Will Bill Galvin disregard democracy?
The secretary of state has a democratic obligation to include Biden's challengers on the ballot
Last week, the chair of the Massachusetts Democrats, Steve Kerrigan, submitted only President Biden's name to the Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin for the 2024 Democratic primary ballot. Kerrigan’s decision is yet another example of the Democratic establishment attempting to reinstall the president without a fair election. Despite leading far and away in polls, Biden has two nationally recognized challengers, Marianne Williamson and Minnesota representative Dean Phillips.
While Republicans and former President Trump are not committed to the democratic process, the Democratic Party’s continued attempts to suppress Biden’s challengers call to question their democratic loyalty too.
Since Robert Kennedy’s decision to remove himself from the Democratic competition, choosing to run as an Independent, Williamson has been Biden’s leading challenger, polling at a Real Clear Polling (RCP) national average of 7.8%, around 60 points behind Biden’s. Dean Phillips announced his candidacy in late October, after deciding he wouldn’t run for re-election and stepping down from his leadership roles in the party. Phillips’ campaign is based on his (accurate) assessment that President Biden has no chance against Trump in 2024. Phillips RCP national average is at 3.3%.
Biden’s team has refused to even acknowledge his legitimate challengers, nonetheless debate them (see my piece from July.)
For a candidate to appear on the Massachusetts primary ballot they must either secure 2,500 signatures by the deadline, be nominated by their party, or receive national media recognition as determined by the Secretary of State. Neither Williamson nor Phillips submitted the required signatures—Williamson’s campaign claims they were deceived by the state’s party until it was too late. Regardless, it’s undeniable that both have raised national attention.
In 2020, when the Massachusetts G.O.P did not submit Trump challenger Bill Weld’s name for the ballot, Secretary of State Galvin used his power to put him on. Weld polled higher than single digits. This year, in addition to Trump, the MA Republicans submitted Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, and Ryan Binkley.
The establishment has argued that Biden’s challengers are polling so low that they have no shot. This is probably true, but Trump's opponents are polling at an average just as insignificant. Both Hailey and DeSantis have an RCP average around 10%, and all of the others have a combined polling average of 7.8%. Why are they viewed as legitimate while the Democrats are not?
President Biden is one of the weakest candidates in U.S. history. He has a consistently dismal approval rating, fails to display any stamina for the job, and is increasingly unpopular with younger and minority voters, who Democrats have taken for granted for too long.
Former President Trump leads Biden in RCP’s national polls by 2.3%. Trump has continued to demonstrate his disregard for democracy. Earlier this month he said he wouldn’t be a dictator “except for day one” and that he supports ignoring parts of the Constitution to achieve his goals. Not to mention January 6.
President Biden and Democrats generally, have framed themselves as defenders of democracy, but can they really defend what they continue to attack? The Democratic establishment is betraying democracy by refusing to challenge Biden, effectively consenting to an even greater threat a Trump second term will pose.
Time will tell if Secretary of State Galvin will cave to his party’s establishment or protect democracy.