Most Pa. legislative races will effectively be decided during the primary

[FakeNoose]

Spotlight PA link: https://www.spotlightpa.org/news/2024/04/pennsylvania-election-2024-competitive-legislative-districts/

HARRISBURG — Millions of voters across the political spectrum will have little choice this year in who represents them in the state House and Senate, thanks to a lack of competitive state legislative districts coupled with Pennsylvania's closed primary system.
That combination leaves ultimate control of the legislature and its policy agenda in the hands of a small minority of the population.



The races for just 14% of the 228 seats on the ballot this year are expected to be competitive: 29 in the state House and three in the state Senate. Only 1.9 million of Pennsylvania’s 8.7 million voters live in these districts.

The candidates who will hold the vast majority of seats will effectively be decided during partisan, low-turnout primary elections on April 23. That’s because most legislative districts have a strong partisan lean toward Democrats or Republicans.

Dave’s Redistricting, a nonpartisan website that analyzes political maps, considers a district to be competitive if the partisan lean is between 44% and 54%; it produces these percentages based on a composite of past election results.

- more at link -

In Pennsylvania, any voters who skip the primary elections are effectively eliminating their voices from how our government is managed. Over the years our closed primaries have exacerbated the problem. Even though our state is roughly 50/50 D-to-R in party registrations, very few (roughly 14%) of districts are evenly divided and considered competitive.

This is why Pennsylvania Democrats must pay attention and go to the polls for all primary elections.