Primary Elections Skew Representation: Inside the 2026 Primary Problem

Earlier this year, the Bridge Alliance and the National Academy of Public Administration launched the Fellows for Democracy and Public Service Initiative to strengthen the country's civic foundations. This fellowship unites the Academy’s distinguished experts with the Bridge Alliance’s cross‑sector ecosystem to elevate distributed leadership throughout the democracy reform landscape. Instead of relying on traditional, top‑down models, the program builds leadership ecosystems—spaces where people share expertise, prioritize collaboration, and use public‑facing storytelling to renew trust in democratic institutions. Each fellow grounds their work in one of six core sectors essential to a thriving democratic republic.

Below is an interview with Beth Hladick. Beth is the Policy Director at Unite America, where she oversees original research and commissions studies that diagnose the problems with party primaries and evaluate the effectiveness of reform solutions. In addition to her research portfolio, Beth leads outreach efforts to educate stakeholders on elections and reform. She brings a nonpartisan perspective shaped by her experience at the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Oregon State Legislature, and the U.S. Senate.

Her Fellows for Democracy and Public Service Initiative will create “The 2026 Primary Problem: Diagnosing the Divide.” The project will use the 2026 midterms to shift the national narrative from "horse race" coverage to structural analysis and rigorously document how partisan primaries disenfranchise voters and fuel polarization.

Question: Tell us about your journey to this project. What experiences or feelings led you to believe that this project is important?

Beth Hladick: In working in the service of elections, I saw firsthand how their incentives shape their political behavior and how primary elections often reward ideological intensity over. I've spent years researching what we've diagnosed as the “primary problem,” which is that there is a low turnout in party primaries. In 2024, just 7 percent of Americans effectively elected 87 percent of Congress. And if you're wondering why Congress doesn't represent us or solve the urgent problems facing our democracy, I think it's because they're beholden to less than 10 percent of the electorate that reelects them in party primaries. We're in a midterm election season that will be the least competitive of our lifetimes, meaning that no matter who wins or loses in November, this will be the least accountable Congress of our lifetimes.

Question. Could describe your project, your approach, and your anticipated stakeholders.

Beth Hladick: The project is called the “2026 Primary Problem Diagnosing the Divide.” The plan is to raise the salience of the problems with party primary elections and the evidence on the impact of reform to demonstrate that it's the largest solvable structural democracy issue of our time. The project will use the 2026 midterms, from horse race coverage to structural analysis, and rigorously document how party primaries disenfranchise voters, distort representation, and fuel division in our politics.

Question. What practical outcomes do you expect? What tangible forms or actions can be executed?

Beth Hladick. We’ll produce two explainer videos and have a lot of rich analytical insights into how those videos perform. Who are those videos reaching? What's compelling? How are viewers engaging with that content? We live in an entirely new digital age, where the average American now spends about 150 minutes a day on social media, and about two-thirds of that time is spent watching video. So, we’re excited about the opportunity to reach people through video, knowing that's where many people spend their time.

Question. How might citizens or other key stakeholders utilize your work on this project to improve American democracy?

Beth Hladick. I think journalists can use our research and visuals to contextualize primary outcomes beyond horse-race coverage. I think it's also important that journalists pay attention to the primary type, especially in states that use closed primaries. Over 17 million Americans are locked out of elections entirely just because they're registered independents in closed primary states. Also, policymakers can draw on our research to better understand the implications of their state's primary system. Lastly, I think citizens can better understand how election design affects governance and can demand that systems reflect broader representation, participation, and accountability.

You can watch a video of Beth’s interview here:

- YouTube youtube.com

Bradford Fitch is the former CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation, a former congressional staffer, and author of “The Citizen’s Handbook for Influencing Elected Officials."