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Originally published on The Fulcrum. Bernie Sanders ending his campaign, obviating the need for more Democratic presidential primaries, is the biggest news of the week about keeping democracy safe during the coronavirus pandemic. The Vermont senator dropped out Wednesday, hours after the end of a chaotic day of primary voting in Wisconsin that went ahead on schedule even though a federal court is keeping the results sealed until next week. Florida's local election officials and Democrats in T

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic and devastating impact on American society and the economy. All 50 states and the president have declared a state of emergency, and over 100 million Americans now live under stay-at-home orders. Meanwhile, Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Congress continue to squabble over a relief bill that the US desperately needs. Both sides failed to strike a deal on a multi-trillion-dollar stimulus plan over the weekend and on Monday, which prompted two parti

It didn’t take long for the presidential landscape to radically shift following a monumental Super Tuesday. Yet, despite the departure of the richest person to run for president in modern US history and the senior senator from Massachusetts, the true repercussions of Super Tuesday have yet to be fully realized. The reason? California has millions -- yes, millions -- of votes that have yet to be counted. AP quickly called California for Bernie Sanders on March 3 -- a big delegate prize for Sa

With a lot of primary left to go, the Democratic presidential candidates have raised and already spent a small fortune on their White House aspirations. So much for keeping money out of politics, right? As long as the there's politics in money, there will be money in politics. But there are a few good non-partisan political innovations that could improve the way money flows into political campaigns to make the system more transparent and fair to candidates and voters. In the meantime, looking

Illinois should host the first presidential primaries if the goal is to pick a state that most closely matches the demographics of the country. And Vermont, the home state of Democratic front-runner Bernie Sanders, should have minimal influence over the process because its makeup is least similar to the entire United States — meaning the results from that state would be hardly at all predictive of the nation's views. Those are among the conclusions out Thursday from the personal financial ser

By: Mark Schmitt (The Fulcrum Op-Ed) A presidential campaign is a contest of ideas, not just personalities. As candidates set out policy priorities and develop proposals, we learn more about what they care about, but we also see in their reflection what voters and party activists want to hear. The proposals that even the failed candidates embrace, and the priority they give them, can foreshadow ideas that will take hold in the future. New America looked into how the major candidates for presid

The beginning of the 2020 presidential election was an unmitigated disaster. Results that should have been reported the night-of in Iowa instead took days as a result of technical issues with an app and inconsistent numbers being reported. Politicos were baffled while accusations of a rigged process arose after the candidate with the most votes didn’t leave with the most delegates. At the center of the controversy was independent US Senator Bernie Sanders, and suddenly the question became whet

A South Carolina judge last week dismissed a lawsuit against the state’s Republican Party over its decision to cancel a 2020 presidential primary. The decision all but ensures that many of the state’s voters will not have a say in the presidential process. In her opinion, Richland Circuit Court Judge Jocelyn Newman wrote that the plaintiffs, among whom includes former US Rep Robert Durden Inglis, did not have “a legal right to a presidential preference primary, and the Court will not substitut

Former Gehl Foods CEO Katherine Gehl was among the headline speakers at the second annual summit of the National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers (NANR) on Friday, December 6, in Denver, Colorado. The event featured DaVita CEO Kent Thiry, RepresentUs Director Josh Silver, Independent Voter Project Chair and Executive Director Dan Howle, and more. Gehl, who co-authored a groundbreaking Harvard Business School report on the political competition crisis in the US and the duopoly at the hea

I have had the distinct honor of covering the nonpartisan reform space for the last seven years. In that time, I have seen it only build considerable momentum — and garner one historic victory after another. These victories come despite a mainstream political media narrative that is divisive, hyperbolic, and gives the loudest megaphones to those who wish to keep the United States trapped in a perpetual partisan war between the “Right” and “Left.” Nonpartisan reform efforts have, for the most