(The Center Square) – The chair of the California Democratic Party thinks too many Democrats may be running for governor.
Chair Rusty Hicks is suggesting some of the nine leading candidates consider dropping out before Friday’s filing deadline for the June 2 primary, but he’s getting pushback on that from candidates who have already filed.
Under California law, the two candidates with the most votes in the primary will face each other in the Nov. 3 general election, regardless of their party affiliation. If the vote is split among the Democrats who are running, the two Republican candidates, in theory, could get the highest number of votes and end up facing each other in the general election.
The risk of Democrats getting blocked out of the Nov. 3 race is “relatively low,” but not impossible, Hicks said in a letter Tuesday on the party’s website.
“Therefore, with the filing deadline approaching this Friday, March 6th, and the Primary Election quickly following, it is imperative that every candidate honestly assess the viability of their candidacy and campaign,” Hicks said in a boldfaced section of his letter.
Hicks said the absence of a Democratic candidate for governor in the Nov. 3 election could deter Democrats from voting, which would hurt the party’s efforts to retake the U.S. House. He also said, “California’s leadership on the world stage is significantly harder if a Democrat is not elected as our next Governor.”
Hicks didn’t name any candidates who he thought should drop out of the governor’s race.
The nine, leading Democratic candidates are Xavier Becerra, former U.S. secretary of health and human services; former state Assemblymember Ian Calderon; San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan: former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, who represented Orange County in Congress; billionaire Tom Steyer; state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; former State Controller Betty Yee; and U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, who represents the East Bay area in Congress and ran for president in 2020.
In a video Tuesday on X, Thurmond said Tuesday that he thought about his family and its struggles after filing that day. “I grew up in a household where we didn’t have food most of the time, and we relied on free lunches and food stamps and government cheese to make it.
“Education saved my life, and I became a social worker and help foster youth,” Thurmond said. “And I became an elected official and served for 18 years as a city council member, a school board member, state Assembly member, twice as state superintendent.”
He said he was proud of his work as superintendent to provide a free preschool for every 4-year-old in California.
Meanwhile, Steyer has been visible in daily TV commercials, stressing his campaign to lower utility rates and support affordable housing. He regularly criticizes Republican President Donald Trump and financed the successful campaign to pass Proposition 50, which voters passed in November to redraw congressional districts to pick up five more Democratic seats in the U.S. House. Democrats proposed the measure to counter redistricting in Texas that is designed to pick up five more Republican seats.
Villaraigosa is appearing regularly in TV commercials saying he will crack down on federal immigration officers who threaten the safety of Californians. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, has told The Center Square that what it calls demonization of agents has led to a big increase in assaults on them.
Becerra’s campaign staff has said he would file on Wednesday.
The leading Republican candidates are Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and TV commentator Steve Hilton. Both are vocal supporters of Trump.
