Nick Troiano

And when I look at incoming governors like Abigail Spanberger, who serves in one term in Virginia, maybe this is something that she'll champion as part of her legacy there to say, this will be good for the Commonwealth out into the future.

Let's get this done.

I think when we have executive leadership that leans into the issue, legislatures may be more likely to follow.

We were part of that, actually.

I'm with you.

I think fighting fire with fire means everything just burns down.

So it was not in favor of what California did.

It's a good expression.

However, I understand the instinct, which is that- I get it.

I get it.

Yep.

And I also think it's important to bring it back to why it's happening.

When Texas redistricted, when Missouri followed suit, and now there's pressure in Indiana, it's because the president right now is weaponizing the primary system to get it done.

When he swoops into a state, it is, get this, find me five more seats, or I'm going to primary you in your next election.

So I think it's important we connect the dots back to the political incentives piece, which is

How primaries can be weaponized, not just to push people to the extremes, but to push them to do undemocratic things to consolidate power.

The opposite is true as well, or the other side of the coin, which is that if we didn't have party primaries, this challenge of safe districts or districts that are heavily lopsided would matter less, Chuck, because...

There would be more competition in the general election if we advanced more than two candidates rather than what it is right now.

Yeah.

You think about it, the midterm elections that we're going to go into, in 90% of the districts, these elections are over before people show up in November.