Anxiety grows among California Democrats as gubernatorial candidates rebuff calls to drop out

SACRAMENTO — Despite a call from the head of the California Democratic Party for low-performing candidates to drop out of the gubernatorial race, all but one of the party’s top hopefuls have rejected the request.

Party leaders fear the growing possibility that crowding will split the Democratic electorate in the state’s first two primary elections in June and two Republicans advance to the November ballot, ensuring the election of a Republican governor for the first time since 2006.

His largely ignored advice, state party chairman Rusty Hicks, said Thursday that the fate of a Democratic victory now rests entirely on the gubernatorial candidates who flouted him.

“Candidates for governor now have the opportunity to present a viable path to victory,” Hicks said in a statement Thursday.

Eight top Democratic candidates have filed official paperwork to get on the June ballot after Hicks released a letter Tuesday urging those “who cannot show significant progress toward victory” to drop out. Friday is the deadline to file for the primary election ballot. On March 21, the Secretary of State’s office will officially announce who will appear on the June ballot.

“It sounded like someone who had their head in the sand,” former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said of Hicks’ open letter. “[Most] of us filed within 24 hours of receiving this letter. It created a little press but not much else. It had no impact [most] candidates and it certainly had no impact on my application.

Democratic strategist Elizabeth Ashford said it was appropriate for Hicks and other Democratic leaders to make a public plea rather than keep such discussions only behind closed doors.

But the response showed the limited power of today’s party leaders.

“It’s definitely not Tammany Hall,” Ashford said, referring to the famous Democratic political machine that dominated New York City politics for nearly a century. “The party and Rusty are influential and they’re useful and that’s their role. I don’t think anyone would be comfortable with public, direct weaponizing against specific candidates.”

Ashford, who worked for former governors. Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris when she was state attorney general, added that the minimal power of the state Republican Party is likely a factor in the dynamics of Democrats’ decision to stay in the race. Registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by a ratio of nearly 2 to 1 in the state, and Democrats control all statewide elected offices and hold a supermajority in both houses of the California Legislature.

“If there was a strong, viable opposition, if the Republican Party was actually relevant in California, I think that would sort of force greater unity among Democrats,” she said.

Only one of the top nine Democrats heeded the party chairman’s message. Ian Calderon, a former Los Angeles-area congressman who consistently voted at the bottom of the field, withdrew from the race and endorsed Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) on Thursday.

Candidates cannot remove their names from the ballot once they officially file for office, raising concerns that even if other candidates drop out of the race, a crowded primary ballot could still split California’s liberal votes.

“I’m disappointed that most of them are on the ballot,” said Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, who will announce whether she will support the governor’s race on March 16. But “I still think people can drop out of the race or become viable. I think there are candidates who know that viability is a real thing that they have to demonstrate in the coming weeks” before ballots start going out to voters.

Jodi Hicks, chief executive officer and president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said she is “still worried” about the prospect of two Republicans winning the top two spots in the June primaries, denying Democrats any chance of winning the governorship in November.

“I had no clarity on who I wanted to do what,” she said. “I’m just very, very worried and the stakes are really high right now and seem to be getting worse by the day.”

Republican candidate Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, said he was “confident that I will be in the top two” alongside a Democratic candidate. “I find it very hard to believe that the Democratic Party is content to abandon California and allow two Republicans to be in the top two.”

Hilton made the comments Thursday after a governors’ forum in Sacramento hosted by the California Assn. of real estate agents focused on housing and homeownership. Also in attendance were Villaraigosa, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Rep. Katie Porter. Swalwell, who is currently in Washington, joined the panel virtually.

During the panel, candidates largely agreed on the need to reduce barriers and costs in order to build more housing in California, where the median single-family home costs more than $820,000. Many also supported proposals to discourage private investment companies from buying homes, as well as a $25 billion bond proposed by former Sen. Bob Hertzberg to help first-time home buyers with a down payment.

“It’s really not a debate because we agree with each other so much,” Hilton said at one point during the event.

This political alignment on one of the most pressing issues facing California could explain why voters are having such a hard time deciding who to support.

A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll found that the top five candidates were within 4 percentage points of each other: Porter, Swalwell, Hilton, Democratic hedge fund founder Tom Steyer and Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Previous polls had Hilton and Bianco leading the pack, although many voters remained undecided.

Some candidates have taken issue with Hicks’ desire to eliminate candidates, noting that most of the lower-scoring candidates he has asked to drop are people of color.

“Our political system is rigged, corrupted by political elites, the rich and the well-connected,” the superintendent says. of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond, who is black and Latino, said in a video posted on social media in response to the open letter. “The California Democratic Party is basically telling every person of color in the gubernatorial race to drop out.”

Villaraigosa argued that enough voters remain undecided and that it was too early for quality candidates to decide to quit.

“Most people don’t even know who’s in the race,” Villaraigosa said. “It’s premature to think about dropping out of the race. I’m certainly not thinking about it and I don’t feel any pressure.”

Besides opinion polls, other indicators on potential candidates are slowly emerging.

Although that wasn’t enough to win party support, Swalwell did garner the support of 24 percent of delegates to the state Democratic convention last month, the most of any party’s candidate.

Although spending is no guarantee of success, Steyer donated $47.4 million of his own fortune to his campaign. Mahan, who recently entered the race and is backed by Silicon Valley executives, quickly raised millions of dollars, as did two independent spending committees that backed his candidacy.

Ashford said part of the candidates’ decisions to stay in the race could have been driven by their long political careers, as well as Democrats’ landslide victory in November on redistricting.

“In many cases, these are people who have won statewide positions,” she said. “It’s hard to think that there might not be a sequel to this.”

Nixon reported from Sacramento and Mehta from Los Angeles.