Study Group with Matt Raymer: The “Bad Candidate” Problem

This session will explore how national political parties can – and whether they should – influence the outcome of primary elections to stop bad candidates from losing otherwise winnable races at the general election. Why do bad candidates win, and should national party committees try to stop them? If so, does this suggest that candidate selection should come from the top-down, rather than the grassroots, bottom-up? We also will discuss how Democrat organizations controversially interfered in Republican primaries in 2022 to support the “worse” candidates, and why that was a winning strategy.

Guest: Ward Baker, Principal, Baker Government Strategies

RSVP here by 10:00 AM by March 22nd. You must register through this form and a limited number of seats will be allocated for in-person participation. We will notify you at noon the day of the study group via your Harvard email whether you will be joining in-person or via Zoom.

AUDIENCE: These conversations are open to members of the Harvard community. Please RSVP with a valid Harvard email address.

OFF-THE-RECORD: In keeping with our long tradition at the IOP to ensure honest and candid discussions of politics, all IOP study groups are off-the-record