A sequence of pictures of Congress and payments being signed by Democratic and Republican presidents.
Think about a Congress the place politicians of various ideologies work collectively to move laws reflecting what most Individuals need.
This isn’t hypothetical; it’s how Congress labored for a lot of the Twentieth century.
There have been solely two main events, however every was way more ideologically numerous than at this time, so deal making and coalition politics have been the norm.
From Social Safety to civil rights to immigration and environmental safety, Congress bought massive issues executed.
That’s not the place we are actually. In 2025, American politics is caught.
Voters see little however chaos, as Congress lurches from one self-imposed disaster to the following. Incumbents get re-elected again and again, and but the events fail to move significant laws on the issues that matter most to Individuals.
It doesn’t must be this manner. To flee our two-party lure, we want a greater system of electing individuals to Congress: proportional illustration.
In early 2020, Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive Democrat from New York, was requested to take a position about her position underneath a Joe Biden presidency. She groaned. “In another nation, Joe Biden and I’d not be in the identical celebration,” she mentioned, “however in America, we’re.”
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez’s frustration with the two-party system displays the frustration American voters really feel each time they step into the voting sales space, after they discover themselves caught with the identical two decisions — and, in most locations, just one with any shot at successful.
As a brand new Congress sputters into gear, this rusty binary cut up — a product of our antiquated winner-take-all electoral mechanisms — is essential to understanding why our nationwide legislature has develop into the divisive, dysfunctional place it’s at this time. It’s why greater than 200 main political scientists and historians (together with one of many authors of this essay) signed an open letter in 2022 calling on the Home of Representatives to undertake proportional illustration — an intuitive and extensively used electoral system that ensures events earn seats in proportion to how many individuals vote for them. The result’s elevated electoral competitors and, finally, a broader vary of political events for voters to select from.
In 2024 fewer than 10 % of U.S. Home races have been aggressive. In a overwhelming majority of districts, one celebration or the opposite wins by landslides. Pushed by a decades-long geographic sorting that has concentrated Democrats in cities and Republicans in rural areas and bolstered by partisan gerrymandering, this cut up electoral panorama has fostered a polarized local weather that turns into extra entrenched with every election.
The guts of the issue is the system of single-winner districts, which give one hundred pc of illustration to the candidate who earns essentially the most votes and 0 % to everybody else.
Winner-take-all is the electoral software program that generates two dominant events and relegates third events to enjoying the position of spoiler and losing their supporters’ votes. This results in the identical high-stakes contest each two years between the identical two events, ensuing both in domination by one or in divided and paralyzed authorities by each.
The winners push by means of as a lot of their agenda as they’ll whereas they maintain energy. Dropping events usually refuse to work with the opposite facet.
In much less polarized political instances, winner-take-all techniques can do a good job of reflecting public opinion and sustaining democratic stability, however when a nation is deeply divided and huge numbers of individuals concern that they won’t be represented in any respect, the result’s an erosion of belief in authorities and rising extremism and political violence. Because the political scientist Barbara F. Walter has noticed, a majority of civil wars over the past century seem to have damaged out in international locations with winner-take-all techniques.
No democracy can survive lengthy within the face of this a lot division and mistrust. It’s hardly shocking, then, that greater than two-thirds of Individuals need to see main modifications in our political system. Roughly the identical proportion want that they had greater than two events to select from.
They’re proper: Two events competing in winner-take-all elections can not mirror the variety of 335 million Individuals.
The Repair
We ended up right here not by any acutely aware alternative. The framers of the Structure by no means addressed congressional electoral techniques. Slightly, an election that just one celebration wins, with a easy plurality, operates as a form of manufacturing unit setting for American democracy, one which we’ve uncared for to replace, regardless of radically modified circumstances. Because of this, we really feel trapped by a system we backed into with out considering a lot about it.
However what if we aren’t trapped? Most established democracies already use proportional illustration. The swap from winner-take-all to proportional elections has been the commonest main electoral system change amongst democracies in current a long time. Right here’s how it will work in the US:
That’s proportional illustration. Voters vote as they do at this time, however as a result of districts have a number of members relatively than single members, it permits a number of candidates to win seats and not using a majority of the votes. When the successful threshold goes down, the variety of viable events goes up. So a number of candidates from a number of events can characterize a district, giving thousands and thousands extra Individuals the chance to vote for a successful candidate, whether or not that candidate is a Republican or a Democrat or a member of one other celebration.
