Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer: 'End partisan primaries, save America'

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is now embracing a reform movement for party primaries: To get rid of party primaries as we know them, and replace them with the "top two" open primary system.
"The partisan primary system, which favors more ideologically pure candidates, has contributed to the election of more extreme officeholders and increased political polarization," Schumer writes in a column published Monday night at The New York Times. "It has become a menace to governing."
The top-two system involves all candidates running together on a single primary ballot, with the top two contenders — regardless of party affiliation — proceeding to a runoff general election. Its supporters believe that it encourages a larger turnout of voters in the open primary, and that candidates will try to reach out to the middle instead of the party extremes. The system has been used in Louisiana since the 1970s, and in recent years it has been copied in both Washington State and the nation's most populous state, California. Oregon and Colorado voters are considering adopting a top-two system this year.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Schumer also contrasts two recent party primaries, which produced very different results: The surprise defeat of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) by an even more conservative primary challenger, and the victory of incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), whose campaign openly encouraged Democratic-leaning African-American voters to cross over into the Republican primary in order to defeat the more conservative challenger. Schumer cites Cantor's loss as an example of the problems in current primaries and Cochran's win as a positive development in working out political compromises.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?
In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Sudoku medium: August 23, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Sudoku hard: August 23, 2025
The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play