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If A Sitting Politician Switches Parties Should That Election Be Rerun?

If A Sitting Politician Switches Parties Should That Election Be Rerun?


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I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud. I mean these people were elected by voters to represent them the way they wanted to be represented. If the voters expected a Republican (or vice versa) to represent them, then they don't want a Democrat (or vice versa) to represent them. It is my opinion that whenever this happens, that election should be rerun.
 
I wouldn’t want to see a blanket requirement. I think it’s up to each state to decide. I can see arguments for both sides of the issue.
 
I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud. I mean these people were elected by voters to represent them the way they wanted to be represented. If the voters expected a Republican (or vice versa) to represent them, then they don't want a Democrat (or vice versa) to represent them. It is my opinion that whenever this happens, that election should be rerun.


See West Virginia Governor!


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Justice
 
hopefully, the voters voted for the candidate and not the party

and if they did, tuff tushies
 
So, you are agreeing with me?

That would be something, eh?

I think if a politician runs as X, they should finish the term as X. Otherwise it seems like a bait and switch......
 
I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud.
No, it just means they switched parties.

What are they supposed to do, call an election in the middle of their term? I don't think there is even a mechanism for that.

They will be up for re-election at the end of their term. Problem solved.
 
Since the United States are made up of representative democracies in which we vote for individual candidates who belong to political parties, rather than political parties themselves, I believe the answer must be a resounding "no." And if their constituents of feel betrayed by their representatives' being political turncoats, then the remedy is quite clear: Vote them out of office come the next election.
 
I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud. I mean these people were elected by voters to represent them the way they wanted to be represented. If the voters expected a Republican (or vice versa) to represent them, then they don't want a Democrat (or vice versa) to represent them. It is my opinion that whenever this happens, that election should be rerun.

I am rather sympathetic to your opinion on this issue. Yes, there is the element that the people have been deceived and tricked and that is simply not right. I would suggest that there be laws which states that if an elected office holder switches parties and there is more than one year to go on their term, a new election must be held within sixty days.
 
Since the United States are made up of representative democracies in which we vote for individual candidates who belong to political parties, rather than political parties themselves, I believe the answer must be a resounding "no." And if their constituents of feel betrayed by their representatives' being political turncoats, then the remedy is quite clear: Vote them out of office come the next election.

Exactly we vote for people who are in parties not parties who nominate people. At least we should be. I know many people on both sides vote party but their vote is going to a person.
 



What if a sitting politician releases this?
 
A politician should do whatever they believe is best for their constituents, labels be damned.
 
No. That just further solidifies the party-over-country road we have been heading down.
 
Yes, a new election should be held because all straight ticket votes for that candidate/incumbent should be erased as the voter didn't vote for the candidate, they voted for the political party.
 
Sounds like the people switching parties are falling in line with their understanding of what their constituents want.

“I hear every day from people who have been Republicans for their lives, lifelong, and they just said, ‘I can’t do this anymore. This is not what I stand for,’ and that’s how I felt,” [State Sen. Dinah Sykes] said. “I’m better served to focus on my job than trying to defend the Republican Party....”

“These are not surprising switches,” said Kansas Republican Party Chairman Kelly Arnold, adding that the lawmakers worked and voted regularly with Democrats. “I think they’re finally deciding that, you know, they don’t need the Republican brand.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nati...a601226ff6b_story.html?utm_term=.ef2c7f3f5ed1

Conservative Democrats seem to be making similar decisions, switching because they and their constituents were becoming more aligned with the Republican Party.
 
I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud. I mean these people were elected by voters to represent them the way they wanted to be represented. If the voters expected a Republican (or vice versa) to represent them, then they don't want a Democrat (or vice versa) to represent them. It is my opinion that whenever this happens, that election should be rerun.

As someone that lives in the state senatorial district of one of them, she was always a moderate Republican and was a Mainstream Coalition candidate. She has switched parties and is now a moderate Democrat and is still in Mainstream Coalition. She left the Kansas Republican Party because her district no longer supports the Kansas Republican Party. Despite being well liked in her district, its a highly educated upper middle class district and thanks to Trump and his supporters, that demographic has largely abandoned the Republican Party. What pushed her over the edge was when the Republican base in Kansas chose Kris Kobach, a vile bigot and nativist as it's candidate for governor (he ended up losing). Frankly decent people no longer want to be associated with a party that would run someone as vile and despicable as Kris Kobach for governor.

