California Democrats Built a Primary System That Almost Destroyed Them. Now They Want to Undo It.
California UndergroundJune 12, 202600:20:00

California Democrats Built a Primary System That Almost Destroyed Them. Now They Want to Undo It.

In 2026, California's Democratic Party nearly got locked off the November governor's ballot — not by Republicans, but by their own fragmented primary field. The system that almost did it? Democrats agreed to build it in 2009 as part of a budget deal.

This is the full story of how California's jungle primary was created, what it was supposed to fix, what fourteen years of data says actually happened, and why both parties are now sprinting to destroy it — for completely opposite reasons.

California Underground covers the California stories the rest of the media ignores
— following the audits, the contracts, the budgets, and the officials responsible
for outcomes that aren't matching the promises.

No team. Just receipts.

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california governor race, steve hilton, xavier becerra, california politics, gavin newsom,