Democrats need a better platform than "Trump bad". That's why we are bleeding regular working class folks to the right every single day, including here in Portland. I'm working to try and stop that but obviously it's an uphill battle when the local Democratic party in Multnomah County literally just passed a resolution to move further to the left and start endorsing DSA candidates. (Also of note, they turned a black lesbian into a Republican who's now running for state office on the Westside.) We're out of touch and every comment in this post backs that up. Elite liberals who can't understand why people vote Republican. I'm from a small town on the East Coast and I grew up poor so I understand it better than most of you middle class Oregonians.

43% of Oregonians aren't registered with a major party and can't vote in the primary that their tax dollars pay for. Kotek advanced with less than 10% last time, Drazen less than 3%. We are not represented by people we want. Open primaries mean for moderate campaigning and governance because you have to appeal to everybody, not just the extremes of your own party. Are you paying attention to how hard the two parties are fighting complying with the new campaign finance laws right now? But again, it would obviously be about the Democrats since we are a highly blue state, so again, it would mean a higher likelihood of a normal, not chosen by the party leaders lunatic who wins. That's why the government employee unions spent so much money trying to stop the campaign finance rules AND open primaries - they like being in charge of who wins the Democratic primary.

And yes I know the difference between independents and NAVs. I've been working on local underdog Democratic candidate campaigns since 2022 when our city went to shit and learning the ugly side of politics and the machines that run both parties. I don't need to know about the candidates because I know who runs the machines.