June 23, 2025 Your Source for Brentwood News

Will Top Two ‘Jungle Primary’ Aid Feinstein?

By Tom Elias

 

Strong irony is in the air as California heads into the hot political year of 2018, with an initiative to end the state’s “top two” primary election system in play just as top two, also known as the “jungle primary,” may be about to accomplish its central purpose.

That aim was to allow voters in the minority party to influence elections and elect more moderate members of the larger party when their own party either has no candidate in a race or fields a sure loser.

So it is today as moderate Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein bids for another six years in Washington, D.C. amid opposition from state Senate President Kevin de Leon and possibly others from the Democrats’ left wing.

So far, no Republican has entered the race, and in past reelection efforts, Feinstein has trampled GOP opponents anyhow. This leads to two key questions to be answered in the next 11 months: Will the ‘jungle primary’ system so detested by Republicans and fringe party members help save Feinstein’s long career? And will she be the last to benefit from that system, which pits the top two primary election vote-getters for any office below the presidency against each other in the November runoff, regardless of party?

Mostly likely, Feinstein next fall will share the ballot with the initiative seeking to return California to its previous primary system based on parties, with each party participating in the primary entitled to have a candidate in the runoff. Candidates and parties now must earn runoff slots with strong primary election performances.

If top two is even partly responsible for a Feinstein win, she would be the most prominent case of that system fulfilling its aim.

The Democratic left, which came within a hair of taking over the party’s state apparatus last fall, excoriates Feinstein because she once urged patience with President Trump, because she’s had Wall Street ties and has not been as shrill in opposing Trump as some younger senators, including California’s other senator, fellow Democrat Kamala Harris. (Harris endorsed Feinstein the day she announced for reelection.)

No one yet knows how wide the appeal of a so-called progressive candidate like de Leon or activist billionaire Tom Steyer might be among baseline Democratic voters, so it’s impossible yet to determine whether Feinstein might need Republican votes to win reelection. But that is a definite possibility, and if it happens, it would fulfill the purpose of the jungle primary, backed when it began by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and ex-Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, both moderate Republicans. They wanted their sort of candidates to have a chance to win and their sort of voters to be able to influence election outcomes in places where they previously could not.

Now comes Feinstein, who could be the rare California incumbent getting less than half her own party’s primary election vote. Republicans, with barely over a quarter of California’s total voter registration, would be unlikely to place a candidate on the ballot this year, just as they failed in the 2016 Senate contest.

But if they vote in decent numbers, they are more than sufficient to combine with moderate Democrats to keep a far-leftist candidate from winning. That only works if Republicans actually vote for Feinstein, even if they would much prefer voting for a fellow Republican.

Returns from 2016 show that almost exactly 1 million fewer Californians voted for a U.S. Senate candidate than for president, indicating many Republicans didn’t bother to vote in a race between two liberal Democratic women, Harris and then-Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.

If most of those in the vote dropoff were Republicans and there is less dropoff this fall, they could assure that California gets the moderate Feinstein and not someone substantially to her left and less patient or willing to compromise.

Such an outcome would represent the explicit purpose of top two, and it’s just possible that it might also be the last gasp of that system. For if voters opt to go back to party-driven primaries, the extreme wings of both major parties will once again provide almost all candidates.

This would assure plenty of November choices, but would essentially disenfranchise Democrats in Republican-dominated legislative districts and Republicans statewide, as well as those living in the many Democratic-dominated districts.

Senator Diane Feinstein
Photo: Wikipedia
Related Posts

Recent Homebuyer Down Payments Slip for First Time in Nearly Two Years

June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025

April’s Median Down Payment Fell as Buyers Lean Toward Lower-Cost Homes The median down payment made by U.S. homebuyers dropped...

Del Rey Affordable Housing Project to Rise on Former Charter School Site

June 23, 2025

June 23, 2025

Community Corp., Local Faith Group Team Up to Build 122 New Apartments Plans are moving forward for a new residential...

Paris Hilton Buys Mark Wahlberg’s Beverly Park Mansion for $63.1M

June 22, 2025

June 22, 2025

The Heiress and Media Mogul Joins a Star-Studded Neighborhood Paris Hilton and husband Carter Reum have purchased a high-profile estate...

A.O.C. Brentwood to Close After 16 Years on San Vicente Boulevard

June 22, 2025

June 22, 2025

Chef Goin and Styne Cite Unsustainably High Rent in Decision to Close  A.O.C. Brentwood, the acclaimed Westside outpost from James...

Brentwood Book Signing Explores Why Wolves Matter to Nature’s Balance

June 21, 2025

June 21, 2025

Children’s Author Karen B. Winnick to Appear June 22 at DIESEL, A Bookstore Children’s author and wildlife advocate Karen B....

Weekend Lane Closures on PCH in Malibu Could Snarl Summer Beach Traffic

June 21, 2025

June 21, 2025

Army Corps Work Triggers Weekend Closure on Pacific Coast Highway Motorists traveling along Pacific Coast Highway this weekend should prepare...

LA City Councilwomen Yaroslavsky and Jurado Call for Legal Action Against Federal Immigration Raids

June 20, 2025

June 20, 2025

City Motion Targets Alleged Unconstitutional Tactics, End Qualified Immunity for Fed Officers  City Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky and Ysabel Jurado introduced...

All Aboard to LAX: Metro Opens Game-Changing Transit Hub Ahead of Global Events

June 20, 2025

June 20, 2025

 New LAX/Metro Transit Center Comes Closer to Connecting Metro Directly to LAX The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro)...

Princess Diana’s Largest Wardrobe Auction Set for Beverly Hills

June 20, 2025

June 20, 2025

Over 200 Royal Garments to Hit the Auction Block for Charity More than 200 garments and royal artifacts, including the...

Queer Beauty Through the Ages: Getty Hosts Lecture on Greek Art’s Influence on LGBTQ Aesthetics

June 20, 2025

June 20, 2025

Art Historian to Trace Homoerotic Imagery From Ancient Greece to Modern Queer Identity As part of its ongoing Pride Month...

Food Fight on the Venice Boardwalk: Chefs Stand Up for Immigrants with Food

June 20, 2025

June 20, 2025

Turk’s Pizza Party Rallies Top Local Eateries for an Immigrant Rights Fundraiser In a bold display of culinary activism, Turk’s...

Navy Vietnam Vet Finally Gets His UCLA Commencement Moment

June 20, 2025

June 20, 2025

John Fong, 80, Missed His Graduation in 1968 While in Vietnam  Nearly six decades after completing his studies, U.S. Navy...

Films, Flair, and Panoramas: Free Cultural Events Light Up The Ebell This Week

June 20, 2025

June 20, 2025

The Ebell Theatre Hosts a Double Feature of Films, Plus a Coffee Talk A pair of free public events this...

9th Circuit Court Backs Trump in Battle Over California National Guard Control

June 19, 2025

June 19, 2025

Federal Judges Allow Trump to Retain Command of Troops in Los Angeles Federal judges on Thursday cleared the way for...

Nightly I-405 Lane Closures Begin June 23 for Sepulveda Pass Rehab

June 19, 2025

June 19, 2025

Caltrans Will Shut Down Select Lanes Nightly Through June 28 The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) has announced overnight lane...