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As voters across go to the polls from March to September to vote in the primaries, policy professionals are watching and analyzing each primary contest to glean insight into which issues will tip the scales in the general elections. Over the past decades states and congressional districts are increasingly more dominated by one party or the other. As a result, primaries are a time voters have real choices and can shape a party’s national platform.

Why are primaries more important than ever?

Primary elections are very important to keep track of because they give voters a chance to choose who the nominees will be for general elections. Although they are often not given as much attention as general elections, they can be the most consequential elections. The primary votes are barometers for parties and candidates to determine the public’s sentiments on key issues such as education, healthcare, the economy, and more. The outcomes of primary contests can often determine who will have a large advantage in general elections.

Types of primaries: Close, Partial Close, Open, Partial Open, etc.

There are several types of primaries, and the laws surrounding them can be quite complex. Primaries are categorized into different buckets: open, closed, partially closed, or top-two. We’ll break down the differences and their possible political implications:

  1. Open: Generally, states that do not ask voters to choose parties on their voter registration forms are open primary states. Voters choose privately to vote and do not have to affiliate with that party. This allows voters to vote across party lines. While some say this gives more flexibility, some argue that the system makes it harder for the parties to nominate candidates. Open primary states include Alabama, Arkansas, Michigan, Montana, Texas, Wisconsin, Virginia, and more.
  2. Closed: Voters participating in closed primaries must be registered party members. They will also typically affiliate themselves with a party on their registration application. Therefore, this system means that independent or unaffiliated voters will be excluded in participating in closed primaries. States that have closed primaries are Delaware, Maryland, New York, Florida, Nevada, Oregon, Kentucky, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania.
  3. Partially Closed: States choose whether or not to allow unaffiliated to participate in their nominating contests. This gives parties more flexibility about which voters to include but can leave room for uncertainty. States with partially closed primaries include Connecticut, Idaho, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Utah.
  4. Top-Two: California and Washington use a top-two primary format, meaning that all candidates are on the same ballot and the top-two vote winners in each rate advance to the general election—regardless of party.

Upcoming primaries

The first round of primaries started on March 1st in Texas. They will continue all the way to September, download the POLITICO Primaries Calendar to help you stay on track.

How to stay ahead

POLITICO Pro keeps professionals informed from primaries to November elections and beyond with dedicated analyses and articles surrounding midterm elections, primaries, and how they affect different policy areas. Subscribers also have access to the Campaign Races Dashboard, where they can access the latest election info and election outcomes through an easy-to-navigate interface. Check out POLITICO’s ratings and predictions.

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With recent elections in Ohio and Indiana now behind us, the 2022 midterm primaries are in full swing. With a third of the U.S. Senate and the entire House up for election, the outcomes of the 2022 midterm elections will determine the control of Congress. Furthermore, 36 states are holding gubernatorial races this November. You as a policy professional need powerful tools to keep track of high-stakes races, primary upsets, and political drama that could impact your legislative agenda.

How to keep track of all the races?

Every policy professional needs to keep a close eye on swing districts and dynamic issues that will influence the outcomes of the midterms. POLITICO Pro has expanded its editorial coverage and redesigned the Campaign Races Dashboard to help Pro subscribers stay ahead of this election season. Pro subscribers have access to real-time intelligence, expert analysis, and policy tools through one platform that helps subscribers see the big picture, home in on what’s important, and stay ahead.

The Texas primary on March 1 kicked off the 2022 midterm election season. The midterms picked up again on May 3 with Ohio and Indiana primaries. A dozen states hold primaries in May, including North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Alabama.

On May 2, 2022, POLITICO Pro rolled out new enhancements to the Campaign Races Dashboard. The new dashboard features 50-state House and Senate map views that help subscribers keep an eye on all federal races, vulnerable members, swing districts, and the issues that will help define the upcoming 118th Congress. Users can quickly locate incumbent and challenger candidate bios and their party affiliations through the dashboard. Primary election results, campaign expenditures, and fundraising data are updated throughout the election season.

The interactive maps also feature race rating information, forecasted by POLITICO’s campaign experts, that reflects the current trajectories of federal races. The Senate map also features two separate views for incumbents and POLITICO’s forecasted winners.