This brings us nearer to the imaginative and prescient of founders like John Adams and James Madison, who each warned in opposition to the hazards of two dominant events (or factions). As Adams wrote in 1776, Congress “ought to be in miniature, a precise portrait of the individuals at giant. It ought to suppose, really feel, motive and act like them.”
What would that appear like in 2025? What number of events would there be? To search out out, we analyzed knowledge from Nationscape, a big survey that polled lots of of 1000’s of Individuals on their political preferences. We used these solutions to distribute voters amongst six hypothetical events.
Providing Individuals a alternative amongst a number of events doesn’t simply give them a clearer voice in how and by whom they’re ruled; it additionally opens up potentialities for brand spanking new political coalitions, which may in flip result in the passage of broadly in style laws. Our politics could seem intractable at this time, however on points from gun management to immigration to schooling reform to A.I. regulation, successful coalitions are hiding in plain sight.
It additionally works higher with greater legislatures, however the U.S. Home has been locked at its present measurement for greater than a century. From the start of the Home in 1789 till the early Twentieth century, its membership grew roughly in step with the U.S. inhabitants. Firstly, there have been about 34,000 constituents per consultant; by 1911, that quantity had grown to greater than 200,000 — a lot bigger than the founders meant however nonetheless manageable. As we speak the typical district holds greater than 760,000 individuals, which is way too massive for anyone consultant. Because of this, tens of thousands and thousands of Individuals are represented by Home members they didn’t help and in a extremely polarized setting that leaves individuals feeling that they don’t seem to be represented in any respect.
The repair for this downside is to develop the membership of the Home of Representatives to mirror the scale and variety of the U.S. inhabitants within the 2020s relatively than the Nineteen Twenties. In keeping with many political scientists, the optimum complete variety of members of the Home and the Senate mixed is the same as the dice root of the nation’s inhabitants. Legislatures in democracies all over the world roughly align with this ratio; the U.S. Home did, too, till its measurement was frozen by legislation at 435. As we speak the cube-root rule would give us a Home with 593 members.
To see how these reforms would work in apply, think about Massachusetts:
A map exhibiting the congressional districts of Massachusetts, each earlier than and after the introduction of proportional illustration.
Massachusetts at the moment has 9 seats within the Home. All of them are stuffed by Democrats, although a couple of in three voters forged a poll for Donald Trump in November.
In an expanded Home with proportional illustration, Massachusetts would have 13 members, divided into three districts of 4 or 5 representatives every.
Sources: Nationscape; Redistricter
Not solely would right-leaning voters in Massachusetts get federal illustration, however the candidates they might assist elect would most probably differ from right-leaning candidates elected in Florida or Wyoming. The identical is true of the state’s liberals and progressives, who would most probably elect totally different candidates from these in Texas or Nevada.
If proportional illustration was used nationally, it will recreate the ideological range that’s at the moment suppressed by the two-party system. To see an image of how that might play out with multimember Home districts, we used Redistricter, a mapping utility for analyzing political and demographic knowledge. Right here’s what it would appear like.
| Progressive | 74 |
| New Liberal | 120 |
| New Populist | 132 |
| Development and Alternative | 122 |
| Patriot | 52 |
| Christian Conservative | 93 |
Sources: Nationscape; Redistricter
The massive good thing about proportional illustration is that tens of thousands and thousands extra Individuals would really feel represented in Congress. It might additionally successfully remove partisan gerrymandering and most probably enhance illustration of racial, ethnic and spiritual minorities. In all, it will be a greater technique to run one of many largest and most numerous international locations on the planet.
Eight Phrases
Many Individuals imagine the two-party system is inherent to the American constitutional design. However the nation’s framers didn’t intend it, neither is it discovered anyplace within the Structure. Slightly, the form of the Home of Representatives is remitted by a mere eight phrases of federal legislation, which requires “no district to elect a couple of consultant” — 435 districts, 435 members.
The legislation because it exists at this time was handed in 1967, to handle issues that white-dominated Southern states would exploit multimember districts to marginalize their Black voters, however variations of it have been in impact since 1842. Earlier than then, states usually used multimember districts to elect their congressional representatives. None of these multimember districts, nonetheless, have ever been proportional. All used a type of bloc voting — a majoritarian system through which voters can help as many candidates as there are seats, making it unattainable for minority-supported candidates to win. However underneath proportional illustration, bloc voting is unattainable as a result of every voter will get a single vote.
