National Democrats said they’d stay out of this California race. Then they picked a side

May 22, 2026 By Maya C. Miller 1 Comment

California’s primary election is just around the corner. Prepare to vote with the latest updates from our election newsletter.

National Democrats have zeroed in on the 22nd Congressional District, a swing seat in the Central Valley, as a key part of their strategy to win back control of Congress. 

Two Democrats are vying for the chance to challenge incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao, whose defeat is even more crucial in the wake of court decisions that blew up Democrats’ redistricting plans. 

After saying they would not pick a side in the primary, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee stepped in recently with a last-minute endorsement of moderate state Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains over progressive college professor Randy Villegas. 

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That triggered an angry reaction from local Democratic leaders.

“They lied to all of us,” said Christian Romo, chair of the Kern County Democratic Central Committee, who said staff at the DCCC had told him multiple times that their organization would not get involved in the primary absent a situation in which it appeared two Republican candidates would advance. Under California’s open primary, the two candidates with the most votes advance to the November election, regardless of party affiliation. 

Romo and his counterparts in Tulare, Fresno and Kings counties endorsed Villegas and publicly denounced the DCCC’s move to add Bains to their priority list of flippable districts. The national party, Romo said, was trying to bigfoot state and local Democrats who earlier this year could not reach a consensus on whom to endorse. 

“It’s a slap to the face of the local parties,” Romo said. 

For months, liberal activists have butted heads over which brand of Democrat is the most capable of wooing enough working-class and Latino voters to win the conservative-leaning district — the same tug-of-war between centrists and progressive populists that has played out across the country.

After redistricting, Democrats have a slight voter registration advantage with 42%, while 26% of registered voters are Republican and 22% are registered without party preference, according to the California Target Book.

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Governor’s race has CA Dems holding on to their ballots

May 13, 2026 By Lynn La Leave a Comment

To vote early, or not to vote early? That is the question — at least for some California Democrats who want to avoid seeing two Republicans as the only candidates for governor come November.

As CalMatters’ Maya C. Miller explains, fears that two GOP candidates will advance through the June primary because Democratic voters failed to coalesce around a top candidate has some liberals deciding to cast their ballots at the 11th hour.

The strategy — which has spread online among impassioned Democrats — supposes that if you hold off voting early and keep watching the polls, a standout should eventually emerge and that is when you should make your decision.

  • Katie Evans-Reber, a Democratic voter in San Francisco: “The thing that flipped for me was going from, ‘I don’t really know what to do,’ to, ‘I strategically am not making a decision.”

But turning in mail-in ballots on Election Day is the worst possible scenario for election administration officials who must process and verify ballots in a state notorious for its slow vote-counting process. 

The advice goes against pleas from top Democratic officials including Gov. Gavin Newsom and Secretary of State Shirley Weber who are urging voters to turn in their ballots early. 

Paul Mitchell, a Democratic political consultant, also argues that the strategy likely won’t produce significant results, and that “people vote for whoever they were going to vote for anyway.”

  • Mitchell: “It’s just a bad message. I think they should always have a message of, ‘As soon as you get your ballot, fill it out, turn it in, mail it in and get it done.”


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The issues defining California’s future don’t wait, and neither should you. From AI to immigration to the next governor’s challenges, join CalMatters on May 21 for the Ideas Festival and be part of the conversation. Secure your seat.

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Democratic Angst Could Lead California to Change Its Primary Rules

May 12, 2026 By Laurel Rosenhall 3 Comments

The prospect of Democrats getting shut out of the general election for governor has spurred an effort to eliminate the state’s “top-two” open primary approach.

Democrats have panicked all year at the possibility that California’s primary rules could shut them out of the governor’s office despite the state having an overwhelmingly Democratic electorate.

Now a Democratic strategist is launching a campaign to repeal the California primary system, an effort that is likely to attract serious backing not only from labor unions, but also from some Republicans and third-party organizations.

Under the current system, which has been in place for 15 years, candidates of all parties run on the same primary ballot, and the top two finishers advance to the general election. In some races, particularly in areas that are extremely liberal or extremely conservative, two Democrats or two Republicans have faced off against each other in November.

The new proposal, filed Friday with state elections officials, would end the nonpartisan top-two primary and revert to a traditional primary in which one candidate from each party advances to the general election.

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It would have to be approved by voters, and backers are hoping to place it on the 2028 ballot. If approved, it would have its first widespread use in 2030 elections, including the governor’s race.

