Peter —

It took four days and 15 votes to finally elect a Speaker of the House. C-SPAN became must-watch Friday night TV, and political pundits reveled in sharing their hot takes for this once-in-a-century spectacle. While it might be fun fodder for the press and political insiders, the cessation of the people’s business by 20 elected officials of a 435-member legislative body is not “what democracy looks like,” as some have claimed. It’s further evidence of a completely broken system in which two entrenched parties have no incentive to cooperate—let alone help the other govern.

Republicans chose to allow 10% of their caucus—and the most extreme voices of their party—to completely control the Speaker’s election, and with it, control the Speaker himself. These are the same bad actors who choose to spend their time promoting the Big Lie and spreading disinformation, rather than sincerely governing. Speaker McCarthy is now both indebted to and undermined by this radical faction who gave him the gavel.

Democrats, for their part, failed to act in good faith to find or support a unity candidate to lead the House. Why? Because they had no political incentive to come to the table. Instead they closed ranks, operating in lockstep from the sidelines to highlight the chaos of their rival party rather than even attempt to find a bipartisan alternative.

But the news isn’t all bad. The partisan gamesmanship in Washington is in contrast to how state legislative bodies have managed similar razor-thin partisan divides across the country. In Pennsylvania, the State House has a one-seat Democratic majority, 102-101. Last week, the deadlock was broken in their speakership election with all seven members of GOP leadership and nine others in the caucus joining all Democrats to elect Democratic State Rep. Mark Rozzi as House Speaker. The 400-member New Hampshire House currently has a 201-197 Republican majority (with two seats vacant). GOP Gov. Chris Sununu celebrated the nearly even split as an “awesome opportunity” for cooperation. And in Ohio, moderate Republicans and the Democratic caucus joined forces to keep a hardline conservative from taking the Speaker’s gavel. Well done!👏🏻

• How Republicans are transforming the House in the majority —Associated Press
• House GOP approves resolution to create panel to probe ‘weaponization’ of federal government —The Hill
• House Republicans votes to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics —Insider
• That McCarthy PAC concession? It could elect far-right candidates in 2024 —The Bulwark
• McCarthy’s victory will have economic and political consequences —The New Yorker

OTHER NEWS & VIEWS

Breaking through partisan lines in PA
A former Philadelphia election official who received death threats for defending the city’s 2020 vote-counting against former President Donald Trump’s lies will be nominated for the top election administration post in Pennsylvania. What makes the nomination notable is that Al Schmidt is a Republican, and he’s been nominated by a Democrat, Gov.-Elect Josh Shapiro. “Al Schmidt has a proven track record of defending our democracy, protecting voting rights, and standing up to extremism—even in the face of grave threats,” Shapiro said when announcing the nomination. It was his first Cabinet selection to be publicly announced ahead of his Jan. 17 inauguration. —NBC News

Kiefer: The Alaska model for U.S. politics
“A key element in making this ‘Alaska way’ possible is a different way of voting. Last year, Alaska put into practice a first-in-the-nation voting system of completely open primaries and ranked-choice voting. It resulted in this red state sending two moderates to Congress. … Bipartisanship is also evident in the state Legislature, where Senate Republicans—despite having the most members—have decided to start the new year in Juneau with a majority coalition with Democrats.” —The Christian Science Monitor

Shapiro: Gerrymandering isn’t dead
“[T]he majority parties in…40 states continue to approach redistricting as a political opportunity—and in the era of big data, the resources for successful gerrymandering have never been greater. Both parties can access databases with all the information they need to predict voting behavior, including every adult’s age, gender, income, race, education, occupation, party registration, and past voting history, by household. It’s simple to apply that data to geography-based software to draw House districts to one party’s substantial advantage.” —Robert Shapiro in Washington Monthly

Ellis: Fixing the broken system
“For more than a decade, we have watched the increasing ineffectiveness of the two-party system play out with the lack of civility, cooperation, and compromise. We see it most prominently in the U.S. Congress. But the same is occurring in many state legislatures where the will of the public on issues—whether about sensible gun control measures, access to health care, immigration reform, increase in the minimum wage, and myriad others—has been derailed by special interests and extreme voices.” —Janice Ellis in Missouri Independent

Congress can learn from state and local acts of coalition-building, in which public officials are actually doing what they are elected to do—work for the American people. But under the current system, the incentives are to divide and fundraise. Until systemic reforms open the U.S. political system to more choices and more unifying leaders, scenarios like this will continue to play out, and Americans will pay the price.

That’s why we’re building a new kind of party, one where innovation, collaboration, and problem-solving are prized above pyrrhic partisan victories. We must succeed in building this new political home, for the sake of our future.

All the best,
The Forward Party Team

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