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Meet the change leaders: Rob Richie

Rob Richie
FairVote

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

Rob Richie is senior advisor at FairVote, an organization he co-founded in 1992 and led as CEO from 1992 to 2023. He has helped advance major electoral reforms, including the Fair Representation Act in Congress, a national popular vote plan, ranked-choice voting in Alaska, Maine and more than 50 cities, and voter access changes like preregistration, automatic voter registration, and remedies in voting rights cases.


His thought leadership contributions include invention of the partisan voting index to project federal elections and Alaska’s top-four primary that combines all-candidate, open primaries with ranked-choice voting.

He is a frequent media source and has been a guest on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “On the Media” and “Fresh Air,” C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox and NBC. His writings have appeared in numerous major daily newspapers and in 11 books, including as co-author of “Every Vote Equal” and “Whose Votes Count.” He has addressed conventions of the American Political Science Association, National Association of Counties, National Association of Secretaries of State and National Conference of State Legislatures. He is a graduate of Haverford College, where he serves on its Corporation. He and RepresentWomen CEO Cynthia Terrell are parents of Savanna, Lucas and Rebecca.

I had the wonderful opportunity to interview Richie a few weeks ago for the CityBiz “Meet the Change Leaders” series. Watch to learn the full extent of his democracy reform work:

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

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Former Presidents Should Be Seen, Not Heard

From left, Marilyn Quayle, former U.S. Vice Presidents Al Gore and Mike Pence, Karen Pence, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former U.S. President George W. Bush, Laura Bush, former U.S. President Barack Obama, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Melania Trump, U.S. President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden U.S. Vice President...

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Former Presidents Should Be Seen, Not Heard

Like children, former presidents should be seen, but not heard. I say that with deep respect for the men who were privileged enough to serve as presidents of the United States and are alive today. Historically, we have not heard the repeated voices of former presidents during the term of another president, that is, until today. Call it respect for the position, the person, and yes, the American people.

We get one president at a time. It is not like a football game and the commentary shows after it, in which we can play the Monday morning quarterback and coach, constantly second-guessing decisions made by the team. The comments – “he should have done this” or “I would have done X” – are not needed or desired.

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The Deceit of MAGA
a red hat that reads make america great again

The Deceit of MAGA

"Make America Great Again" is a great slogan. The problem is that Trump's MAGA is a deceit. Each and every principle of MAGA—either in concept or in execution— does not make America great again. Instead, it makes America smaller. Let me explain.

The overarching theme of MAGA is "America First." It is to that end that illegal immigrants are being deported; that wokeness is being eliminated from all Federal and Federally-funded programs; that tariffs are being placed on foreign-produced goods; that regulation of business is being rolled back; that the America working man and farmers are being supported; and that we are returning to our founding principles.

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America can rebuild the East Wing, but what about democracy?

An excavator sits on the rubble after the East Wing of the White House was demolished on Oct. 28, 2025, in Washington, D.C. The demolition is part of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to build a ballroom on the eastern side of the White House.

(Alex Wong/Getty Images/TNS)

America can rebuild the East Wing, but what about democracy?

Here’s the problem with fuming over the bricks and mortar that was once the East Wing of the White House: The time and energy should go to understanding and reacting to the damage the administration has already caused to our institutions and ideals.

Here are just a few of them: The chaos the administration is inflicting on higher education, its attacks on court precedents upholding voting rights, disregard for public policy that looks out for farmers and other working people trying to build or maintain a decent middle-class way of life, not to mention the chaos the administration is unleashing around the world.

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Donald Trump Isn’t a Dictator, but His Goal May Actually Be Worse

U.S. President Donald Trump displays an executive order he signed announcing tariffs on auto imports in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 26, 2025.

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Donald Trump Isn’t a Dictator, but His Goal May Actually Be Worse

Julius Caesar still casts a long shadow. We have a 12-month calendar — and leap year — thanks to Julius. July is named after him (though the salad isn’t). The words czar and kaiser, now mostly out of use, simply meant “Caesar.”

We also can thank Caesar for the durability of the term “dictator.” He wasn’t the first Roman dictator, just the most infamous one. In the Roman Republic, the title and authority of “dictator” was occasionally granted by the Senate to an individual to deal with a big problem or emergency. Usually, the term would last no more than six months — shorter if the crisis was dealt with — because the Romans detested anything that smacked of monarchy.

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