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

SACRAMENTO — Despite a plea from the chairman of the California Democratic Party for underperforming candidates to drop out of the governor’s race, all but one of the party’s top hopefuls rejected the request.

Party leaders fear the growing possibility that the crowded field in the state’s first two primaries in June will divide Democratic voters, resulting in two Republicans advancing to the November election and the election of a Republican governor for the first time since 2006.

The fate of a Democratic victory now rests entirely with gubernatorial candidates who underestimate him, state party chairman Rusty Hicks said Thursday, noting that his advice was largely ignored.

“Governor candidates now have a chance to show a workable path to winning,” Hicks said Thursday.

Eight top Democratic candidates filed official paperwork to appear on the June ballot after Hicks issued a letter Tuesday urging those “who have failed to demonstrate meaningful progress toward winning” to withdraw. Friday is the deadline to apply for the primary ballot.

“He looked like someone with his head in the sand,” former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said of Hicks’ open letter. “[Most] We applied within 24 hours after receiving this letter. It generated some press but not much else. Did not affect [most] “The number of candidates has increased and this has absolutely no impact on my candidacy.”

Democratic strategist Elizabeth Ashford said it was appropriate for Hicks and other Democratic leaders to make a public call instead of keeping such discussions only behind closed doors.

But the response showed that the power of today’s party bosses is limited.

“It’s definitely not Tammany Hall,” Ashford said, referring to the famous Democratic political machine that has dominated New York City politics for nearly a century. “The party and Rusty are influential and helpful, and that’s their role. I don’t think anyone would be offended by the obvious public strong-arming of certain candidates.”

Ashford, who worked for former Governors. Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger added that the minimal strength of the state GOP, along with former Vice President Kamala Harris for whom he served as state attorney general, was likely a factor in the dynamics of Democrats’ decision to stay in the race. Registered Democratic voters in the state outnumber Republicans by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, and Democrats control all elected offices statewide and hold supermajorities in both houses of the California Legislature.

“If there was a strong and viable opposition, if the Republican Party was truly viable in California, I think it would create more unity among Democrats,” he said.

Only one of the nine major Democrats heeded the party chairman’s message. Ian Calderon, a former Los Angeles-area Assemblyman who consistently polled near the bottom of the field, dropped out of the race and endorsed Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) on Thursday.

Once candidates formally apply to run for office, they cannot remove their names from the ballot; That raises some fears that a crowded primary vote could split California’s liberal vote even if other candidates drop out of the race.

“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 you can get people to drop out of the race or to survive. I think there are candidates out there who know that viability is a real thing they need to demonstrate in the coming weeks before ballots start going out to voters.”

Jodi Hicks, CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said she is “still concerned” about the possibility that two Republicans could win the top two spots in the June primary, eliminating Democrats’ chances of winning the governor’s seat in November.

“I didn’t have any details about who I wanted to do what,” he said. “I’m very, very worried and the risks are really high right now and they seem to be getting worse every day.”

Republican candidate Steve Hilton, the former Fox News host, said he was “confident I’d be in the top two” with the Democratic candidate. “I find it very difficult to believe that the Democratic Party would surrender California and allow two Republicans to come into the top two.”

Hilton made the comments Thursday following the California Assn.’s governor’s forum in Sacramento. Real estate agents focused on housing and home ownership. Villaraigosa, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Rep. Katie Porter also attended the meeting. Swalwell, who is currently in Washington, joined the panel virtually.

During the panel, candidates broadly agreed on the need to reduce barriers and costs to build more housing in California, where the average single-family home costs more than $820,000. Many also endorsed proposals to discourage private investment firms from buying homes, as well as former Sen. Bob Hertzberg’s proposed $25 billion bond to help first-time homebuyers make down payments.

“It’s not really an argument because we agree with each other on a lot of things,” Hilton said at one point during the event.

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

A recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found that the five candidates at the top of the crowded field are within 4 percentage points of each other: Porter, Swalwell, Hilton, Democratic hedge fund founder Tom Steyer and Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. While Hilton and Bianco were ahead in previous polls, most voters were undecided.

Some candidates objected to Hicks’ effort to eliminate the field, with Hicks noting that many of the candidates receiving lower votes were people of color.

“Our political system is rigged and corrupted by the political elite, the wealthy and the well-connected,” said Supt. Public Instruction’s 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 essentially telling anyone of color in the Governor’s race to get out of the race.”

Villaraigosa argued that enough voters are undecided and it is too early for quality candidates to resign.

“Most people don’t even know who’s in the race,” Villaraigosa said. “It’s too early to think about withdrawing from the race. I’m definitely not thinking about it and I don’t feel any pressure.”

Besides opinion polls, other indicators of who might emerge as candidates are gradually emerging.

While not enough to win the party’s endorsement, Swalwell received the support of 24% of delegates at the Democrats’ state convention last month; this received the most support among party candidates.

Although spending is no guarantee of success, Steyer donated $47.4 million of his own fortune to his campaign. Mahan, who recently joined the race and is backed by Silicon Valley leaders, quickly raised millions of dollars alongside two independent spending committees backing his bid.

Ashford said some of the candidates’ decision to stay in the race may have been due to their long political careers as well as Democrats’ landslide redistricting victory in November.

“In many cases, these are individuals who have won statewide office,” he said. “It’s hard to think there might not be a continuation of this.”

Nixon reported from Sacramento and Mehta from Los Angeles.