Democrats have panicked all year at the possibility that California’s primary rules could shut them out of the governor’s office despite the state having an overwhelmingly Democratic electorate.
Now a Democratic strategist is launching a campaign to repeal the California primary system, an effort that is likely to attract serious backing not only from labor unions, but also from some Republicans and third-party organizations.
Under the current system, which has been in place for 15 years, candidates of all parties run on the same primary ballot, and the top two finishers advance to the general election. In some races, particularly in areas that are extremely liberal or extremely conservative, two Democrats or two Republicans have faced off against each other in November.
The new proposal, filed Friday with state elections officials, would end the nonpartisan top-two primary and revert to a traditional primary in which one candidate from each party advances to the general election. It would have to be approved by voters, and backers are hoping to place it on the 2028 ballot.
Steven Maviglio, the Democratic consultant who filed the initiative, has always objected to the top-two system but said he was motivated to try to repeal it this year after seeing the possibility of Democrats being shut out of the general election. At one point, polls showed two Republicans — Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, and Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County — atop the sprawling field running for governor.
That occurred because many voters were undecided, and eight prominent Democratic candidates were splintering the Democratic vote. Republicans, however, divided their support between just two major Republican candidates.
“The fear of having to vote for Steve Hilton or Chad Bianco sent a shiver up my spine,” Mr. Maviglio said of a potential all-Republican matchup in the general election.
Though his initiative, “Undo the Top Two,” was inspired by Democrats’ angst, Mr. Maviglio has assembled supporters from across the political spectrum. The emerging coalition includes Democrats, Republicans and leaders of the state’s Green and Libertarian parties, which have been locked out of most general elections in California since voters passed the top-two system in 2010.
Labor unions, who are major backers of Democrats, have not formally endorsed the measure. But Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, said she expected unions would largely support it.
Labor unions and party leaders have never been happy with the top-two system, and she said that voters were now waking up to its shortcomings because of the tight race for governor.
“Voters understood that a Democrat could get eliminated from even being in the top two,” she said. “That has really opened up people’s eyes to what could happen.”
It is not yet clear if the measure will draw substantial opposition. The California Chamber of Commerce was a key supporter of the 2010 move to create a top-two primary, but declined to comment on the new proposal. The chamber and other business interests have used the system to try to elect more business-friendly Democrats.
A study published in 2020 found that lawmakers elected in states with top-two primaries were less likely to take extreme positions on legislation.
If the measure qualifies for the ballot, it would mark the second rollback of a state governance reform that was pushed by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican who sought to diminish the power of political parties more than 15 years ago.
“Of course the politicians want to undo reform that is good for the people and not for the politicians,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said in a statement on Sunday. “They will always choose to move the goal posts instead of performing better.”
Last year, voters overrode an independent redistricting system that Mr. Schwarzenegger had championed to stop party leaders from drawing election maps to their benefit. Those leaders were convinced that California needed a gerrymandered congressional map that would help Democrats combat Republican redistricting in Texas and other states.
The top-two primary stems from the same era. In 2009, as the state struggled with a $41 billion budget gap, a Republican legislator agreed to help Democrats pass a budget if the Legislature changed the state’s primary rules. Supporters argued that a top-two system would take some of the extremism out of politics by empowering independent voters to help elevate moderates of both parties during primary elections.
Political parties and labor unions opposed the measure, but voters approved the top-two system in 2010.
Ron Nehring was the chairman of the California Republican Party at the time. He objected to the system then and has now joined the campaign to repeal it.
Mr. Nehring called it a failed experiment that has not delivered on its promises. He believes it has not helped elect more moderate lawmakers, and it has disenfranchised voters in some races by forcing them to choose between two candidates of the same party.
“That is no choice at all,” Mr. Nehring said. “That is a choice between vanilla and French vanilla.”
Anna Griffin contributed reporting.
Laurel Rosenhall is a Sacramento-based reporter covering California politics and government for The Times.
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