Despite well-justified fears of disaster, Democrats emerged from California’s primaries on track to field a candidate in every one of the state’s key House races this fall, ensuring Republicans will have to play defense in seven congressional districts that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016—and keeping Democrats’ path back to the majority wide open.
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But it was a close and difficult thing. Thanks to a ballot measure that passed in 2010, California has forbidden political parties from nominating candidates in traditional primaries, a practice followed in almost every state in the nation. Instead, all candidates from all parties must run together on a single primary ballot, with the two highest vote-getters advancing to the November general election.
And here’s the real problem that makes this system so undemocratic: The top two finishers can both be from the same party. That means it’s eminently possible for two Republicans or two Democrats to wind up in the general election in any number of races, depriving voters of a genuine choice. (Voters aren’t even permitted to cast write-in ballots.) And because California’s primary electorate leans to the right compared to the state as a whole, competitive districts are far more likely to result in a Democratic shutout than the reverse, something that’s happened several times in the past.
Fortunately, that didn’t happen on Tuesday, but only thanks to a lot of hard work—and a lot of money.
The possibility of getting locked out in one or more critical contests was, perversely, exacerbated by the fact that Democratic enthusiasm has reached such stunning heights this year. Eager to fight back against Donald Trump and his willing abettors in Congress, record numbers of Democratic candidates have sought office, including in California.
As a result, many primaries featured far more Democrats than Republicans running, making it especially likely that these big Democratic fields would lead to a split vote that would allow two Republicans to slip through with small pluralities—and put critical pickup opportunities out of play.
Thankfully, some smart organizing and big spending helped avert any such debacles. In three crucial races in the 39th, 48th, and 49th Congressional Districts, the DCCC and the House Majority PAC, a major Democratic super PAC, spent almost $7 million to ensure that a Democrat would appear on the November ballot.
In addition, a number of other candidates selflessly dropped out or switched races to reduce the chances of a lockout, though no one should ever have to abandon a bid for office in order to help their party. It also looks like that intense progressive energy may have provided a boost after all, since this year’s primary electorate appears to have been more Democratic than it has in the past.
But despite this lucky escape for Team Blue, two facts still remain. One, California’s top-two primary system is just as undemocratic today as it was yesterday, and it needs to go. And two, the even harder work of beating Republicans up and down the Golden State starts right now.
