing groups such as public employee unions, teachers unions and others from the left’s ecosystem on GOP elected officials is a real and growing threat in states that have benefited from migration trends.
Open primaries have arguably aided Democrats in places like Texas, where liberal Republicans have thwarted commonsense conservative policies in the Legislature led by House Speaker Dade Phelan. That leftward shift prompted this year’s massive intraparty fight to eject those members from the state House through primaries, a fight Gov. Greg Abbott largely won.
Closing primaries comes with serious responsibility for a Republican Party plagued by internal struggles. Well-run and reasoned recruitment of high-quality candidates and designating processes with a focus on winning general elections are absolutely necessary, as is strong local and state leadership. A party that nominates extremists or incompetents will ultimately lose swing seats.
Republicans must also strengthen their overtures to unaffiliated voters, disaffected Democrats, and minorities. The party should put real money behind voter registration and affinity programs and better educate the electorate on party principles.
This isn’t about being exclusionary. It’s about protecting core Republican and American values at a time when they are under significant threat. The Republican Party needs to be a big tent, but that doesn’t mean the tent should include everyone.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax TV and is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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