![\"Irene](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SAC_LS_SEIU_Brown_322_1.JPG\" "\\"Irene")
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Irene Green, vice president of bargaining for SEIU Local 1000 talks with Steven Maviglio, a political consultant, outside the headquarters in Sacramento on Saturday, March 5, 2022. <\/p>\n
Lezlie Sterling<\/p>\n
lsterling@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
A Democratic strategist has launched an effort to overhaul California\u2019s primary system in 2028<\/a>, citing fears that the fractured field of governor candidates could lead to two Republicans advancing from the June 2 primary and locking Democrats out of the November general election in the U.S.\u2019s most reliably liberal state.<\/p>\n Sacramento consultant Steven Maviglio submitted his \u201cUndo the Top Two\u201d proposal Friday with Attorney General Rob Bonta\u2019s office. If it successfully gets on the ballot, voters would decide whether to repeal the state\u2019s 16-year-old \u201copen primary\u201d law in 2028 and reinstate a system, starting in 2030, where one candidate from each political party would advance from the primary to the general election.<\/p>\n A narrow majority of voters passed Proposition 14 in 2010<\/a>, which allows the top two vote getters in the primary to proceed to the general election regardless of party affiliation. Proponents at the time claimed Prop. 14<\/a> would undercut polarization and allow more independents to win elections.<\/p>\n \u201cThe experiment failed. Political partisanship is worse than ever in both Washington D.C. and Sacramento,\u201d Maviglio said in an accompanying letter to Bonta\u2019s office. \u201cSpecial interests have more control over our politics than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n Maviglio is a former Gov. Gray Davis spokesperson turned strategist8. He is advising down-ballot candidates but does not have a client in the governor\u2019s race, which has eight major Democratic challengers and two Republicans, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and Fox News pundit Steve Hilton.<\/p>\n Maviglio has long advocated for the state to revamp<\/a> its primary system, which is sometimes referred to as a \u201cjungle primary.\u201d<\/p>\n For months, Democratic leaders worried that the race to succeed outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom would result in a matchup between Bianco and Hilton because no one Democrat had captured enough support to emerge as a decisive frontrunner, even though Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by a nearly 2:1 ratio.<\/p>\n While Newsom has declined to take a public stance on the race<\/a>, California Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks has repeatedly said lower-polling candidates should drop out of the race<\/a> to prevent a shutout by Republicans.<\/p>\n Those fears have eased in recent weeks as former Democratic Attorney General Xavier Becerra has vaulted to the front of the pack, though polls still put him, Hilton, and Democratic climate activist Tom Steyer within the margin of error.<\/p>\n Maviglio\u2019s initiative is likely to receive backing not only from fellow Democrats, but labor unions, Republicans and independents. In 2018, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told the New York Times<\/a> he \u201chated the top-two.\u201d<\/p>\n In a March post on X, California Labor Federation president Lorena Gonzalez, a former legislator, called the top-two primary system a \u201cfailed experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe jungle primary (top 2) in California is trash,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWorst political reform in semi-recent California history.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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