![\"Arnold](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/2238133129.jpg\" "\\"Arnold")
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Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers a speech at the International Conference \u201cRaising Hope for Climate Justice\u201d at the Mariapolis Center in Castel Gandolfo on Oct. 1, 2025.<\/p>\n
Tiziana Fabi<\/p>\n
AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s primary for governor caused heartburn among both Democrats and Republicans who feared getting locked out of the November general election.<\/p>\n
Now critics of California\u2019s top two primary system are advancing a ballot measure that would undo the \u201cjungle\u201d primary and revert to siloed, Democratic and Republican June elections. Backers of the current system are promising a lawsuit \u2014 and their own effort to expand it further, allowing as many as five candidates to advance to the November general election.<\/p>\n
The top two system was bourne out of a budget-related deal in 2009 between legislators and then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Voters rubber-stamped the proposal the next year in Proposition 14. It created a single primary open to all voters and dictated that the two highest performing candidates advance to the November general election, regardless of their party affiliation.<\/p>\n
Backers wrote in the 2010 voter guide that the change would help mend a \u201cbroken\u201d state government by electing \u201cmore practical officeholders who are more open to compromise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Critics like Democratic consultant Steve Maviglio argue the system failed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got more than almost two dozen races across the state where it\u2019ll look like a ballot in the Soviet Union with one party on it,\u201d Maviglio said. \u201cNo other state has adopted this for a reason: It\u2019s a failed experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maviglio said he\u2019s talking to potential donors to raise the millions that will be needed to boost a 2028 ballot proposition seeking to undo it, with the title and summary<\/a> was approved by Attorney General Rob Bonta on Tuesday. Supporters of undoing the current system range from former Republican Party Chair Ron Nehring to Democratic former Assembly Speaker Fabian N\u00fa\u00f1ez. Maviglio\u2019s group, Undo the Top Two, also notes the range of smaller parties that opposed the 2010 ballot measure, including the Green and Libertarian parties.<\/p>\n Backers of the current system, united under the banner of More Choice California, are already preparing a lawsuit to challenge Bonta\u2019s title and summary because it doesn\u2019t mention that the change would revert voters back to party primaries, which sometimes excluded independent voters.<\/p>\n Dan Schnur, a former Republican turned independent and politics professor at several California universities, is advising More Choice. He blamed \u201cparty insiders and special interest fat cats\u201d for driving the push to repeal the top two system. And while this year\u2019s gubernatorial primary was close \u2014 Republican Steve Hilton narrowly edged out Democrat Tom Steyer for second place by less than 2 percentage points<\/a> \u2014 Schnur said concerns about one party locking out the other were never plausible.<\/p>\n \u201cParty insiders wanted to use that tiny possibility, that very small possibility, as a scare tactic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The group is also advocating changes to allow three or more candidates to advance to November, though he said the exact details are still being worked out. Schwarzenegger told Politico<\/a> he also opposes the repeal effort.<\/p>\n More Choice is funded by Independent Voters Project, an advocacy nonprofit that backed the 2010 top two system and sponsors annual junkets for state lawmakers in Hawaii<\/a> and Mexico<\/a> alongside business leaders.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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