Let me also point out that I have lived in Northern Johnson County on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metro for nearly 15 years now, and I have voted for Republicans in state and local elections in Kansas far, far more than Democrats in the past, but I think most people in the area suburbs think like I do on this these days, and believe the Kansas Republican Party has basically done nothing but court the crazies since Brownback was elected governor, and are no longer going to vote for state officials in a state party that courts racists and bigots. Which is why I assure you that these politicians that have switched parties in Kansas will have a far better chance of being reelected as Democrats than they would have as Kansas Republicans.

Finally, while people are obviously partisan, we do not have a parliamentary system. People in this country vote for candidates, not a party that chooses candidates and if a candidate they voted for changes parties, they are still the candidate they voted for.
 
I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud. I mean these people were elected by voters to represent them the way they wanted to be represented. If the voters expected a Republican (or vice versa) to represent them, then they don't want a Democrat (or vice versa) to represent them. It is my opinion that whenever this happens, that election should be rerun.

Red:

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Blue:
Frankly, I think a voter who votes for a candidate "largely due to their party affiliation" should give up their right to vote. Such a decision making method strikes me as abdicatively irresponsible.
 
I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud. I mean these people were elected by voters to represent them the way they wanted to be represented. If the voters expected a Republican (or vice versa) to represent them, then they don't want a Democrat (or vice versa) to represent them. It is my opinion that whenever this happens, that election should be rerun.

I think it should trigger an automatic recall election.
 
Since the United States are made up of representative democracies in which we vote for individual candidates who belong to political parties, rather than political parties themselves, I believe the answer must be a resounding "no." And if their constituents of feel betrayed by their representatives' being political turncoats, then the remedy is quite clear: Vote them out of office come the next election.

Agreed, except we are one single federalist representative democracy.
 
I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud. I mean these people were elected by voters to represent them the way they wanted to be represented. If the voters expected a Republican (or vice versa) to represent them, then they don't want a Democrat (or vice versa) to represent them. It is my opinion that whenever this happens, that election should be rerun.

What if a party switches platforms after an election?

Should the representative have to switch positions as well to comply with the party's new platform?
Or should the representative stick to their campaign promises?


Voting for the party instead of the individual is a prime example of a low-information voter activity.
 
I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud. I mean these people were elected by voters to represent them the way they wanted to be represented. If the voters expected a Republican (or vice versa) to represent them, then they don't want a Democrat (or vice versa) to represent them. It is my opinion that whenever this happens, that election should be rerun.

Unless a politician is on his way out of the door and doesn’t give a crap anymore, almost everything they do is geared towards getting them re-elected. I think many of the people that switch parties do so because that’s what they think their voters want.
 
No, if they're still going on the platform that got them elected, what's the issue? If you vote for parties instead of individuals, you're an idiot.
 
Agreed, except we are one single federalist representative democracy.

On the Federal level, certainly, Phys251. But each individual state is a representative democracy in itself. In order to be a member state of the United States, your state has to have a republican model of government, pursuant to the Guarantee Clause of Section 4 of the Constitution. The reason I brought that up is because these were lawmakers for the state legislature of Kansas, not the state's Federal Representatives or Senators.
 
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I noticed in the news today that a couple of Kansas Republicans switched parties to being Democrats and it has happened to both sides a number of times. It got me thinking that if this person was elected largely due to their party affiliation and then they switched parties then that is, in a non illegal way, election fraud. I mean these people were elected by voters to represent them the way they wanted to be represented. If the voters expected a Republican (or vice versa) to represent them, then they don't want a Democrat (or vice versa) to represent them. It is my opinion that whenever this happens, that election should be rerun.

Absolutely not.

...it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinion, high respect; their business, unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasures, his satisfactions, to theirs; and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own. But his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure; no, nor from the law and the constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.
- Edmund Burke

Representative Democracy does not mean that you vote for a party, but for an individual.
You entrust that person with your mandate. If you do not trust that person to carry the responsibility, you should never have voted for him in the first place.
If more people lived up to that, we wouldn't have such a goddamn overabundance of party politics in the first place.
 
What if a party switches platforms after an election?

Should the representative have to switch positions as well to comply with the party's new platform?
Or should the representative stick to their campaign promises?


Voting for the party instead of the individual is a prime example of a low-information voter activity.

I don't believe there is a such a thing as a party switching platforms after the election. Party platforms are nothing but a myth. They are total and complete stupidity. Often times the winning candidate's platform is different than the official party platform, both before and after the election. Why they waste their time doing them is beyond me.
 
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