POLITICO Pro campaign races dashboard
POLITICO Pro campaign races dashboard
POLITICO Pro campaign races dashboard
POLITICO Pro campaign races dashboard

What are the key issues, and how will they influence elections?

Campaigns News (available only to Pro subscribers) is a one-stop source for all the latest election coverage and analysis of the news and issues at stake to help policy professionals understand the impact of election outcomes. Several key issues, from the economy to health care costs, may determine whether the Democrats can hold onto their control of Congress or Republicans take over. Here are some of the topics that PRO subscribers are reading:

Campaign advertising
TV ads digest: Abortion ads hit the airwaves

Primaries
7 ways Tuesday’s primaries could shake the 2022 election

Business
Crypto enters primary session with Ohio victories

Economy
Fed launches fresh assault on inflation in new era for economy

How will redistricting influence the 2022 midterms?

Redistricting is the process of redrawing congressional and state legislative boundaries. It happens every ten years after a census and is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Redistricting aims to create districts of equal populations and ensure equal representation. Final Congressional district maps are still being determined in New York, New Hampshire, Missouri, and Kansas. POLITICO’s interactive Redistricting feature provides detailed analyses of what new district lines could mean for the balance of Congress over the next decade.

The midterms this year will take place against the backdrop of inflation fears, an ongoing global pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, debate over abortion rights, and other contentious domestic issues. Subscribers of POLITICO Pro have a new interactive dashboard and exclusive election coverage and analysis from the nation’s top nonpartisan newsroom to help them navigate upcoming races. Learn more.

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It’s time – Midterm Elections are heating up. In May voters in 14 states go to the polls to decide on the nominees in the contest in November. This means a constant flow of information, cluttered news, and several swing-state races to keep up with. As a policy professional, you need election insights so you can forecast outcomes and plan ahead.

Why should I keep up with Midterms?

Every policy area you track will be affected by the midterms, including taxes, health care, technology, economics, energy, labor, national security and much more. The majority in Congress is at stake – and the current forecast for control of Congress leans Republican. Now is the time to tune in to navigate the potential policy outcomes for you and your stakeholders.

What issues should I care about?

The last two years have made this midterm election cycle more important than ever. Some of the major issues that you can expect to see discussed are inflation, reproductive rights, Covid-19 and expansion of government services. You need clear insight into how the midterm elections will affect major policy areas. With so much to keep up with, we’ve created more Pro-exclusive content to make Pros’ lives easier and dive deep into issues that matter to them.

Pro Analysis is an existing feature for Premium subscribers that allows you to get up-to-speed quickly on emerging issues with three-page snapshots on what’s at stake, key players, and next steps so you don’t have to sift through information. During Midterms this year starting in March, our dedicated experts have been publishing a series of new analysis pieces that will detail how midterms will affect every policy area including economy, education, taxes, environment, immigration, and more.

Read the latest Pro Analysis on how the stalled Build Back Better package and the impending expiration of Affordable Care Act tax credit will impact Democrats’ midterm prospects.

Check out the agenda for upcoming dates and topics ahead.

How to use data visualizations to simply complex issues?

In today’s information-overload world, combining the craft of data visualization and the art of graphic design can help you communicate complex information more accurately and effectively. One great way of using data visualizations is to include them in your presentations to illustrate key races and their impact on policies. See an example of a PRO exclusive DataPoint here.

During this midterm election season, Pro premium subscribers have access to visualizations for the races from the primaries all the way to post-general elections, including graphics around polling, redistricting, policy issues, and swing districts. Here’s a sneak peek of some of the topics and calendar ahead.

2022 midterm topics: redistricting, campaigns, election results, new congress

With midterm elections being so crucial this year, POLITICO Pro helps teams stay one step ahead. See everything Premium subscribers receive here.

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The 2022 midterm elections are gaining momentum! And as political parties and campaigns prepare for a showdown that will determine the control of Congress, you as a policy professional need to know what’s happening, what’s changing, and how elections could impact your legislative agenda.

What are midterms?

Although midterm elections often receive less attention than presidential contests, their outcomes have a significant political impact nationally and on the state level. Every two years, all the seats in the House of Representative and about a third of the seats in the Senate are up for reelection. When these biennial contests happen in the middle of a presidential term, they are called “midterms”.

