LETTER: Competitive primary election aren’t always bad for the party
A primary election is a device that is crucial to weeding out candidates and strengthening the one candidate who can do the best job for the party in an upcoming election. Because of this, I must vehemently disagree with Steve Sebelius’s Sept. 27 column, “GOP primary for the governor’s election is a nightmare.”
As you will recall, Donald Trump faced the same type of lineup in the presidential primaries of 2016 when the single most viable candidate on on the other side was Hillary Clinton — and he defeated her. He systematically eliminated the competition in the primaries to gain the upper hand, and then went after Ms. Clinton, defeating her for the presidency in 2016.
Mr. Sebelius argues that primary competition is a source of dilution of a candidate’s strength in a general election. Just the opposite is true.
