In the News: Richard Barton

"The vast majority of members of Congress...come from safe districts that are decidedly red or decidedly blue. And so the primary election is the only consequential election that those members run in and if those elections are determined by nothing but their partisan base, it's a pretty clear through line to how that really distorts our politics," says Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs.

"The state’s new election system, combining nonpartisan primaries and instant-runoff general election voting, makes elections more competitive and encourages cooperative governance," writes Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs.

"Given how partisan and ideologically extreme most politicians still are, are nonpartisan primaries really enough to save American democracy? While we’re already seeing improvements in the states that have them, the tide won’t fully change until a critical mass of politicians are freed from partisan primaries at the state and national level," writes Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of policy studies and public administration and international affairs.

The awards support undergraduate research projects.

"Primary elections are where most of those who govern us are chosen. Can making them nonpartisan—or eliminating them altogether—diminish the impact of ideological fringes? What has happened in Louisiana suggests that it can," writes Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs and policy studies.

"The Problem with Primaries," written by Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in American Purpose. "To free political parties from fringe candidates, we need to eliminate primaries that favor extremes," says Barton.

“The primary threat: How the surge of ideological challengers is exacerbating partisan polarization," authored by Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affair, was published in Party Politics.

"Upending the New Deal Regulatory Regime: Democratic Party Position Change on Financial Regulation," authored by Richard Barton, assistant teaching professor of public administration and international affairs, was published in Perspectives on Politics.