Democrats in the California governor’s race are sparring this week after the state party chairman called on the least competitive candidates to drop out before a Friday deadline to officially enter the June primary.
Candidates polling at the bottom of the crowded field began attacking one another and party leadership in earnest on Tuesday and injected the increasingly volatile contest with racial politics.
The jabs came as California Democrats began panicking over the unthinkable prospect that they could be locked out of the general election because too many of their candidates might split the vote and allow Republicans to benefit from the top-two primary system.
The candidates for governor turned on one another hours after Rusty Hicks, the chairman of the California Democratic Party, published an open letter calling on the candidates in his party to “honestly assess the viability” of their campaigns and drop out if they are bound to lose. At least nine Democrats have entered the race.
Tony Thurmond, the state schools superintendent, who is Black, quickly criticized Mr. Hicks for “essentially telling every candidate of color” to drop out, while seeming to support the continuance of the three white Democrats who are at the top of the polls.
Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles who is Latino, did not rebuke Mr. Hicks but singled out one candidate who he thought should back down: Xavier Becerra, another prominent Latino. Mr. Becerra fired back on social media by saying that Mr. Villaraigosa had “never won a statewide election before despite multiple attempts.”
California Republicans seemed to revel in all of it, begging the sparring Democrats to stay in the race.
Republicans are in better shape — for now — because they have only two prominent candidates, each of whom could receive more votes than any of the nine Democrats if nothing changes. The more Democrats that stay in the race, the better the chances the Republicans have of sweeping the top two spots and moving to the general election.
Under California’s nonpartisan primary, all candidates run on the same ballot, and the two who receive the most votes advance regardless of their party. Polls show that the Democratic electorate could splinter and hand the top two spots to Republicans.
“While it is implausible, it is not impossible and I know we are collectively committed to taking the steps required to avoid that possibility,” Mr. Hicks wrote in his letter to candidates.
On Tuesday evening, Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has not endorsed a successor and cannot run again because of term limits, said that he agreed with Mr. Hicks. Democrats need to eliminate the possibility that two Republicans win the primary, he said, in order to maintain California’s power as an anti-Trump bastion.
“There is no margin for error,” Mr. Newsom said during an appearance in Los Angeles in which he promoted his new memoir.
The most recent poll, from the Public Policy Institute of California, showed three Democrats and two Republicans in a statistical tie at the top, with a cluster of other Democrats polling in the low single digits. The poll’s top Democratic candidates were Katie Porter, a former congresswoman; Representative Eric Swalwell; and Tom Steyer, a billionaire activist. All three are white.
The top Republican candidates are also white: Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, and Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County. Candidates receiving less support in the polls have been more reflective of California’s ethnic diversity, including experienced politicians who are Latino, Asian American and Black.
Robert Rivas, the Democratic speaker of the State Assembly, also called on Democrats to get out of the race if their campaigns were flagging. He did not name names.
“With respect, they know who they are,” he said in a statement.
Candidates are not heeding the call, however, with Friday’s filing deadline fast approaching. Mr. Villaraigosa announced on Tuesday that he was spending $2.1 million on a new TV ad, and shared a website on social media that was loaded with attacks on Mr. Becerra. (The rivalry between the men dates back at least 25 years, to when they ran against each other for mayor of Los Angeles and split most of the Latino vote.)
By Wednesday, Mr. Becerra, Mr. Thurmond and Betty Yee, a former state controller, all announced that they had filed the official paperwork to run.
Republicans seized on the situation. They spliced Mr. Thurmond’s video into a new message that featured Corrin Rankin, chairwoman of the California Republican Party and the first Black woman to hold the position. She could barely contain her glee as she said that the state Democratic Party was “ordering every candidate of color to drop out for your three establishment favorites.”
“Classic,” Ms. Rankin said in the video. “Democrats don’t want democracy; they want their kings.”
All candidates who file the necessary paperwork this week will be on the ballot in June. However, they could end their campaigns at any time and endorse a stronger candidate.
Mr. Hicks called on weaker candidates to do so by April 15 if they did not heed his message to drop out this week.
Laurel Rosenhall is a Sacramento-based reporter covering California politics and government for The Times.
The post Democratic Infighting Begins in California Governor’s Race appeared first on New York Times.
