Could liberal California wind up with a Trumpist governor? Yes. Here’s how |
People cast their ballots at a mobile outdoor vote center at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Election Day in 2024. Two Republicans running for governor could end up as the top candidates in the November general election.
This Christmas, let’s gift California an insurance policy.
No, not an insurance policy for our homes — those are too expensive, if you can find one in the first place. Instead, let’s get an insurance policy to protect California against Trump and his acolytes.
To secure the policy, the state Legislature must pass a bill to allow write-in candidates to run in our November elections.
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That may seem small. But it could be huge next year, because of the volatile combination of California’s top-two election system and a wide-open 2026 race for governor.
Since 2011, California has had a voter-approved, nonpartisan system that puts all candidates of all parties on the same ballot in a first-round election. Next year’s first-round election is in June.
Then the top two candidates, regardless of party, advance to the November elections. And it’s only two candidates. Write-in candidates cannot join the ballot.
Opinions differ on whether the top-two has fulfilled its promise of producing more moderate elected officials. But it definitely has produced some anti-democratic results.
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Especially when the majority party has too many candidates in a race, and the minority party has just two. In these cases, the........