How We Do It
Building a Government that Represents the Majority
At Best of Tennessee, our goal is to foster a state government that better represents the majority of its citizens.
Our strategy to achieve this is based on a straightforward premise inherent in any representative democracy: lawmakers respond to the voters who determine their political survival.
The Problem
Gerrymandering and geographic sorting have made most Tennessee general elections increasingly predictable. For 95% of state lawmakers, the primary now poses the greatest challenge to their political survival.
But primary turnout remains low and disproportionately partisan. That gives lawmakers a reason to prioritize this small group rather than the broader majority of Tennesseans.
The result is a disconnect between what most Tennesseans want from their government and what their government delivers.
Our Theory of Change
Shift lawmakers’ incentives toward representing the majority by expanding the primary electorate and mobilizing that electorate to impose meaningful electoral consequences.
OUR TWO-PART STRATEGY
1
Grow the primary electorate
Many Tennesseans vote in general elections but skip primaries. Research shows that these voters tend to be less partisan and less ideologically extreme than consistent primary voters.
We work to bring more of these Tennesseans into the primary process, focusing on encouraging less partisan Republicans to vote in Republican primaries and less partisan Democrats to vote in Democratic primaries.
2
Impact election outcomes
Growing the electorate is only the first step. We are also building the capacity needed to turn increased participation into meaningful electoral consequences for lawmakers who fail to represent the majority.
When lawmakers’ incentives change, their behavior changes. That is how we build a government that responds to the majority — not just the small minority that has traditionally determined primary elections.
