Only a fraction of House seats are competitive

In 2024, just 7% voters elected 87% of U.S. House races. Nick Troiano, executive director of Unite America, said there are some serious democratic issues raised by the fact that so few voters will have so much power to decide what party will control Congress. For one, he says, primary voters are not representative of the broader American electorate. According to an analysis from his group, primary voters tend to be older, whiter, wealthier, more educated and more ideologically extreme than the general public.

"And so when you look at an old, white, wealthy Congress that is ideologically polarizing, can't get anything done, they reflect exactly who sent them there," Troiano said. With so few competitive general elections, primaries often determine who holds power—but the voters participating don’t reflect the broader electorate. Expanding access through semi-open primaries would better align outcomes with the full voting population.