On December 17, four Republican members of the U.S. House broke with their own party and signed the discharge petition so that the House can vote on extending Obamacare premium subsidies. See this story. The four include three Pennsylvanians and one New Yorker. They are Brian Fitzpatrick, Rob Bresnahan, Ryan Mackenzie, and Mike Lawler.
All four congressmembers are from states with closed primaries.
Over and over, opponents of closed primaries preach that closed primaries produce extremist politicians.
WHAT GERRYMANDER HACK IS NOT AN EXTREMIST — ???
IE ANY OF THEM NOT FOLLOWING THE PARTY LINE ORDERED BY TOP PARTY MONARCHS/OLIGARCHS ???
Those who emphasize a distinction between so-called “open”, “closed” and “semi-closed” partisan primaries deflect from the fundamental issue that they are segregated by party affiliation and structurally prevent voters from forming ad hoc coalitions based on local issues. The election of a local sewer commissioner may devolve into a referendum on Joe Biden’s cognitive capabilities.
“Independent-minded” voters do not exist. Voters who don’t affiliate with a party, don’t vote in primaries, don’t vote in the general election, don’t vote in school board elections, don’t vote ever, and likely registered because they thought that the DMV would not issue a driver’s license unless they did.
Pennsylvania has 10 Republican Representatives. Seven voted with the GOP. They were chosen in closed primaries. There is no correlation, let alone causality.
Two of the the Republican cross-overs were unopposed in the GOP primary. The other benefited from a massive outlay from a Charles Koch PAC. In the primary, a Democratic PAC ran ads claiming the candidate was a leftist, probably in hopes that a lesser-qualified candidate would be nominated. He likely was elected because he had been elected to the legislature, in an extremely competitive congressional district. He emphasized border security and support for Trump, while running ads connecting the Democrat incumbent to Joe Biden’s debate claims that he had ended Medicare.