That’s one other factor about proportional illustration: As a voter, you wouldn’t do something considerably totally different from what you do now. You’d obtain your poll and decide the candidate you wished to characterize you in Washington. What can be totally different is that you’d have extra candidates and events to select from, and seats can be awarded in proportion to every celebration’s complete vote share in a multiwinner district. The winners could possibly be reported straight away. No new voting machines or procedures can be required.
And the legislation could possibly be modified to permit for proportional illustration tomorrow.
Can This Truly Occur?
Any massive electoral reform raises massive questions.
First, if Congress is already dysfunctional with two events, why would it not work higher with 5 or 6? The fast reply is that Congress would do what each different multiparty legislature on the planet does — construct a majority governing coalition out of a number of events. Get together leaders would negotiate to assemble their coalitions and allocate management roles and committee posts to mirror the bargains they’ve made.
If, for instance, the 2026 election have been held underneath proportional illustration, the Democratic Get together coalition may reorganize into three events competing individually for seats in Congress — the Progressives, the New Liberals and the New Populist Get together. Every celebration may attraction to totally different constituencies, together with many who at the moment really feel ignored or alienated by the two-party system. By spreading out obligations, Congress may function in a extra decentralized, committee-oriented method, with the Home speaker enjoying a much less highly effective position. That is how Congress operated within the mid-Twentieth century, a extra fluid period.
Elections for the Senate and the presidency would stay as they’re. However with a multiparty legislature, we’d count on coalitions of a number of events across the strongest presidential candidates, with cupboard appointments that mirror the successful coalition. This mixture has proved sturdy in lots of international locations.
And opposite to in style perception, we wouldn’t have to maneuver to a parliamentary system of presidency. Most international locations with presidential techniques use proportional illustration to elect their legislatures. The US is one among solely 4 secure(ish) presidential democracies on the planet that use a winner-take-all system to elect their legislature. The opposite three are Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Would sitting members of Congress ever approve these reforms? Lots of them agree that their establishment is just not working. Interviews with retiring members present simply how dysfunctional, chaotic and tough Congress has develop into — and why so many representatives now name it quits after a short while in workplace.
It’s not shocking, then, that requires reform are beginning to come from contained in the Home. In November, Consultant Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Democrat of Washington, and Consultant Jared Golden, Democrat of Maine, proposed establishing a choose committee to look at electoral reforms, together with proportional illustration and Home growth; final week they reintroduced it as a high precedence within the new Congress. In the meantime, incumbents who concern dropping their jobs ought to count on to be re-elected underneath proportional illustration, since they might profit from the benefit of being well-known.
A extra severe impediment is the leaders of the 2 dominant political events, who’re unlikely to help reforms that weaken their energy. Then once more, celebration management has been described as the worst job in America. And elected leaders do typically help vital reforms when voters develop into so disillusioned that they demand them.
Most of us, politicians and voters alike, have spent our complete lives on this damaged system. However imaginations can develop, and situations that appear unchangeable can change. They usually do in a disaster just like the one we live in now. It is a uncommon second of openness to reform, mixed with and triggered by the dysfunction in American politics. We must always seize it.
Methodology
To create the six new hypothetical events, we constructed indexes that seize the coverage views of Individuals alongside financial and social dimensions. The info are from Nationscape, a nationally consultant survey of a number of hundred thousand individuals fielded between 2019 and 2021.
The financial index we created contains positions on points associated to well being care, the minimal wage, environmental coverage, commerce and taxes. The social index contains positions on points like abortion, gun coverage and immigration, in addition to gender, racial and cultural attitudes.
We then outlined the positions of six new hypothetical events alongside these financial and social dimensions and matched every respondent to the celebration that the majority carefully aligns to her or his preferences.
New multimember districts have been drawn to accommodate an expanded Home of 593 members. The seats in these districts have been allotted based mostly on state inhabitants. For simplicity, no district has greater than six seats. In states with fewer than six Home seats, the whole state is roofed by one district.
We then positioned respondents into their new multimember districts and counted what number of supporters every celebration had in every district.
We handled the variety of celebration supporters in every multimember district as votes for that celebration and used these votes to determine what number of seats the events gained in every multimember district. Proportional illustration techniques use totally different formulation to translate votes to seats. For this train, we used a system first developed by Daniel Webster that tends to facilitate the illustration of small events.
