Ahead of Tuesday’s primaries there was a lot of anxiety about California’s jungle primary could prevent Democrats from taking back the House, but the early returns are cautiously optimistic (there are still many ballots to be counted).
Based upon the current results of the California primary, it appears that there will be a Democrat running in every statewide race, and in almost every congressional district (Democrats appear “locked out” only in the East Desert District 8).
Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, the favorite of the California Democratic Party’s core liberal base, got the matchup he wanted with John Cox, a carpetbagger multimillionaire Republican perennial candidate from Illinois who recently moved to California and hitched himself to the far-right policies of President Trump. The results are a stunning defeat for former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, representing the fall of a politician who embodied the growing power of the Latino electorate when he was elected mayor in 2005. It’s Newsom vs. Cox in November as Villaraigosa tumbles in governor’s race.
The Los Angeles Times editorializes, What the June primary tells us about California’s top-two system:
It’s the day after California’s primary election, and although dawn broke on clear winners in some races — most notably the gubernatorial race, where Democrat Gavin Newsom and Republican John Cox prevailed — others are still up in the air and may remain so for days.