Steven Maviglio, the Democratic consultant who filed the initiative, has always objected to the top-two system but said he was motivated to try to repeal it this year after seeing the possibility of Democrats being shut out of the general election. At one point, polls showed two Republicans — Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, and Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County — atop the sprawling field running for governor.

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California’s top Democrat plots voting revolution to snatch governor’s race from Republicans

May 4, 2026 By Titus Wu 1 Comment

The chair of the California Democratic Party has had enough of the possibility that Republicans could lock out Democrats in this year’s governor’s race — and wants to change the the voting system to prevent that in the future.

Rusty Hicks is one of the first prominent Democrats this year to embrace a wholescale change to how the state holds its primaries, where currently the top two candidates regardless of political party advance to the general election.

“The current system we have does not work,” Hicks told The Guardian. “It needs to be revised or repealed.”

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While any such changes won’t happen in next month’s primary, Hicks in the same interview said he love to see a different structure proposed to voters as early as the end of this year, either from the state legislature or “someone with significant resources” who could place a measure on the ballot.

Hicks did not detail any alternative structure that he would suggest.

California’s current jungle primary system was approved in 2010 by voters as an electoral reform by Republican then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who said it would give moderates and pragmatists in both parties better chances of winning.

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Democrats are eager to flip Issa’s seat. But his Republican successor is a ‘formidable opponent’

April 9, 2026 By Nadia Lathan and Deborah Brennan Leave a Comment

California’s primary election is just around the corner. Prepare to vote with the latest updates from our election newsletter.

When Republican Rep. Darrell Issa quit his reelection campaign last month, Democrats celebrated. Now, some are worried.

Issa’s exit is seen as a mixed blessing among Democratic officials who have eyed flipping his San Diego House seat for years. While demonstrators at a No Kings rally last weekend were exultant to see him leave the race, local Democratic organizers are more guarded. The Republican who took his place, San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, is a longtime local official with name recognition, fundraising connections and community relationships — without Issa’s close ties to President Donald Trump. 

“If anything, Jim Desmond is a slightly better candidate than Darrell Issa in some regards,” because he is not as closely affiliated with Trump, said Dan Rottenstreich, a spokesperson for Marni von Wilpert, one of two leading Democrats in the race. 

The new hotly contested district covers most of East and North County San Diego and parts of Riverside County, including Palm Springs. Its voter makeup shifted from deep red to slightly blue when California voters approved a redistricting plan to try to give the state five more Democratic congressmembers after Texas created five extra Republican seats. 

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San Diego Democrats, including council member Marni von Wilpert, and former Obama official Ammar Campa-Najjar, are competing with Desmond in a crowded field. The top two vote-getters in the June primary will face off in the November general election, regardless of their party. Given the district makeup, Desmond is expected to secure one of those spots.

With a local background in nonpartisan office, Desmond is a “formidable opponent” to Democrats, said Ross Pike, parliamentarian for the Democratic Club of Fallbrook. Desmond raised nearly $1.4 million by the end of last year and the main GOP re-election campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee, says it’s optimistic about the district as Desmond aims to cast himself as a moderate focused on affordability and immigration. 

“He appears more approachable, less polarizing, and he has given grants to different areas, and people know him for that, so it’s going to be tough,” said Amalia Martinez, vice president of communications for the Escondido Democratic Club, which endorsed von Wilpert. 

And in a race with many Democrats, party support is divided. In the regional stage of California Democrats’ endorsement process, von Wilpert fell short by a single vote. During the state convention she won more than half of delegates’ votes, but didn’t meet a 60% threshold. Campa-Najjar received 18% of delegates’ support.

Another Democrat, Palm Springs businessman Brandon Riker, is also gaining ground in the Coachella Valley. He raised $1.5 million by the end of the year and was the only other candidate besides von Wilpert and Campa-Najjar to win some votes at the California Democratic Party convention.

“The more Democrats that are on this ballot in the primary, that’s less votes for Marni to get,” Martinez said. 

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Democratic infighting may spell trouble in quest to gain San Diego House seat

April 7, 2026 By Lynn La 1 Comment

A former Republican stronghold in California has been redrawn to favor Democratic candidates — pitting Democrats against each other in a high-profile race to be the district’s next representative in Congress, report CalMatters’ Nadia Lathan and Deborah Brennan.

After President Donald Trump pushed Texas Republicans to create five additional GOP seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, California voters passed Proposition 50 last year to gerrymander the state in a way that could enable Democrats to regain the House in the midterm elections.

