On the evening of November 5, the U.S. House passed the infrastructure bill that had already passed the U.S. Senate months ago. Thirteen Republicans in the House voted for the bill, bucking their party’s leadership. They are Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Andrew Gabarino of New York, Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, John Katko of New York, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, David McKinley of West Virginia, Tom Reed of New York, Chris Smith of New Jersey, Fred Upton of Michigan, Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, and Don Young of Alaska.

There are fourteen Republicans in the U.S. House from top-two states (Washington and California). There are also five Republicans in the U.S. House from Louisiana, a state in which (like the top-two states) there are no party nominees. Over and over, we are told that partisan primaries are the evil that causes polarization. Yet none of the 19 Republicans from the states without partisan congressional primaries voted for the Infrastructure bill.

Opponents of party primaries ought to take note.

The Green Party has compiled a list of 17 party members who were elected to public office on November 2, 2021. See here.

The national office of the Libertarian Party estimates that approximately 150 party members were elected to party office on November 2. The office is still working on the complete list. See this press release.