{"id":205466,"date":"2026-03-05T11:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/205466\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T11:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T11:14:08","slug":"too-many-democrats-in-california-governors-race-thats-a-great-thing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/205466\/","title":{"rendered":"Too many Democrats in California governor’s race? That’s a great thing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

After months of fretting, California Democratic leaders are now truly freaking out<\/a> about too many of their own running for governor, potentially allowing two MAGA Republicans to advance to the general election. <\/p>\n

Someone find me the world\u2019s smallest violin.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the latest mess created by a party that has held supermajorities in the state Legislature and the governor\u2019s mansion for most of the last 15 years, yet has done little to make life better for its constituents while blaming President Trump for everything. <\/p>\n

What does it say about them that no Democratic candidate of color is considered a favorite to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, when whites are only a third of California\u2019s population? That a party casting itself as the champion of the working poor against Trump\u2019s oligarchic reign isn\u2019t telling a billionaire like Tom Steyer \u2014 who spent $341 million of his own money on a failed 2020 presidential run \u2014 to bow out and throw his support and moolah behind someone else, just because he\u2019s polling in the top five?<\/p>\n

California voters have made the state Republican Party as relevant as the Angels in baseball \u2014 yet under Democratic rule, life keeps getting harder for too many. Especially galling is how the state Democratic Party has done next to nothing to help Latinos become household names who can win.<\/p>\n

Three Latinos with distinguished resumes \u2014 former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond \u2014 are running for governor, yet they stand as much a chance of moving on to the general election as Alfred E. Neuman. <\/p>\n

Latinos are a plurality of California\u2019s population and the bedrock of the Democratic Party. Yet there\u2019s a good chance that after November, no Latino will hold a statewide elected position for the first time since 2014. <\/p>\n

Yes, Alex Padilla is our senior U.S. senator<\/a>. But enough California Latino voters became disillusioned with the Democratic platform that Trump made large gains among them in 2024, and Latino GOP legislative candidates stormed Sacramento like never before<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So excuse my schadenfreude upon hearing earlier this week that California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks wants low-polling candidates to drop out of the governor\u2019s race, claiming in an open letter that their continued presence will \u201cimperil\u201d democracy.<\/p>\n

Candidates are definitely choosing \u2014 to spite Hicks. We all should. He could have made his move long ago, as the top Democrat in the state. Instead, waiting until just before the candidate filing deadline is more amateur than a Little League game.<\/p>\n

Worse, his move reeks of el dedazo, the kingmaking process<\/a> under Mexico\u2019s long-ruling Partido Revolucionario Institucional that translates as \u201cthe finger point,\u201d because that\u2019s how undemocratic it was.<\/p>\n

\u201cEl dedazo is not appropriate in California,\u201d Becerra told me, referring not to Hicks but to other Democrats who have suggested that he and others withdraw. \u201cAnd I suspect that very few voters in California think that a variety of choices [for governor] is not a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Xavier <\/p>\n

Candidate Xavier Becerra chats in a hallway during the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco last month.<\/p>\n

(Christina House \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

As of this columna\u2019s publication, not only has no Democratic candidate dropped out, but most are officially filing papers to jump in. Thurmond even posted a video on social media implying that Hicks\u2019 request is racist because almost all the potential spoilers are people of color, while the top three Democratic hopefuls \u2014 Rep. Eric Swalwell, Steyer and former Rep. Katie Porter \u2014 are white.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, this act doesn\u2019t reflect the Democratic Party of 2026,\u201d Thurmond thundered. \u201cAren\u2019t we supposed to be the party who embraces democracy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hicks\u2019 move and the embarrassing aftermath reminds me of Will Rogers\u2019 famous quip that Democrats are members of no organized political party \u2014 even if I do understand why Hicks and other Dems are so nervous.<\/p>\n

No Democrat is towering over the field, which is why party leaders and activists futilely tried to recruit big names like Padilla and former Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a>. Those who are running are nice enough. But politically, they\u2019re carbon copies of each other. As a group, they\u2019re as inspiring as printer paper.<\/p>\n

The subsequent free-for-all has allowed Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco to occupy two of the top three slots in the latest Public Policy Institute of California poll alongside Porter, with Swalwell and Steyer close behind.<\/p>\n

No other candidate polled higher than 5%, but together, the rest of them added up to 30%. Factor in the 10% of voters who are undecided, and that\u2019s a significant slab of the potential electorate. If just two Democrats drop out, that would almost certainly stop both Hilton and Bianco from advancing.<\/p>\n

A Republican governor for California in the Trump era would be embarrassing, terrible and a political self-own without precedent. It would make previous California political earthquakes where conservatives pounced on liberal cluelessness, like Prop. 13, Prop. 187 and the Gray Davis recall, seem as innocuous as a bounce house. <\/p>\n

But telling candidates to kill their campaigns to make it easier for people who supposedly have a better chance is the type of least-worst choice that Democratic leaders have forced upon party faithful for too long.<\/p>\n

They need a rude awakening. Making them sweat about a gubernatorial primary is a start. That\u2019s why I\u2019m glad Hicks\u2019 plea is going nowhere. If people want to scatter their votes, it\u2019s not only their choice \u2014 it\u2019s democracy.<\/p>\n

When I asked Becerra if he or his fellow underdog Dems should accept responsibility if a Republican becomes California\u2019s next governor, he brushed off the question.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s more than speculative \u2014 it\u2019s not going to happen,\u201d he said, predicting that undecided voters will \u201ccrystallize\u201d soon to make the issue moot. He once again joked that there are \u201ctoo many dedazos in the air.\u201d <\/p>\n

Villaraigosa\u2019s answer was more damning: \u201cIt would be a collective responsibility that as a party, we failed to convince the electorate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch out, Rusty \u2014 here come your Dems!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After months of fretting, California Democratic leaders are now truly freaking out about too many of their own…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205467,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,2926,9,8,17634,2575,15222,88415,11703,94945,4261,24696,592,3020,2211,88716,94946,25299],"class_list":{"0":"post-205466","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-governor","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-choice","13":"tag-democracy","14":"tag-democratic-candidate","15":"tag-hicks","16":"tag-latinos","17":"tag-many-democrats","18":"tag-move","19":"tag-party","20":"tag-people","21":"tag-president-trump","22":"tag-race","23":"tag-republican-governor","24":"tag-state-democratic-party","25":"tag-tom-steyer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205466","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=205466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}