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The result shifted California’s 48th congressional district — a once deep red district — to slightly blue, and prompted U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican who represented the San Diego area in Congress for more than two decades, to end his reelection bid last month.

With the district now up for grabs, Democratic support has been divided between two leading candidates: San Diego Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and Ammar Campa-Najjar, a former public affairs official for President Barack Obama. 

During the California Democratic Party convention in February, von Wilpert won more than half of delegates’ votes, but failed to meet the 60% threshold for an official party endorsement. Campa-Najjar, meanwhile, received 18%.

Both candidates have openly criticized one another over the course of their campaigns: Von Wilpert accused Campa-Najjar of being anti-LGBTQ for questioning whether she could win voters outside the gay-friendly Palm Springs, and Campa-Najjar accused von Wilpert of racism for questioning his name changes and residence.

The two Democrats must also contend with San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, the Republican candidate whom Issa endorsed upon his retirement. Because the top two vote-getters in the June primary will face off in November, regardless of party, Desmond is expected to secure one of those spots as GOP support coalesces around him.

Positioning himself as a moderate who is not as closely affiliated with Trump as Issa was, Desmond has outraised both von Wilpert and Campa-Najjar, and is viewed among Democrats as a tough opponent to beat despite the redrawn district.

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Here’s why Democrats are in such a mess in the California governor’s race

March 30, 2026 By Joe Garofoli Leave a Comment

It’s too late, and too politically inconvenient, for the primary field to be winnowed of struggling candidates

As the California Democratic Party faces the growing possibility of its candidates being locked out of the November election and a Republican becoming governor, some top Democrats are musing about their leaders orchestrating their version of a Joe Biden Reckoning Moment. 

After Biden’s disastrous debate against Donald Trump in June 2024, top donors and party leaders, including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, publicly and privately questioned whether Biden should continue running, in part based on polling. 

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Biden eventually heeded the call and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris. Now, some Democrats are calling for a similar intervention with lower-polling candidates in the state. Part of the reason that two Republicans are leading in the polls is that eight Democrats are splitting the vote. 

The problem is that it’s too late to have that conversation. All the lowest-polling candidates are already on the ballot. There is no top California Democrat with the juice and the desire to have those tough talks. Complicating matters is that it’s politically unpalatable for a top white Democratic leader to ask the candidates of color, all of whom are polling poorly, to quit when so many party members are people of color. Besides, it’s unlikely the candidates would heed those requests anyway. 

The reason that leading party figures, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Pelosi and others, haven’t publicly backed a candidate or strong-armed anyone to leave is “because nobody knows who can win,” said former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, who is close to both. Voters haven’t coalesced around any Democrat.

So now what? Two Republicans are leading the polls roughly a month before voters receive their ballots, and there’s a 19% chance that two Republicans will advance from the June 2 primary to the general election, according to an online tool developed by political data expert Paul Mitchell that runs thousands of simulations of the race. The top two finishers in the primary, regardless of party affiliation, advance.

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Anxiety grows among California Democrats as gubernatorial candidates rebuff calls to drop out

March 7, 2026 By Nicole Nixon and Seema Mehta Leave a Comment
  • State Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks warned that a crowded Democratic field could hand California’s governorship to Republicans for the first time in nearly two decades.
  • Despite the warning, eight of nine major Democratic candidates filed their paperwork to run, betting they can build momentum before the June primary.
  • Some lower-polling candidates of color accused party leaders of unfairly pressuring them to drop out, deepening tensions within the Democratic establishment.

SACRAMENTO — Despite a plea from the head of the California Democratic Party for underperforming candidates to drop out of the governor’s race, all but one of the party’s top hopefuls spurned the request.

Party leaders fear the growing possibility that the crowded field will split the Democratic electorate in the state’s June top-two primary election and result in two Republicans advancing to the November ballot, ensuring a Republican governor being elected for the first time since 2006.

His advice largely unheeded, state party Chairman Rusty Hicks on Thursday said the fate of a Democratic victory now rests squarely on the gubernatorial candidates who flouted him.

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“The candidates for Governor now have a chance to showcase a viable path to win,” Hicks said in a statement Thursday.

Eight top Democratic candidates filed the official paperwork to appear on the June ballot after Hicks released a letter on Tuesday urging those “who cannot show meaningful progress towards winning” to drop out. Friday is the deadline to file to appear on the primary election ballot. On March 21, the secretary of state’s office will formally announce who will appear on the June ballot.

