OPINION:
I recently misheard an NPR report and thought I heard that nearly 90% of U.S. House elections were uncontested. I checked; I was wrong.
But the mistake led me to a more interesting distinction: Uncontested is not the same thing as uncompetitive.
There are 435 House seats. In the mid-July Cook Political Report ratings, 369 were “Solid Democratic” or “Solid Republican.” Only 18 were “Toss Up”s. That doesn’t mean the other elections don’t matter or that their outcomes are predetermined, but it does suggest that meaningful political competition is distributed remarkably unevenly.
This summer’s primaries make the point. We have watched some incumbents survive challenges, other incumbents lose, ideological factions battle their own parties and nominees emerge from crowded fields
In heavily partisan districts, some of those contests may prove more consequential than the midterms come November.
Political competition hasn’t disappeared. It has moved.
That leaves a question worth asking as the midterm elections approach: Of the 435 members Americans send to the House, how many are really chosen on Election Day and how many are effectively chosen on primary day?
Either way, both days deserve our ballots.
BRIAN MACCOLL
Pelham, New York
Please read our comment policy before commenting.