| More

Where Are All the Party Switchers?

Posted By | April 28, 2009




What's really striking to me, as Arlen Specter switches parties today, is how rare the occurrence has become. With Democrats gaining power in Congress and in lots of state legislatures since 2006, I'm surprised that ideologically androgynous politicians haven't flocked to the Democratic Party. If you're an elected official who doesn't quite fit in with either party, why not join the one that's in power so that you can have a stronger voice?

One explanation is that fewer of these sorts of politicians are holding office. Most politicians these days owe their success to a particular political party and, on the issues, fit in quite well with that party. In 1994, the South had lots of conservative Democrats in office who, when Republicans won big that year, were ideal party-switching candidates. In contrast, most of the moderate-to-liberal Republicans have been swept out of office before they ever had a chance to switch parties.



 


Josh Goodman
Josh Goodman

Josh Goodman is a former staff writer for GOVERNING..

E-mail: mailbox@governing.com
Twitter: @governing

Comments



Add Your Comment

You are solely responsible for the content of your comments. GOVERNING reserves the right to remove comments that are considered profane, vulgar, obscene, factually inaccurate, off-topic, or considered a personal attack.

Comments must be fewer than 2000 characters.

About

GOVERNING Politics is the place for news and analysis on campaigns and elections. If there's a ballot measure in California, a legislative election in Alabama, a mayoral election in Anchorage or a governor's race in Rhode Island, GOVERNING Politics probably is writing about it. We love everything about state and local politics, from polls and campaign ads to policy debates and demographic trends.

RSS About this Blog Contact

Latest From Politics


Categories



© 2011 e.Republic, Inc. All Rights reserved.    |   Privacy Policy   |   Site Map