Most Americans have a negative view of Congress and see it as stagnant, and that’s got some Democratic lawmakers wanting to change America’s winner-takes-all electoral system to one based on proportional representation.
According to a report by NOTUS, Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez and Jared Golden—each of whom recently won reelection in traditionally red districts—have proposed a task force to look at implementing nonpartisan open primaries, establishing independent redistricting commissions, introducing multimember districts that reflect a party’s share of the vote, and expanding the House of Representatives beyond its current 435 members.
The task force aims to be equally bipartisan. It would meet for a year, hold public hearings, and provide final recommendations to Congress and the president.
In the U.S.’s current system, the House candidate who receives the majority of the vote in a general election wins the entire district. This tends to favor two major opposing parties since smaller parties lack a geographical base and find it difficult to win seats.
“My seat was drawn to be a red seat,” Gluesenkamp Perez told NOTUS in an interview, arguing that when members of Congress have guaranteed seats, they become complacent and out of touch.
“We need that competition,” she said. “We need that urgency.”
The system she and Golden are proposing to study would more closely resemble those in Italy, Germany, and New Zealand. And these lawmakers argue that proportional reform like this would allow Americans to be more accurately represented in Congress, reduce the influence of extremists, and create space for more than two political parties.
