Virginia Democrats in Richmond should focus on expanding democracy with Ranked Choice Voting

So, the good news is even though I didn’t win my race for Fairfax Democrats’ Vice Chair of Diversity & Outreach I did get to share an important message about the critical organizing needs in the Democratic Party and I was able to do it because of Ranked Choice Voting removing the threat of my participation serving as a “spoiler” in the race and fortunately another challenger endorsed by the new Chair defeated the incumbent who wasn’t delivering on the duties of the office.

Democrats should be “all in” on Ranked Choice Voting but unfortunately are being hampered by the weak leadership of party insiders in Richmond.

I appreciate the passage of SB176 in the Senate and wide support of HB630 in the House but what I want to know is can anyone offer any argument for watering this bill down without inclusion for other local offices which costs the state nothing.

Democrats should go on the record whether they support expanding RCV statewide because this obvious attempt to slow walk it is unacceptable.

Not only does RCV help defeat corrupted big names like Andrew Cuomo, and could have helped stop Trayon White in DC when he won back his city council seat with 28%, it also can help new voices compete which was needed in 2021 when two African-American women legislators were sidelined in their primary races due to the “spoiler” effect. As an example, Jennifer McClellan won the Fairfax Dems Straw Poll by 20 points with a big boost from the RCV Ballot.

The goal should be implementing Majority Rule "Instant Runoff" Elections (RCV) statewide in time for the 2028 Primaries as Virginia is being considered as an early primary state where the results could be pivotal to decide our nominee.

As you probably know, prominent supporters include Congressman Subramanyam who proposed a 2028 Primary RCV Bill in 2024 and Congressman Beyer who is a sponsor of the Ranked Choice Voting Act for congressional primaries which would have made the 2024 7th District Primary much more equitable and competitive as well as made every candidate better and helped their future development.

In 2020, a historic gay candidate and woman candidate were both forced to quit before Super Tuesday because the DNC primary system lacked RCV and all their absentee votes from mail ballots sent by presumably many seniors and military personnel were wasted. Learn more about RCV in 2024 as it is estimated 3 million democrats were partially disenfranchised by the plurality system.

Maine used RCV in 2024 and I don’t believe Virginia is less competent than Maine when we already are using RCV in Arlington and Charlottesville where it is highly popular among voters and especially candidates. In DC, Ranked Choice Voting passed with a super majority in all eight wards as pro-democracy reforms are popular and can help Democrats win future elections.

The bottom line is this, Democratic Primaries should be decided by Majority Rule not minority gamesmanship.

If Virginia Democrats believe in ending their complacency that rolled out the red carpet for Joe Biden to win the nomination without a primary debate and building a bench of future leaders they should expand on this bill and offer voters real RCV expansion by 2028.