Democrats consider ranked choice voting for 2028 presidential primaries

TLDR:

• Democratic leaders held a closed-door October meeting to pitch ranked choice voting for 2028 presidential primaries
• NYC’s socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani won using the system, with 78% of voters ranking multiple candidates
• Advocates say the method benefits outsider and grassroots candidates over establishment picks
• Implementation would require approval from the 450-member DNC and changes to state election laws

Democratic politicians and activists are quietly pushing to overhaul the party’s presidential primaries with ranked choice voting, following a private October meeting with DNC Chair Ken Martin.

Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, pollster Celinda Lake and the nonprofit FairVote Action pitched the idea to top party officials, according to unnamed sources who spoke to Axios.

The timing comes as New York City elected socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor-elect through ranked choice voting in the Democratic primary, where 78% of voters ranked multiple candidates.

“It gives a better chance to new faces, outsider candidates, people with grassroots movements,” Ms. Lake, who worked as a pollster for then-President Biden, told Axios.

The system allows voters to rank candidates by preference rather than choosing just one. Advocates told DNC officials at a Washington breakfast that it would prevent wasted votes when candidates drop out and encourage coalition building.

But implementation faces hurdles. The DNC would need approval from its rules committee and a majority of its 450 members. Then individual state parties would need to amend their election laws.

Seven states and 14 cities already used ranked choice voting in November’s election.

Read more:

• Behind closed doors, Democrats eye ranked choice voting for primaries