Primary season divides us

BY JOHN DESPELDER

Traverse Indivisible Education and Solidarity (TIES) is playing a district-wide leadership role in the First Congressional District primary season.

TIES is a nonpartisan 501©(3) organization that grew out of a recognition by Traverse Indivisible leaders that our community needs more opportunities for civic education and engagement. TIES is committed to building community through work that is rooted in dignity, curiosity, and respect, regardless of political preference.

The political process in Michigan has been with us for so long that it’s nearly impossible to imagine it working differently. Every election cycle, the two major parties use the primary season to select the candidates who will appear on the general election ballot. It sounds logical — until you look more closely.

Why do political parties get to decide our choices before most voters even hear from the people who are running? What gives them the right to narrow the field long before the broader electorate is paying attention?

If there is any real consensus in this country, it’s that our political system is broken. We are so steeped in division that we rarely stop to examine how much the system itself fuels that divide. The primary process rewards partisanship, discourages broad participation, and leaves many voters feeling shut out. It doesn’t have to be this way.

This year in Michigan’s First Congressional District, voters will again choose who represents us in Congress. If we do nothing differently, that choice will come down to the incumbent, Jack Bergman, and a Democratic nominee yet to be determined — decisions effectively made by a relatively small slice of the electorate. In 2024, only about 40 percent of voters participated in the primary, compared to turnout in the general election. That fraction of voters narrowed the choices for everyone else.

Do we wait for the two major parties to agree on reforms that would loosen their grip on this process?

Do we expect those who benefit from the current system to voluntarily give up that power? How long should voters wait? The answer is clear: We don’t have time to wait. If change is going to happen, voters and communities must act now.

That’s exactly what is happening across Michigan’s First Congressional District.

For the first time, local Indivisible groups spanning the First District are organizing Meet-the-Candidate forums during the primary season — bringing candidates directly to voters in rural and small-town communities that are often overlooked.

These 11 nonpartisan forums are taking place from Whittemore, north of Bay City, to Ironwood in the western Upper Peninsula, including events in Gaylord, Petoskey, Bellaire, Sault Ste. Marie, Marquette, Escanaba, Menominee, Houghton, and Traverse City.

To date, four of the six declared candidates — Democratic, Republican, and Independent — have agreed to participate in every forum. We’re encouraged by that commitment and remain hopeful that all candidates will choose to take part. Voters deserve to hear from everyone on the ballot.

These forums are structured, moderated, and grounded in civility and respect. Candidates are invited to speak to general- election voters, not partisan bases, and to listen to communities outside their usual political silos. It’s a small, but meaningful step toward breaking the cycle of division built into the primary system.

The Traverse City forum, scheduled for the evening of April 1, at the Milliken Auditorium, will be sponsored by TIES — Traverse Indivisible Education & Solidarity. You can register and find details of this event at mobilize.us.

We may not be able to fix the entire system overnight. But here in Michigan’s First District, voters are showing that there is a better way — and that it starts by opening the conversation, not narrowing it.

About the author: John DeSpelder leads Traverse Indivisible, a grassroots groups of citizens from diverse backgrounds who work to build a better world for future generations through informed, engaged and committed action.

DeSpelder