How many seats are up for election in 2022?

35 Senate seats and all 435 House districts are up for election on November 8, 2022. There are also 36 gubernatorial races and many other local races. It will be a busy year ahead.

How to keep track of all the races?

The Texas primary on March 1 kicked off the first primary of the 2022 midterm election season, and May and June will offer many other races to watch. Every policy professional needs to keep a close eye on swing districts and the dynamic issues that will influence the outcomes of the midterms as Pro subscribers can. Subscribers have access to real-time intelligence, expert analysis, and policy tools through one platform which helps them see the big picture, home in on what’s important, and stay ahead. POLITICO Pro has created a robust editorial plan and redesigned the Campaign Races Dashboard to help them stay ahead of this election season.

In addition to race insights, the new and improved Campaign Races Dashboard helps them stay current on the accelerating election cycle. It features a 50-state map which helps them keep an eye on all the federal races, vulnerable members, swing districts, a list of all the U.S. House and Senate races on the ballot for that state, and issues that will help define the future 118th Congress. Incumbent candidates, challengers, and their party affiliations can be easy to track through the dashboard, and is powered by the latest candidate and fundraising data throughout the election season.

POLITICO Pro campaign races dashboard
POLITICO Pro campaign races dashboard
POLITICO Pro campaign races dashboard

What are the key issues, and how will they influence elections?

Several key issues, from economy to health care costs, may determine whether the Democrats can hold on to their control of Congress, or Republicans take over. Campaign News (available only to Pro subscribers) is a one-stop source for all the latest election news, and analysis of the news and issues at stake help policy professionals understand the impact of election outcomes. Here are some of the topics that PRO subscribers are reading:

Climate Change
What happened to Biden’s Climate Agenda?

Education
3 education takeaways from State of the Union

Health Care
Pro Briefing Takeaways: Outlook for Covid-related agenda

Employment
`Unlike any other secretary’: Marty Walsh’s hands-on approach to settling labor disputes

How will redistricting influence the 2022 midterms?

Redistricting is the process of redrawing congressional and state legislative boundaries. It happens every ten years after a census and is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Redistricting aims to create districts of equal populations and ensure equal representation. POLITICO’s interactive Redistricting feature is where you can find detailed analyses on what new district lines mean for the balance of Congress over the next decade.

The Midterms this year will be an exciting time. In the coming months, Pro subscribers will have even more dashboard features to help them navigate upcoming campaign races. Learn more.

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POLITICO hosted a briefing for Pro subscribers on Thursday, May 13th on President Joe Biden’s pair of infrastructure proposals, the American Jobs Plan and the American Families Plan.

Transportation reporter Tanya Snyder discussed the floated investments in physical infrastructure. Technology reporter John Hendel described what the plan could mean for broadband, and labor reporter Eleanor Mueller discussed its child care and paid leave provisions, along with its implications for unions and U.S.-based jobs. Transportation reporter Sam Mintz moderated the discussion.

Here are five key takeaways:

1) Biden’s infrastructure plan could stand a better chance at enactment than prior presidents’.

Tanya explained that while previous presidents’ infrastructure overhauls, like former President Donald Trump’s, didn’t get far, Biden’s seems to have legs. First, there is a single party controlling Congress and the White House. Second, the administration is putting a lot of manpower into selling the plan. Third, there are a wide array of interests reflected in the package. And fourth, there’s a sense that the government already spent a ton of money on Covid relief, so what’s some more going to matter?

However, the White House must still grapple with narrow Democratic majorities in both chambers and uncertainty over the process — for instance, budget reconciliation, which would allow the legislation to move with a simple majority.

2) The inclusion of broadband may be a heavy lift for the White House.

John pointed out that while broadband is superficially a crowd-pleaser that both Biden and Republicans embrace, GOP lawmakers have balked at Democrats’ plans to help less conventional entities like local governments provide service and efforts to pressure private providers on pricing. Broadband providers have typically resisted government intrusion over what they charge their customers. And during fights over net neutrality, one of the fears the telecom industry and Republicans regularly invoke is that Democrats will attempt to regulate broadband internet rates, though many Democrats have long said they have no interest in doing so.

