Can Steve Maviglio kill the Top Two Primary?

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: California’s Top Two Primary, also known as a Jungle Primary, was approved by voters as Proposition 14 in 2010. Prop. 14 was promoted by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado and endorsed by most major newspapers as a way to lessen partisanship and reduce gridlock by encouraging compromise. (We’ll leave it to readers to decide if it has had the desired effect.) Official opposition to Top Two was wide, if not deep: All of the state’s registered political parties, from GOP to Greens, were opposed, as were organizations as diverse as the California State Firefighters, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the United Nurses Associations. The Amendment passed by 8 points.

Sixteen years later, California voters are beginning to sour on Top Two. Fears of a GOP – or Democratic – lockout in this year’s race for governor have led many to call for a change. Recent polling by Capitol Weekly found that 79% of respondents wanted to revise or repeal the jungle primary.  Longtime Democratic consultant Steve Maviglio has heeded that call, filing a ballot initiative proposing to repeal Prop. 14. Maviglio is no newcomer to this fight – he led the opposition to the 2010 amendment. He joins us today to talk about the race for governor, the legacy of the Top Two and why it needs to change.

:34 Op-eds

5:21 Polling on Top Two

7:32 Steve Maviglio

10:10 A problem for smaller parties

10:58 Could Republicans be shut out in November?

12:27 Top Two has not worked as advertised

13:43 Other options? Ranked Choice Voting?

14:28 The opposition: Steve Peace and the Independent Voter Project

17:29 Paid influencers

21:18 Will this campaign be relevant in 2028?

25:37 What about nonpartisan elections?

30:04 Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics?

Correction: In the podcast discussion we incorrectly noted that the The California Republican Party did not allow independents to vote in primaries. The CRP allowed independents vote in congressional/state office primaries 2002-2010. The CRP did close its presidential primaries starting in 2008. Also, Prop. 14 does not ban write-in candidates; write-ins were banned by AB 1413 in 2012. Prior to that, write-in space remained on the ballot – but write-in votes could not be counted. We regret the error.