The “glorious mess” that is California’s primaries draws to a close today, and there is a lot to unpack about what’s about to go down.
The first thing you should know is that it’s not just California that’s having primary elections. Alabama, Iowa, Mississippi, New Mexico, and three other states are also having primaries. The grand total of positions up for grabs, according to The Washington Post: “Eighty-five House seats. Five governor’s mansions. Five senate seats. Hundreds of local and state legislative races.”
But California’s primary is the weirdest, and the thing that’s getting the most attention is the possibility that Democrats will get “locked out” of certain US House races because of the state’s “top two” primary system. (A system Washington State voters should be very familiar with since we have one, too.)
That system sends the top two vote-getters in a given race on to the general election, regardless of party.
Because so many energized Democrats are running for office in California this year, in some races they may collectively carve up the Democratic base into such tiny chunks that no Democratic candidate’s chunk will be larger than those of the top two Republican vote-getters. The result: two Republicans facing off against each other in the general election, and a Democratic lock-out.
That said, California should also give us a clear sign as to whether a “wave” election is really coming to sweep Republicans out of Congress.
One thing California won’t do, however, is contribute much to the surge of women running for office this year.
In New Mexico, a woman could be on her way to becoming the first Democratic Latina governor in United States history. That state also has a candidate who could become New Mexico’s first Native American woman to serve in Congress.
But California, the Times reports, “is the one state with a governor’s race and no women leading in it. And female candidates for congressional offices are facing uphill battles.”
Looking for results? You can get ’em here.
