Bringing Back Local Issues through the Fair Representation Act
FairVote just released its biennial Monopoly Politics Report, a project that predicts the results of US House races with high accuracy. The report shows just how uncompetitive most of our elections are, and just how little voice most voters have. However, the way in which we make these predictions comes with a revelation itself.
Monopoly Politics shows that presidential results have proved to be an excellent indicator of district-level partisanship (and therefore congressional race results). In other words, the way a district votes for President (Republican vs. Democrat) is almost always the way that that district votes for their congressperson. In fact, the report shows that the number of “crossover representatives” (House members whose district voted for a different party) is steadily decreasing and could be at an all-time low.
This means that American politics is increasingly nationalized. In terms of partisan outcomes, local elections are playing out the same way as national elections.
However, this dynamic is no secret. These days, it seems all politicians talk about are national partisan issues (abortion, gun laws, etc.) Candidates increasingly compete on a one-dimensional, ideologically left-to-right line. The platform of your House candidates is probably pretty identical to the platform of their national parties. The things that make American democracy so distinctive, such as localized party politics and our “candidate over party” spirit, are diminishing.
We can attribute this in part to the way our electoral structures are set up. Turning back to Monopoly Politics, the report projected 82% of all House seats with high confidence, meaning 82% of seats are safely red or blue. In these seats, party primaries are the decisive election, meaning representatives in these seats are accountable only to party identifiers (who may care more about national partisan issues than local issues).1
However, our voting system is fixable! The Fair Representation Act (FRA) has the potential to re-localize American politics. The FRA would replace smaller single-member congressional districts with larger multi-member districts, with most districts having 3-5 representatives. A district could elect any combination of Republicans, Democrats, third party candidates, and independents. Parties could nominate as many candidates as there are seats.2
This means that Republicans will be competing against other Republicans, and Democrats will be competing against other Democrats during the general election. When representatives have to compete with members of the same party, they need more than the national partisan issues (which they all probably agree on) to stand apart. This is where representatives could benefit from campaigning on local issues.
The FRA also institutes proportional ranked choice voting (RCV). Proportional RCV means that representatives need to compete not only for first choice preferences, but also second choices, third choices, etc. When representatives benefit from being the alternate choice of each others’ voters, and when the election is not zero-sum (meaning, multiple candidates can win) this creates incentives for cooperation. Even though there will be competition, that competition will be friendlier and encourage highlighting areas of agreement as well as disagreements. And what better way can a cohort of representatives from the same district cooperate than on local issues?
The FRA could also be paired with other reforms, such as expanding the size of the House. Having more members of Congress would necessitate more districts, and therefore smaller districts – giving members from the same district an even smaller geographic area on which to concentrate their efforts.
Though national issues are important, local issues impact our day-to-day lives the most. Local politics are what keeps our water running and can make our neighborhoods thrive. However, our current system sends single representatives to Congress, most of whom are only accountable to nationally partisan issues and voters. The FRA would send delegations of representatives from each district to Congress, all of whom are accountable to all of their district’s voters and therefore local issues – adding a crucial dimension back into American elections.
