A bipartisan effort to reform California’s “jungle primary” system — where the top two vote-getters in the primary, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the November general election — is underway, spurred by concerns that this rare way of doing things can leave candidates from an entire political party shut out from the general election.
Veteran Sacramento-based Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio has teamed with former California Republican Party Chair Ron Nehring to launch the “Undo the Top Two” campaign, with the goal of getting an initiative onto the November 2028 ballot to reform the system.
California’s way of determining which two candidates get to move on to the general election — the result of Proposition 14 in 2010 — is uncommon. Voters that year approved changes, which were pushed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, in an attempt to give moderate candidates in each party a greater chance at advancing to the general election.
But Maviglio, who opposed the jungle primary concept from the start, said the intended effect never panned out — and this year’s gubernatorial race has put a spotlight on its flaws.
The crowded field of Democratic candidates for governor in 2026 raised concerns among some party insiders that Democrats might split the vote enough that two Republicans would end up in the top spots and advance to the runoff while Democrats get shut out of the November election.
Given the attention placed on that potential scenario — albeit a slim one — Maviglio said he decided now would be a good time to try and correct what he described as an “unfair” situation.
“I thought: strike when the iron is hot,” he said in an interview about his decision to try to pass a ballot initiative to repeal Proposition 14.
“Over the years, I’ve seen the consequences of it (the top-two primary system), legislative districts with two Democrats running in a district that’s overwhelmingly Republican and vice versa,” he said.
Nehring, in a statement, called the top-two primary system “a failed experiment.”
“It’s time for it to go. Every Californian deserves the option of voting for a candidate of any party in the general election,” said the former CAGOP chair.
“There is a good reason why no other state has adopted a top-two primary system since California did,” he added. “No one can look at this crazy system and say it’s producing good results, or working as intended.”
Sarah Hill, an elections administration expert who teaches at Cal State Fullerton, said the intention behind the top-two system — to help more moderate candidates — has not worked as intended. People who generally turn out in primary elections tend to be party loyalists, she said.
“What it has done, in a few cases — like what folks are concerned about in the governor race — you have two people in the same party in the general election,” she said. Case in point: The 2018 U.S. Senate race, which pitted incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein against fellow Democrat Kevin de León in the general election.
Hill expects an effort to change California’s primary system would be successful if it ends up on a ballot. After all, discontentment with the state’s top-two system is a rare case where both parties actually agree.
“Neither one wants to risk their party being shut out of a general election, which has happened on occasion,” said Hill. “It hasn’t really had the hoped-for impact, but it can lead to some strange results.”
It’s not just members from the two main political parties who want to see change, either.
“The top-two system effectively shuts out third-party and independent candidates by preventing them from reaching the general election ballot,” former California Libertarian Party Chair Mimi Robson said in a statement. “A repeal would restore a system where voters can consider a full range of political perspectives, not just those of the two dominant old parties.”
Only a few other states have systems similar to California’s, though they’re not exactly the same. In Alaska, the top four candidates advance to the general election, where winners are decided based on ranked choice voting.
Maviglio, who recently filed paperwork with the state attorney general’s office to start the process of getting an initiative onto a future ballot to repeal Proposition 14, said once state officials give the OK, he’ll start collecting the hundreds of thousands of valid voter signatures required to qualify the proposal for the 2028 ballot.
He summed up, in seven words, his belief that California’s top-two primary system must end: “It’s a matter of democracy and fairness,” he said.