U.S. Senator BILL CASSIDY (photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Homeland Security)
Bill Cassidy was hamstrung in his re-election bid when Louisiana went to closed primaries for U.S. Senate races. Now, he wants to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. He has sponsored a bill that would require states to conduct open primaries for federal offices. Cassidy says it allows more people to have a say as to who represents them in Washington.
“When you have independents; in some states, 45% of the population, maybe you want the independent to have the chance to vote on who represents you,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy says had there been an open primary in Texas, for example, Republican John Cornyn would have been re-elected instead of Democrat James Talarico flipping that seat. Cassidy says more of the same will happen if states do not go to the open primary.
“If Republicans actually want to win elections, as opposed to just having a club where everybody congratulates themselves on being a member of a club, then you had better open your window as much as possible to have as much input as possible as to who our nominees are,” Cassidy explained.
Cassidy says he hopes his bill will pass in the weeks he has remaining in office; and if it doesn’t, he hopes future congresses will take up the issue.
“If nothing else, it plants a flag on an idea; and sometimes in Washington, people have to get their head around an idea before they adopt it,” Cassidy noted.
Comments