{"id":12850,"date":"2026-06-06T15:31:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T15:31:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=12850"},"modified":"2026-06-06T15:31:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T15:31:33","slug":"will-california-governors-race-impact-future-of-states-jungle-primary-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=12850","title":{"rendered":"Will California governor\u2019s race impact future of state\u2019s jungle primary system?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In the weeks leading up to California\u2019s primary election, a longstanding debate over the state\u2019s so-called \u201cjungle primaries\u201d \u2014 where the top two candidates move on to the general election, regardless of party affiliation \u2014 got more attention as both Democrats and Republicans feared that no candidate from their party would end up first or second in the race for governor and, therefore, their party would get shut out of the November election.<\/p>\n

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Fast forward to this past week.<\/p>\n

With the primary election over and ballot counting underway, the Associated Press early Friday evening declared that former U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra will advance to the November run-off.\u00a0 Whether a Republican or another Democrat would join him was still up in the air.<\/p>\n

The race for governor aside, it was looking like one Democrat and one Republican would face each other in a runoff\u00a0in most of the other contests for statewide offices, including races for lieutenant governor, secretary of state and attorney general.<\/p>\n

So if the fears originally raised by critics of the jungle primary don\u2019t bear out in most of these cases, will there still be interest in reforming California\u2019s primary election system, or will that fizzle?<\/p>\n

Steven Maviglio, a veteran Democratic strategist who has teamed with former California Republican Party Chair Ron Nehring on an effort to get a measure on the 2028 ballot to do away with the jungle primary system, believes there would still be an appetite for change.<\/p>\n

There are other contests where it appears two candidates from the same party will move on to the general election, based on the latest unofficial election results, he said, pointing out the race for state insurance commissioner, where two Democrats currently sit in the No. 1 and 2 spots. Some of the state Board of Equalization and legislative races could also end up with two candidates from the same party in the runoff, he said.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, Maviglio said, even if it turns out that neither Democrats nor Republicans get locked out of the governor\u2019s race in November, the public is now aware that that scenario could happen.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cVoters really understand how this system works now in a way they hadn\u2019t before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Maviglio said Friday that the \u201cUndo the Top Two\u201d campaign that he\u2019s spearheading plans to continue its work to qualify for the 2028 ballot.<\/p>\n

Before California switched to a top-two open primary, where voters could choose from among all candidates in a race, the state had a closed primary where voters would select a candidate just from among their own party, and the winner would advance to the general election as their party\u2019s nominee. This ensured that each party was represented on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

But critics of this format said centrist candidates tended to lose in the primary, while those who advanced to the general election often were more extreme on either end of the political spectrum.<\/p>\n

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\n<\/div>\n

So in 2010, California voters \u2014 despite opposition from party leaders \u2014 approved Proposition 14, which was backed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, to switch to a top-two primary system intended to give moderate candidates a better chance of advancing to the general election.<\/p>\n

Matt Klink, a GOP consultant who worked on that campaign, characterized the conversations about a potential ballot measure to undo California\u2019s open primary system as an \u201cover-reaction\u201d to a worst-case scenario for the governor\u2019s race that might not happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy initial gut instinct is this sounds like a bad idea and a waste of space on what will probably be a crowded 2028 ballot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Because Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans in California, if the state reverted to the old primary system, the Democratic race would suck up all the oxygen in many races, Klink said, and little attention would be paid to the Republican race, rendering them irrelevant.<\/p>\n

But with the jungle primary system, \u201chaving everybody compete at the same time at least allows the electorates to see all of the candidates on the same stage at the same time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mindy Romero, director of the Center for Inclusive Democracy, believes that while there is still interest in reforming California\u2019s primary system for those who have long opposed the \u201ctop two\u201d concept, unless one political party actually gets shut out of the governor\u2019s race in the general election, the sense of urgency for change would die down for the average voter.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the wind will be knocked out of the sails here, assuming there\u2019s a Republican and a Democrat\u201d in the general election, Romero said.<\/p>\n

Moreover, because memories are short-lived, Romero said, if a reform measure makes it onto the ballot two years from now, voters won\u2019t necessarily be thinking back to this time\u00a0if one of the major parties does not get shut out of the governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

Maviglio disagrees. He believes\u00a0that, no matter how things end with the governor\u2019s race,\u00a0the anxiety caused by its prolonged uncertainty\u00a0could be a wake-up call.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe fear \u2026 is enough to remain in voters\u2019 minds two years from now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cVoters will remember that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An effort to place a measure on the 2028 ballot to reform California’s top-two primary system is underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nWill California governor\u2019s race impact future of state\u2019s jungle primary system? - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=12850\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will California governor\u2019s race impact future of state\u2019s jungle primary system? 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