Poll<\/a> released last week that showed a \u201chistorically high\u201d level of unawareness of the election. Democrats have long relied on their advantage in voter registration to overwhelm Republicans in California.\u00a0<\/p>\nYet Hicks, the leader of the party and the person responsible for its success, declined to say whether he has directly asked candidates to bow out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to disclose any private conversations that have been had or will have, or any future tactics between now and election day,\u201d Hicks said Tuesday. \u201cI have deep respect for all of the candidates that have taken the courageous step to put their name forward. They believe that they have a viable path to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, when pressed about what constituted a \u201cviable\u201d candidate, Hicks said, \u201cIf you\u2019re polling at 1 to 2%, do you have a path to get to 20(%)? That\u2019s the question. Do you have a path to put you in a position to win the primary election that puts you into the general election?\u201d<\/p>\n
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Yet for now, Hicks is unwilling to do anything\u00a0\u2014 including ask Newsom, the most popular Democrat in the state and likely a future presidential candidate\u00a0\u2014 to ask the unviable candidates to leave. Hicks insists there is a lot of time left (about 40 days) between now and when ballots arrive in the mail to voters.\u00a0 But Hicks already missed his window, as all of the above candidates will appear on ballots.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI have long said that we are prepared to do what is required to ensure that we elect a governor in November of 2026. I want to ensure that everybody has the opportunity to make their voices heard in this campaign, and there\u2019s a lot of road between here and there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, Newsom acknowledged that with so many Democrats running and a public largely disengaged from the race\u00a0\u2014 he may be forced to endorse a candidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I\u2019m out in the community, people aren\u2019t talking to me about it, which is interesting this late, just weeks before early voting,\u201d Newsom told reporters. \u201cAs a consequence, I\u2019m not directly as engaged as perhaps I might need to be.<\/p>\n
Asking candidates to suspend their campaigns has become a very sensitive issue because many of the lowest-performing hopefuls are candidates of color.<\/p>\n
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Four of the lower-polling candidates complained last week in a joint press conference about being excluded from a televised debate that was scheduled to be held Tuesday at USC, noting that the only four candidates of color in the race were not invited. Leaders of the Legislature wrote to USC Monday, asking the university to include the four candidates, saying if USC doesn\u2019t \u201cdo the right thing,\u201d voters should \u201cboycott.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And now, Democrats are in a deeper hole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There\u2019s one fewer statewide televised debate that could have helped voters consolidate behind a single candidate. And the lower-polling candidates are digging in, refusing to leave.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead of wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars on polling, the [California Democratic Party] should be focused on stopping Donald Trump by winning back the House after we passed Prop 50,\u201d said Ajay Mohan, Villaraigosa\u2019s campaign manager.<\/p>\n
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Yee, polling at 2%, appeared to be oblivious to the latest polling\/ \u201cThe poll confirms what we\u2019ve been saying all along: The race is wide open,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cWe\u2019ve never been more confident that when voters begin to focus on the election and see our new ad campaign, we will rise above the field of billionaire-backed candidates and build a grassroots victory for working people across the state.<\/p>\n
Becerra, Mahan and Thurmond, the other low single-digit polling candidates, did not respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Swalwell\u2019s campaign said the new poll drove home that he is the candidate Democrats should rally behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time for leaders to come together to coalesce around the candidate who has consistently led in support, public polls and primary donations since entering this race,\u201d said Micah Beasley, a campaign spokesperson.<\/p>\n
Steyer was trying to organize an alternative forum to be held Tuesday night in Los Angeles for all of the candidates, but details on the event haven\u2019t been finalized. Thurmond said he would instead appear on social media platforms with a former public school teacher to talk about his platform.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Republicans are gloating.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a total joke California Democrats have become,\u201d Hilton said. \u201cHours before a debate, they kill it after their LPDs (Low Polling Democrats) whined about being excluded. These people can\u2019t organize anything.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From left, Xavier Becerra, Steve Hilton, Matt Mahan, Tom Steyer, Tony Thurmond, Antonio Villaraigosa and Betty Yee take…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234644,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-234643","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234643","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=234643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}