![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/vote-1024x576.png\")
Election Day\n(Photo:WWAY)<\/p>\n
\t\tElection Day
\n(Photo:WWAY)<\/p>\n
(ABC) \u2014 Are there too many Democrats running for governor in California?<\/p>\n
Corrin Rankin, the chair of the California Republican Party, told ABC News on the sidelines of a Republican National Committee meeting last month, \u201cI think the Democrats should have a few more candidates. I say, if you\u2019re a Democrat, and you feel like running for governor? I say, jump in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rankin\u2019s taunt reflects very real anxiety among some Democrats in the state in the 2026 race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n
California uses\u00a0top-two primaries, in which all candidates regardless of party are on the same ballot and the top two vote-getters advance to the general election.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been expected that a Democrat and Republican will advance or, given California\u2019s blue tilt, two Democrats. But a\u00a0crowded Democratic field\u00a0increases the chances that two Republicans and no Democrats make it past the June primary.<\/p>\n
For some candidates, it\u2019s been tough to break through, but they say they want to stay in because they feel their experience means they\u2019re best for the job.<\/p>\n
Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles and former state representative, told ABC News on the sidelines of a recent candidate forum in the city he once led that he\u2019s pointing to himself as \u201ca proven problem-solver \u2026 people are looking for competence, common sense and of course-correction. They want the next governor to focus on the challenges we face.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked more directly how he\u2019s trying to stand out and if he thinks the Democratic field needs to consolidate more before the primary, Villaraigosa did not say anyone should drop out but pointed again to his record.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m running on a vision for California that says we can restore the California Dream\u2026 [I\u2019m] the only one in this in this race who\u2019s been a chief executive of a large city,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Betty Yee, California\u2019s former state controller, told ABC News on the sidelines of that forum in Los Angeles that she is pointing to her statewide job experience and financial acumen as a way she stands out from the pack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think at the end of the day voters really do want somebody who can really just get on the job and begin to do the work,\u201d Yee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that it\u2019s a possibility at all is enough to raise eyebrows and generate concern,\u201d Steven Maviglio, a California-based Democratic operative, told ABC News.<\/p>\n
RL Miller, who chairs the California Democratic Party\u2019s Environmental Caucus, told ABC News that the scenario where no Democrats advance is a bit \u201cmore of an academic exercise,\u201d but certainly something candidates are discussing in fundraising emails.<\/p>\n
The Democratic field was effectively frozen for months until former Vice President Kamala Harris\u00a0announced she would not run. Around a dozen Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, former Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, are\u00a0vying for the nomination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Election Day (Photo:WWAY) (ABC) \u2014 Are there too many Democrats running for governor in California? Corrin Rankin, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":165204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,79778,79779],"class_list":["post-165203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-democratic-primaries","tag-republican-national-committee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}