How to Fix It with John Avlon S2 Ep67: MAGA Isn’t a Majority—So Why Is It Winning? (w/ Dan Cantor)
Mar 22, 2026
Dan Cantor, founder of the Working Families Party and leader at the Center for Ballot Freedom, explains fusion voting and ballot-access reform. He walks through fusion’s history, how it can reduce polarization by encouraging coalitions, legal efforts to restore it in several states, and practical strategies for building new fusion parties. He even recommends a TV show for inspiration.
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How Fusion Voting Prevents Spoilers
- Fusion voting lets minor parties endorse a major-party candidate and have their line tallied separately so votes add together instead of spoiling elections.
- Dan Cantor explains New York's Working Families Party tactic: voters pick the major-party candidate on the WFP line to send policy signals and win influence with 5–10% vote blocs.
19th Century Fusion Built Political Change
- Dan Cantor recounts 19th century practice where abolitionists used fusion tickets like the Free Soil line to influence Whig and Democratic nominees.
- He cites Charles Sumner as an example of a fusion senator who leveraged multiple party endorsements to push anti-slavery positions.
How Ballot Printing Enabled Two-Party Lock In
- Anti-fusion laws emerged after states standardized government-printed ballots in the 1880s and major parties enacted statutes banning multiple-party ballot listings.
- Cantor traces bans from Iowa (1895) through waves of state laws designed to lock in two-party advantage.