California's first top-two primary is history, and in one impact appears to be clear: The centrists are on the ascent.
From Jim Carlton and Justin Scheck in the Wall Street Journal: "California's first open primary in more than a decade set the stage for a political future in which centrist voters are likely to have more influence."
"Voters Tuesday sent a batch of centrist Republicans and Democrats into November races under the new system, where all candidates for each office, regardless of party, appeared on a single primary ballot."
"These candidates, political observers said, probably wouldn't have survived California's old method of party primaries, which tended to favor candidates with more partisan views."
Come November, when we have the first runoffs of the survivors of the "top two," voters definitely will face a different landscape.
From the U-T's Michael Gardner: "The debut of the state’s new “top two” primary Tuesday finished with at least two-dozen congressional and state legislative races ending with candidates from the same party qualifying for the general election."
"That means in some districts voters will be able to pick between two Republicans or two Democrats. One of those 24 in the spotlight is a coastal North San Diego County District where Republicans Rocky Chavez, an Oceanside city councilman, and Sherry Hodges, a former legislative aide, came in first and second."
"A handful of independents also qualified for November, although supporters of the top-two were hoping it would lead to even more unaffiliated candidates since 36 were on ballots."
Among the biggest surprise of Election Night came in the Democrat-majority 31st Congressional District, where young Redlands Mayor Pete Aguilar, a Democrat, went down to defeat and two Republicans will face each other in November.
From the Riverside PE's Ben Goad: "Democrats saw Aguilar as a lock to finish among the top two in this week’s primary in the 31st Congressional District. Instead, two Republicans — U.S. Rep. Gary Miller and state Sen. Bob Dutton — received the most votes, leaving Aguilar about 1,500 votes short and Democrats nationwide pondering how one of their best opportunities slipped away."
"Ultimately, Aguilar was undone by a combination of factors: California’s new top-two-primary system, a lopsided field of candidates, a huge influx of outside money and poor voter turnout."
"It’s disappointing. There’s no other way to describe it,” said Jennifer Crider, spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee."
By the way, House Republicans caught a break in California with the top-two primary. Check out this quick look at key races from Aaron Blake in The Fix, a Washington Post blog.
In the aftermath of the election, there appears to be more pressure on Gov. Jerry Brown to change the public pension system. Voters in San DIego and San Jose rolled back pensions, and that is sending a clear signal to Sacramento. But the prospect of a Wisconsin-style battle is unlikely.
From the Chronicle's Joe Garofoli: "But don't expect politicians in California to attack the collective bargaining rights of public unions as they did in Wisconsin, experts said Wednesday. The Democratic Party controls both houses of the California Legislature and all of the statewide offices, and left-leaning politicians have little incentive to crack down on labor unions that are among the party's major donors and suppliers of grassroots support."
"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican who survived a recall vote Tuesday, "set out to cripple the political power of unions" by eliminating many of their collective bargaining rights, said Harley Shaiken, a UC Berkeley professor who specializes in labor issues. "That may have national significance, but that ... won't happen in California."
"Still, Shaiken and others predict that other cash-strapped cities and counties in California will try to cut retirement benefits for public-service workers."
