Fewest votes wins: Plurality Victories in 2022 primaries
Why win a primary election with the most votes possible when you can get by with fewer? This report describes how candidates can advance to general elections with a minority support from their primary electorates (known as a “plurality win”) and investigates how often this happened in 2022 primaries for US House, US Senate, and statewide primaries. Due to the increasing number of safely partisan races, many of these plurality primary wins are tantamount to winning an office.
Plurality wins hurt voters and parties by sending unpopular nominees to general elections and allowing few voters to make decisions for the many. As a result, millions of voters lack meaningful choice and representation. Ranked choice voting (RCV), however, presents a strong solution by ensuring that nominees have broad support from primary voters, giving voters more say in outcomes and meaningful choices between strong candidates. Two states already use RCV in congressional primaries. A federal bill called The Fair Representation Act would further facilitate choice and fair outcomes.
