{"id":349618,"date":"2026-06-06T15:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T15:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/349618\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T15:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T15:37:09","slug":"california-voters-just-proved-why-party-bosses-hate-top-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/349618\/","title":{"rendered":"California Voters Just Proved Why Party Bosses Hate Top Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

In California, the results of Tuesday\u2019s June 2 primary have not been finalized. However, they reveal something critical: At the state level, voters looked for stability, but more locally, particularly in LA, many sought a “firebrand.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two different elections. Two different stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, both were possible under nonpartisan election models that allow voters to freely express themselves in primary elections, especially when they seek one kind of candidate in one race but a different kind of candidate in another.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Chad Pleace, legal advisor for the Independent Voter Project<\/a> and President of IVC Media, was brought on Jim Herlihy\u2019s podcast, The San Francisco Experience<\/a>, to talk about the primary results and the attacks from party operatives on \u201cTop Two.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peace noted that Xavier Becerra\u2014who has secured the top spot in the race\u2014was a \u201csafe\u201d option at the statewide level. But in the Los Angeles mayor\u2019s race, Spencer Pratt ran a different kind of campaign. He became a \u201cvessel\u201d for voter frustrations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Not just with Republicans, but disgruntled Democrats and independents as well. And now, there will be a runoff in that election and Peace believes Pratt will hold onto his second-place spot after all the votes are counted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMost importantly, and what even the pundits nationally don\u2019t fundamentally understand, is how much the nonpartisan primary changes the dynamics of elections, which—at the end of the day—put the power in the hands of the voters to decide,” he said.<\/p>\n

Leading up to the primary, party operatives used the scare tactic of a \u201cDemocrat lockout\u201d to build the \u201cUndo the Top Two,” lead by its sponsor, Democratic consultant Steve Maviglio.<\/p>\n

Maviglio was soon joined by former California GOP Chair Ron Nehring and Republican Assemblymember Carl DeMaio.<\/p>\n

Yet, despite their continued claims that the system has failed, their own polling shows 70% of Californians like the freedom of choice they have with nonpartisan primaries and want an open system.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Forces Trying to Kill \u2018Top Two\u2019 Can\u2019t Read Their Own Polling<\/p>\n

A partisan pollster finds 70% support for open primaries and calls it erosion<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would these unusual bedfellows that hate each other about everything unify in undoing the TopTwo?\u201d Peace remarked.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know when they put the power in the hands of partisan stakeholders and special interests, it is much easier to get their candidates through a closed primary. When they have to compete in a nonpartisan primary, they can\u2019t pick the winner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Peace explains all of this with Jim Herlihy and more, including IVP\u2019s role in sponsoring the Top Two initiative in 2010, the legal fight for independent voter rights that has reached the steps of the Supreme Court, and a path forward for people who want more choice in California that doesn\u2019t take the state back to a system of party control and voter disenfranchisement.<\/p>\n

Listen above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In California, the results of Tuesday\u2019s June 2 primary have not been finalized. However, they reveal something critical:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-349618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349618","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=349618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}