The Evolution of Primaries in Political Parties

Today, we’re sharing the re-launch of The Lever’s flagship podcast Lever Time. In this week’s episode, David Sirota and senior podcast producer Arjun Singh discuss the 2024 presidential election, and the Democratic Party’s efforts to prevent a primary challenge to President Biden.

Since 2008, Democratic Party leadership have worked to suppress primary challengers and support incumbent politicians. It’s not uncommon to see the party intervene in a primary on behalf of their preferred candidate in congressional and presidential races. That mentality was on full display during the 2024 Democratic primaries, where the DNC worked with its state affiliates to ensure that, in some cases, Biden’s two primary challengers didn’t even appear on the ballot.

Given Biden’s consistently low approval ratings and now palpable anger over his handling of the war in Gaza, it raises the question: did the party intentionally prevent a proper primary from taking place because they wanted to suppress any challenges to Biden?

Sirota and Singh unpack Biden’s popularity, and look back at what happened in the 1980 Democratic primary, when Democratic senator Ted Kennedy challenged incumbent president Jimmy Carter. 

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