(Ben Sellers, Headline USA) A leftist California lawmaker called for an end to the political system that Democrats have regularly used to entrench the state’s one-party rule after it threatened to backfire on them.
“In 2028, Californians should get rid of the jungle primary,” wrote Rep. Robert Garcia in an X post on Friday. “It has not worked out as intended, and it’s time to get back to real primaries.”
In 2028, Californians should get rid of the jungle primary. It has not worked out as intended, and it’s time to get back to real primaries.
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) April 17, 2026
The post was widely mocked by conservatives, including RedState columnist Buzz Patterson.
“This is absolutely hysterical! Democrats have used the jungle primary in California for 14 years requiring the top 2 candidates, regardless of party, to move forward to the general election,” Patterson wrote.
“It has served them well,” he added. “So well, in fact, that if a Republican even wins a primary, it’s been considered a ‘win.’”
The current system dictates that the state hold open, “nonpartisan” primaries where the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of political party. It first took effect after voters approved a ballot initiative, Proposition 14, in June 2010 with support from then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But Schwarzenegger, a notorious RINO, would prove to be the last Republican elected governor in California, with Democrats exploiting open-border policies, ballot harvesting and other dubious practices to give themselves an insurmountable electoral advantage in the state that gave rise to former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon.
Democrats have been able to gerrymander many of the congressional districts to maximize their advantage, assuring that deep-blue pockets in cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco exercise disproportionate influence over the redder agricultural areas in the northern and eastern parts of the state.
Although the Republican candidate has finished second in each of the subsequent gubernatorial primaries and advanced to the general election, the Democrat has prevailed by double-digit margins once the party is able to coalesce around its nominee.
By contrast, Republicans in the state have been forced to invest their relatively meager resources into simply winning the primary, all while knowing that a general election victory will be a longshot.
But with Gov. Gavin Newsom out of contention, the current frontrunners for the June 2 primary are Republican candidates Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. Democrats’ woes stem largely from their own weak field, with leading candidates Eric Swalwell and Katie Porter both weakened by scandal.
Swalwell formally dropped out of the race last week after a series of whistleblowers came forward with reports of sexual assault. However, his name will remain on the primary ballot per state law.
Democrats also face a more crowded field, with additional competition from billionaire hedge-fund manager Tom Steyer and former Biden Health and Human Services Sec. Xavier Becerra drawing support away from Porter.
Steyer, a longtime Democrat donor, may have pulled strings to get powerful party members like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Adam Schiff, both longtime Swalwell allies, to throw him under the bus. And he may do the same to Porter, thus further shoring up his own support and pulling into the lead position ahead of Hilton.
This is not the first time panic-stricken Democrats have disavowed the open-primary process.
Some strategists observed in 2018 that the system’s inherent vulnerability was giving a disproportionate advantage to those with name recognition, funding advantages and pre-existing power that they could use to silence their intra-party dissent.
“The top two primary is an obvious problem, more for Dems than the GOP just because there are more Democratic seats in California,” Parke Skelton, a Pasadena-based Democratic consultant told U.S. News & World Report.
“We’ve got to get rid of it ASAP,” Skelton added. “It makes elections more expensive and rewards those who are best at gaming the system. I think it will cost Dems one or two seats this year.”
