As California’s primary election comes to an end on Tuesday, many in the state are also coming to a conclusion: The state’s nonpartisan election system has got to go.Since 2012, California has operated a nonpartisan “jungle” primary system in which candidates from all parties run against each other, with the top two finishers advancing to the November general election. Enacted by Proposition 14, this system was meant to reduce polarization and increase the chances of moderate and independent candidates winning.Instead, the system has produced gamesmanship by high-profile candidates and often prevented party-affiliated voters from being able to vote for a candidate of their choosing in the general election. It was primarily Republicans and third parties who suffered in the Democrat-controlled state: In both 2016 and 2018, voters were left to choose between two Democrats for the state’s Senate races. This dynamic has repeated in numerous congressional and state legislative races in every election cycle since the state adopted the nonpartisan system. But in 2026, fear gripped the Democratic Party that it was their turn to be locked out of a crucial race. Republican gubernatorial candidates Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco led the polls into the early spring, with the Democratic vote splintered amid a field of uninspiring candidates. The possibility that a Republican could become governor of the largest economy and one of the most Democratic states in the country sparked a five-alarm emergency for Democrats — and a rush to rethink the jungle primary.Early in 2026, GOP candidates Sheriff Chad Bianco and political consultant Steve Hilton threatened to block Democrats from the general election in California's gubernatorial race.Jason Henry/Pool via Getty Images“The current system we have does not work,” Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, told The Guardian on May 1. “It needs to be revised or repealed.”Days later, Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio, former press secretary for Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, filed a ballot initiative for the 2028 election to repeal Proposition 14 and return to a system of partisan party primaries.“Even though the scenario of two candidates from one party has played out numerous times in legislative races, we haven’t seen it for the governor’s race,” Maviglio said. “This really put a spotlight on the dangers of the system.”Maviglio has recruited the former California GOP Chair Ron Nehring and support from the Libertarian and Green parties to back his proposition. Third parties, who have been almost universally locked out of the general election, have already sued to overturn the nonpartisan system. At the moment, Maviglio’s effort would need to collect over 850,000 signatures to qualify for the 2028 ballot, although he suggested he would refile the proposition after Tuesday’s primary election, thus requiring a slightly lower number of signatures.The risk that Democrats will be locked out of the governor’s race has receded after President Donald Trump endorsed Hilton and following former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s withdrawal after facing rape accusations. The race has since seen former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and the left-wing billionaire Tom Steyer fighting to consolidate Democratic voters.In a bid to avoid a Democratic lockout in the general, the Democratic Governors Association has boosted Hilton by spending more than $1.5 million on mailers to Republican voters “attacking” him for receiving Trump’s endorsement.Former Health Secretary Xavier Becerra and billionaire Tom Steyer are the leading Democratic Party candidates for governor.Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images via Getty ImagesIt’s an example of the way leading candidates and their backers have engaged in gamesmanship under the jungle primary system to secure the most favorable opponent in the general election.In the Los Angeles mayoral race, supporters of incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass have run ads that purport to attack Republican Spencer Pratt but instead act as promotional material for Republican voters. Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a Democrat running for mayor to Bass’ left, accused Bass and her allies of “promoting the campaign of a MAGA Republican” at a debate on May 5.“Is he preferable to you as a competitor to me? Is he preferable to LA?” Raman asked.In Northern California, a Democratic super PAC dropped $100,000 to boost the Republican running against longtime Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui after her campaign urged supporters to do so. Matsui is also facing a much more threatening challenge from her left, brought by Sacramento City Councilmember Mai Vang.Similarly, Democratic Rep. Derek Tran has sent out mailers promoting one of the five GOP candidates running against him by “attacking” his support for Trump’s agenda. A GOP super PAC, meanwhile, is promoting the more progressive Democrat seeking to unseat incumbent GOP Rep. David Valadao.This gamesmanship is how Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff avoided running against Democratic Rep. Katie Porter in his 2024 Senate campaign when he boosted Republican Steve Garvey into the general election.The nonpartisan system has never been popular with the political parties themselves: Every political party, including Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians and Greens, opposed the system when it was introduced by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican-turned-independent, in 2010. But voters passed it with 54% of the vote.Supporters of the system argued then and now that independent voters would have a greater voice in elections through a nonpartisan primary system rather than party-run primaries. This, they argued, would also produce more moderate candidates, since voters from the locked-out party could choose the more moderate option if two candidates from the other party advanced to the general election.A union backing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, ran ads attacking Republican Spencer Pratt that Bass' left-wing Democratic challenger claimed were aimed at pushing her out of the general election.Justin Sullivan via Getty ImagesBut the actual elections don’t always play out that way. In the two Senate races in which only Democrats advanced to the general election, Republicans did not vote based on ideology or moderation. Instead, they voted for the candidate challenging the preferred party nominee, picking the moderate Rep. Loretta Sanchez over Attorney General Kamala Harris in 2016 and Kevin De Leon, who challenged Sen. Dianne Feinstein from the left, in 2018.Democrats and Republicans also often vote not for the person they actually support, but for whoever is polling best to ensure their party’s candidate makes the general election. This kind of decision-making favors not political outsiders, but rather the most well-funded and party-connected candidates.As part of a May poll of likely primary voters in California, the local publication Capitol Weekly asked participants about their decision.“I voted for the person I thought had the best chance of winning not necessarily the person I liked best,” one Democratic participant said.“I like two candidates and voted for the one that was polling better,” said a Republican participant.That poll also showed that voters themselves have huge problems with the state’s nonpartisan system. Fifty percent said they would like to modify the system, while 29% said they would eliminate it. Just 21% said they would keep it with no changes.RelatedCaliforniaelections2026 electionsprimaries