But digital connectivity advocates have repeatedly pointed to high U.S. prices and lament that there’s not enough competition or incentive for bringing down the prices. Biden has put Vice President Kamala Harris at the helm of the effort in a sign of the weight he’s assigning the topic.

3) Budget reconciliation could strip out or pare down the plan’s labor components.

Eleanor explained that passing the bill via budget reconciliation would prevent the inclusion of the pro-labor Protecting the Right to Organize Act. It would also block lawmakers from being able to enact job protections for workers who want to use the paid leave program Biden has proposed, unless they are also covered under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. As a result, an estimated 40 percent of the workforce would have no guarantee that their jobs would be waiting for them when they return — and that number will only grow in coming years because of how the FMLA is structured. The culprit is the Byrd rule, which bars reconciliation bills from including policy-related provisions that are considered extraneous to the budget.

4) Don’t count on the inclusion of user fees.

Sam told subscribers that the White House has been pretty clear that increasing user fees like the gas tax is something the administration considers to be a tax on people making under $400,000 a year, which would violate Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on people below that income threshold. While the negotiations could go in unexpected directions, it seems unlikely that’s something the administration would bend on.

5) There are provisions to encourage companies to keep jobs in the U.S. scattered throughout the package.

Eleanor explained that the plan would set aside $46 billion for the federal government to invest in clean energy manufacturing, which it would spend on U.S. corporations. The tax component, meanwhile, would discourage offshoring by increasing a minimum tax on U.S. multinational corporations to 21 percent and calculating it on a country-by-country basis, along with attempting to end “the global race to the bottom” on corporate tax rates by encouraging other countries to adopt strong minimum taxes on corporations, among other steps.

*This article was originally made available to POLITICO Pro subscribers on 05/14/2021 at 04:14 PM EDT

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Ranked-choice voting allows citizens to rank their candidate preferences on an election ballot instead of voting for a single candidate. If one candidate does not initially win a majority, competitors with the fewest votes are eliminated from the race and their voters’ second choices are applied to the tallies of the remaining candidates until one candidate achieves a majority.

According to the group FairVote, two states have 2020 ballot initiatives to install a statewide ranked-choice system. Alaska’s Ballot Measure 2 would replace partisan primaries with an open primary in which the top four finishers advance to a ranked-choice general election, while Massachusetts’ Question 2 would retain partisan primaries but implement ranked-choice voting in both primaries and the general election starting in 2022.

Maine’s state Supreme Court voted on Sept. 8 to allow ranked-choice voting to appear on 2020 presidential election ballots but has not decided whether a ballot initiative challenging the use of ranked-choice voting will actually keep voters from selecting candidates that way.

Which states have ranked-choice voting?

How Ranked-Choice Voting Works

1. Voters rank their candidate preferences on ballots

Voters can choose to rank candidates, indicating on a ballot which person is their first choice, second choice, third choice, etc., for election to office.

2. First-choice candidate votes on ballots are tallied

If one of the candidates receives more than 50 percent of the first-preference votes, that candidate wins the election.

3. Second-choice votes of losing candidates are distributed among winning candidates

If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the votes, the candidates with the lowest percentages of votes are eliminated and their supporters’ second-choice selections are allocated to the remaining candidates on the ballot. This vote-redistribution process continues until one candidate reaches over 50 percent of the cast votes.

Pros and Cons of Ranked-Choice Voting

PROS

Could ensure that a winning candidate has a majority of votes

In elections in which there are several candidates, ranked-choice voting allows voters to support like-minded competitors to defeat an unfavored candidate. Fractured opposition can result in an unfavored candidate winning an election even if most voters oppose them.

Voters’ ballots count, even if their first choice loses

Even if your first-choice candidate loses, your vote still counts toward electing a candidate of your choice.

CONS

Voters’ choices may not count if all of them are eliminated

If a voter does not rank all of the candidates’ names on a ballot, leaving some selections blank, and if all of the voter’s choices are eliminated, that could result in the ballot not being counted at all.

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This post is excerpted from a DataPoint infographic that was initially made available to POLITICO Pro Premium subscribers on September 10, 2020.

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