Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

California’s top two primary is what democracy should look like

Top-two primary in California

Primary voters in California may vote for any candidate, regardless of party.

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Altmire, a Democrat, represented Pennsylvania in the House of Representatives from 2007 to 2013. He studies primary election systems and is on the advisory board of Open Primaries.

In what has become an annual ritual, the Los Angeles Times recently attacked California’s nonpartisan primary election process.

The focus of the piece was the state Senate’s 4th district. According to the Times, the Northern California district “belongs” to the Republican Party. The area has previously elected many Republicans, so the result must be preordained.

On June 6, eight candidates ran in the 4th district primary. Six were Republicans and two were Democrats. When all the votes were counted, the two most popular candidates – those who got the most votes – were Tim Robertson and Marie Alvarado-Gil, both Democrats. They now advance to face one another in the general election.

This was all the Times needed to once again criticize the nonpartisan system, now in place for a decade. The criticisms are frustratingly familiar: It allows unfair results like in the 4th district. It has not produced moderation. Independents don’t care enough to vote in primaries. The reform has not produced meaningful change.

These criticisms are dead wrong.


The premise that Republican voters in the 4th will skip the general election because there is not a Republican on the ballot is incorrect. Research by Charles Munger showed that so called “orphaned” voters participate in high numbers. Andy Sinclair at Claremont McKenna found that 60 percent of Californians like the system, and that voter approval of the legislature has gone from 10 percent to 50 percent in a decade.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

The 4th district race was what democracy should look like! The six GOP candidates were unable to inspire broad support and ended up balkanizing the conservative vote. They didn’t adapt their message and they lost because they couldn’t inspire the voters. So now, two Democrats will compete to represent a conservative-leaning district. To remain in office, whichever Democrat wins will be required to legislate in a way that appeals to voters of the conservative district, breaking the norms of traditional party politics. In today’s polarized times, we need more of that, not less.

Sinclair points out that defining “moderation” is difficult. It’s a tricky term that means different things to different people. Some have argued that Sacramento has become even more bipartisan, while other research shows modest effects. We know this much to be true: While California is still dominated by the Democrats, the parties no longer control the electoral process, from primaries to gerrymandering. Voters have freedom to choose from all the candidates. In many races, candidates whose rhetoric appeals only to their extreme base lose to candidates with a more inclusive message.

We can debate whether this leads to more moderation, but it undeniably leads to more pragmatism and accountability. There’s certainly a better reception in Sacramento for the Chamber of Commerce’s proposals for business growth now than under the previous partisan primary system. California Forward spoke to dozens of legislators and found “the majority of respondents felt that the top two primary has empowered more independent-minded, moderate, mainstream, and centrist candidates. Similarly, a majority felt that the top two primary shifts power away from the extremes — both special interests and party leadership, and benefits include increased competition and representation of a broader range of views in campaigns.”

In 46 states, candidates for Congress and state legislature are forced to compete in primary elections that are controlled by the parties, not the voters. Winners tend to be those candidates who are more responsive to small partisan interest groups than to the broader electorate. In states with party-controlled primaries, 40 percent of state legislators run unopposed in November. California has short-circuited this and put power in the hands of the voters. Has this led to a political utopia? Of course not. The parties still exercise control, and there are still powerful special-interest groups in California that have choked off innovation on every issue, from homelessness to taxes to energy to land management. Yes, “politics as usual” is still alive and well in California.

But in most states, voters have no tools to combat this. Now they do in California. Politicians no longer draw the lines of their own districts, and voters no longer vote in party-controlled primary elections. The voters have a system they like, and they more often than not use it to make an impact, even though it is still messy and imperfect.

Don’t let the critics fool you. No district belongs to a political party. The primaries don’t belong to a political party. They should belong to the people, and California’s system helps keep it that way.

Read More

Following Jefferson: Promoting Intergenerational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

An illustration depicting the U.S. Constitution and Government.

Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

Following Jefferson: Promoting Intergenerational Understanding Through Constitution-Making

Towards the end of his life, Thomas Jefferson became fatalistic. The prince and poet of the American Revolution brooded—about the future of the country he birthed, to be sure; but also about his health, his finances, his farm, his family, and, perhaps most poignantly, his legacy. “[W]hen all our faculties have left…” he wrote to John Adams in 1822, “[when] every avenue of pleasing sensation is closed, and athumy, debility, and malaise [is] left in their places, when the friends of our youth are all gone, and a generation is risen around us whom we know not, is death an evil?”

The question was rhetorical, of course. But it revealed something about his character. Jefferson was aware that Adams and he—the “North and South poles of the Revolution”—were practically the only survivors of the Revolutionary era, and that a new generation was now in charge of America’s destiny.

Keep ReadingShow less
The Hidden Moral Cost of America’s Tariff Crisis

Small business owner attaching permanent close sign on the shop door.

Getty Images, Kannika Paison

The Hidden Moral Cost of America’s Tariff Crisis

In the spring of 2025, as American families struggle with unprecedented consumer costs, we find ourselves at a point of "moral reckoning." The latest data from the Yale Budget Lab reveals that tariff policies have driven consumer prices up by 2.9% in the short term. In comparison, the Penn Wharton Budget Model projects a staggering 6% reduction in long-term GDP and a 5% decline in wages. But these numbers, stark as they are, tell only part of the story.

The actual narrative is one of moral choice and democratic values. Eddie Glaude describes this way in his book “Democracy in Black”: Our economic policies must be viewed through the lens of ethical significance—not just market efficiency. When we examine the tariff regime's impact on American communities, we see economic data points and a fundamental challenge to our democratic principles of equity and justice.

Keep ReadingShow less
Balance – The Golden Mean

Old empty scales in brass colour against grey background.

Getty Images, OsakaWayne Studios

Balance – The Golden Mean

“Next to love, balance is the most important thing.” ~ John Wooden

Would John Wooden, UCLA’s winningest basketball coach, who took his team to ten national championships in 12 years and was named the “Coach of the Century” by ESPN, speak so of “love” and “balance” if they were not absolutely critical to a winning formula?

Keep ReadingShow less
Understanding The Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)

Judge gavel and book on the laptop

Getty Images/Stock

Understanding The Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)

Background

In November 2024, Elon Musk posted on social media, “There should be no need for [Freedom of Information Act] requests. All government data should be default public for maximum transparency.” His statement reignited discussions on the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, a federal law enacted in 1966 that requires federal executive branch agencies to disclose information in specific ways. Since its original passage in 1966, FOIA has been updated three times to tighten agency compliance, account for digital records, and allow citizens to request records online. Under FOIA, government agencies must disclose information by:

FOIA includes nine exemptions to protect against harms that might result from divulging certain records; these exemptions include cases like invasion of personal privacy, information related to national security, and information that would interfere with law enforcement proceedings.

Keep ReadingShow less