“It sounded like someone who has his head in the sand,” former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said of Hicks’ open letter. “[Most] of us filed within 24 hours of getting that letter. It created some press but not much else. It didn’t impact [most] of the candidates and it certainly didn’t impact my candidacy.”

Democratic strategist Elizabeth Ashford said it was appropriate for Hicks and other Democratic leaders to make a public plea as opposed to keeping such discussions solely behind closed doors.

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California’s new Senate leader wants Democrats united. A budget shortfall could divide them

January 8, 2026 By Maya C. Miller 2 Comments

In summary: New Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón is the first Latina, first mother and only second woman to lead California’s upper legislative chamber. A tough budget year will test her ability to keep the caucus united while whittling its spending priorities.

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As California legislators return to Sacramento and prepare to tackle a budget deficit, all eyes are on new Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón of Santa Barbara and what tone she sets for her chamber.

Limón, 46, a progressive backed by labor unions and the first Latina to lead the Senate, will face arguably her greatest legislative challenge yet as she and her diverse caucus grapple with a daunting projected $18 billion state budget deficit and historic federal funding cuts from the Trump administration.

While Limón has yet to announce any cost-cutting strategies or impose any limits on lawmakers introducing bills that require new money, the scarcity of funds will likely force the new leader to focus on a few key priorities, a premise she resisted in a recent interview with CalMatters. 

“Our caucus will continue to prioritize issues that our communities prioritize,” Limón said, rattling off a laundry list of policy areas including access to health care, cost of living, education, housing affordability and child care. The new Senate leader also emphasized the importance of finding policy solutions that are “encompassing of our caucus — that reflect 58 counties, 483 cities.” 


But how she’ll do that, while keeping the budget under control, remains to be seen.

For Limón, who has developed a reputation as an egalitarian consensus builder who wants everyone to feel heard, whittling down those priorities will test her ability to say “no” as the caucus tries to both rein in spending and fund programs that help vulnerable Californians. 

She told reporters at the Capitol on Monday that she expects senators to understand that “spending big is not something that is within our means at this moment” and said she would reiterate that message at their first caucus meeting.

Colleagues past and present give her their vote of confidence to lead the chamber through a difficult budget year.

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Shonique Williams, a criminal justice advocate, jumps into a House race to represent LA and Orange counties

December 11, 2025 By Linh Tat 1 Comment

Affordable housing, livable wages and mental health services top the Democrat’s list of priorities

The race for California’s newly drawn 41st Congressional District is heating up, with another Democrat jumping into the race with a focus on housing and mental health services.

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Shonique Williams, 34, is a criminal justice advocate. Her platform includes proposing a mandatory cap on how much rent can be raised each year and an annual wage increase that would apply to businesses that employ a certain number of people, though she hasn’t decided what that figure should be just yet. She also supports reallocating some funding for police to mental health services and substance abuse treatment programs.

Williams described herself as “very far left” on the political spectrum, though, at the same time, she doesn’t believe her positions are all that radical.

“What’s ‘radical’ about (advocating for) affordable housing? Mental health services? … We all know affordable housing is needed nationwide,” she said.

And she said voters deserve a representative who’s willing to take “bold” positions and hold all lawmakers, no matter their party, accountable. Williams said she would be willing to speak out when she disagrees with someone, even if it’s a member of her own party.

This is Williams’ first time running for political office.

Two other Democrats with far more political experience have already declared their candidacies: Rep. Linda Sánchez, who represents California’s 38th Congressional District but had her home residence of Whittier redrawn into the new 41st Congressional District under the redistricting plan that California voters approved last month, and former Assemblymember Hector De La Torre.

The newly drawn 41st Congressional District will include communities in Downey, Whittier, Norwalk, Bellflower and Lakewood in southeast Los Angeles County, as well as Los Alamitos and La Habra in Orange County, in next year’s midterm elections.

Although U.S. House candidates aren’t required to live in the district they are running in, Williams, who lives in Pomona, said she’s considering moving to Lakewood or Downey after she completes her online law degree this spring from Purdue Global Law School, where she said she also earned a master’s in legal studies.

Her initial plan was to become a criminal defense or civil rights attorney — though that career path might shift if she’s elected to Congress.

Williams’ interest in the law and the legislative process stems from her personal experiences.

She said she was 8 when an uncle received a decades-long sentence for multiple robberies, a sentence she thought was too long considering the circumstances of the crimes, where she said no one was killed or injured. That’s when she decided she would pursue law as a profession.

But it wasn’t a straightforward path to law school.

Click here to read the full article in the OC Register

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