California’s top-two primary might finally produce an interesting statewide race for governor. And President Donald Trump might be a pivotal reason why.
A half-dozen prominent Democrats are vying to take over termed-out Jerry Brown’s office in the June 5 primary. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has a comfortable lead, leaving his fellow partisans to compete for runner-up.
In California, unlike all but a handful of other states with partisan primaries, the top-two vote-getters in the primary move on to the general election. In a deep-blue state like this one, that usually means two Democrats square off to fight over who’s more authentically liberal while Republicans get to sulk on the sidelines.
But maybe not this year! The prospect of so many Democrats eating each other alive has given the down-on-its-luck California Republican Party its first decent shot at second-place in quite some time.
Read the rest at the Sacramento Bee.