Free Republic

If the California primary election seems a little crowded on June 5, it’s not by accident. California is one of three states that employ an election process known as the “jungle primary” that leaves the top two vote getters, regardless of political party, facing off in runoff elections in November. That means in theory a Democrat could compete against another Democrat, or a Republican could compete against another Republican instead of having the top vote getter in each party’s primary advancing.

Two members of the same party will square off in more than 20 legislative or congressional elections this November. The oddity was created by California's new top-two primary system, in which voters could cast ballots for candidates of any party and the two highest vote-getters advance to the general election. Seven California congressional, 13 Assembly and one state Senate race are sure to feature candidates from the same party. In a handful of other races, vote counts were too tight this morning to declare which two candidates will advance to the November ballot. Most of the same-party head-butting this fall...

Some of the most competitive House races in California in November could pit Democrats against Democrats, analysts said.But while state Democrats are likely to pick up a couple of seats in Congress in the general election, Tuesday's primary results will also force left-leaning organizations to think hard about where - and where not - to focus their resources this fall. The "top two" primary created several Democrat-versus-Democrat races in November that would have been impossible under the previous system. Nationally, that could help Democrats in their efforts to win back 25 congressional seats and regain control of the House. Nonpartisan...

California's most noteworthy congressional race this year is the high-dollar shootout between Democratic Reps. Howard Berman and Brad Sherman in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. Berman and Sherman were thrown together in the 30th Congressional District when the independent redistricting commission drew new maps for the state's 53 congressional districts. The two rivals have spent a collective 45 years in Congress and are spending millions of dollars in their duel for political survival, with policy on Israel and Iran potent issues in the heavily Jewish district. It could even be a year-long struggle. Democrats have a 2-to-1...

A group of voters from minor political parties is challenging California's new top-two primary system in the courts, arguing that the election process established under Proposition 14 is unconstitutional. A lawsuit filed Monday in Alameda Superior Court claims that the new system, which sends only the two candidates who get the most votes in the primary, regardless of political party affiliation, to the general election, "severely burdens voter, candidate and party associational rights." "By limiting access to the general election ballot, Prop. 14 effectively bars small political parties, their candidates, and their members from effective political association, precisely at the...

California GOP rejects divisive open primary plan SACRAMENTO, Calif.—California Republicans on Sunday approved a compromise that leaves in place the current nominating system for GOP candidates in 2012 and will let party members use mail-in balloting to endorse candidates for office starting in 2014. The party was beset by infighting at its weekend spring convention in Sacramento over how to respond to Proposition 14, the voter-approved ballot measure that was intended to produce more moderate candidates for office from both political parties. Under that system, the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation. The GOP...

State GOP convention: Blowup, outgoing chair accused of "thuggery" Republican State Sen. Sam Blaskeslee of San Luis Obispo, leading the charge against a conservative move to revise the party's endorsement of candidates, sharply criticized the outgoing GOP chair Saturday as a failed leader who has "resorted to thuggery." Blakeslee made the comment after walking out of a heated meeting of the state GOP Rules Committee at the start of a 3-day day statewide Republican Convention which brought 1,000 delegates to the Sacramento Hyatt. His comments come on the heels of efforts by outgoing GOP chair Ron Nehring, who has lead...

With the state's first elections under the "top two" primary created by Proposition 14 under way, California Republican Party officials are stepping up efforts to create a new internal party nomination system. The party has not endorsed in primaries in recent years, but members approved last year the idea of creating a nomination process as a result of of the new system, which abolished party primaries in favor of a system that sends the top two finishers in a primary, regardless of party, to a run-off. CRP Chairman Ron Nehring has drafted an amendment to the organization's bylaws that outlines...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, fresh from his victory with the passage of Proposition 14, spent Thursday hopping from one Washington, D.C., media outlet to another touting his success and his final year’s agenda. The governor played coy with multiple media outlets about whether he would endorse GOP standard-bearer Meg Whitman to succeed him. He told the Washington Post that the person he will support "most likely will be Republican but not necessarily." In an interview with NPR, Schwarzenegger spoke about the importance of the new two-top primary, which, like the recall election that vaulted him into the governorship, has all candidates,...

Proposition 14, modeled on a similar law in Washington state, was approved by 8 percentage points. The measure will create a single, open primary in which the top two finishers, regardless of party, advance to the general election runoff, paving the way for Republican - vs. -Democrat, Democrat - vs. - Democrat or Republican -vs -Republican contests. The campaign was spearheaded by Schwarzenegger and his moderate new lieutenant governor, Abel Maldonado. Maldonado, a former state senator, secured the ballot measure as part of an agreement to vote for the stalemated Democratic budget last year.

California voters approve open primaries measure