Mark Penn Says Democratic Primary System Now Worse Than Party Regulars Picking Nominees

What was said

"The party regulars used to pick the candidates and we said, you know what, we should put more democracy in that. Now that we put more democracy in it, it turns out that almost nobody votes in the primaries. With social media now, they can be gamed. You can get 7 10% turnout. You can bring in 5 10,000 people and you can have these elections won by people who are completely unqualified and have been picked like picking actors for a play."

Former Clinton White House pollster Mark Penn argued that Democratic primary reforms have backfired, creating a system more vulnerable to manipulation than when party insiders selected candidates. He cited low turnout and social media gaming as enabling unqualified extremist candidates like Graham Platner to win nominations. Penn suggested the party must grapple with whether the current primary system advances democracy or undermines candidate quality.