California backtracks on good-government policies in divided Trump era
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California → backtrack → era
California’s good-government experiments — independent redistricting and the top-two “jungle” primary — face rollbacks as voters, parties and strategists move to reinstate gerrymandering and to scrap the primary system.
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voters → face → system
- Once hailed as a model for curbing the power of special interests and electing moderates, the reforms are now under threat in a different political era.
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reforms → hail → era
- A bipartisan coalition is campaigning to undo the top-two system while reform advocates warn repeal would sideline 5.4 million independent voters and reverse efforts to weaken party bosses.
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repeal → campaign → bosses
Tired of budget stalemates, deficits and continuous acrimony in the state Capitol, California voters in 2010 started taking action to temper political gridlock and loosen the grip of entrenched special interests.
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voters → start → interests
They approved statewide ballot measures to create an independent congressional redistricting commission, taking that power away from self-interested Sacramento lawmakers, as well as a new “top-two” primary system intended to stifle the power of the major political parties and provide more representative, less hyperpartisan candidates with a greater chance of victory.
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They → approve → victory
Now, in an era of even more bitter divisions in the state and nation, those reforms face severe threats.
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reforms → face → threats
Last month, supporters of a proposal to repeal the state’s current primary system, in which the two candidates in state and congressional elections who receive the most votes move on to the general election regardless of party affiliation, received permission to gather voter signatures to place the measure on the 2028 ballot.
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who → repeal → ballot
In November, Californians voted to temporarily scrap the congressional districts that were crafted by a voter-approved independent commission and instead replace them by ones approved by Democratic lawmakers in Sacramento.
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that → vote → Sacramento
The move, aimed at giving Democrats an edge in the November midterm election, was in response to President Trump urging GOP state leaders, notably in Texas, to alter their districts to boost Republican numbers in the closely divided U.S. House of Representatives after the 2026 election.
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Trump → aim → election
“In the olden times, California liked to see itself as the epicenter of good-government reform,” said Jessica Levinson, an election law professor at Loyola Marymount University.
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Levinson → like → University
But the sense of optimism when voters approved these reforms has faded, she said, because of the divisiveness cultivated by Trump but also because of polarization that predates him.
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that → approve → him
“There’s no world in which you can look at California or any other state in 2026 and say it looks like 2010,” Levinson said.
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Levinson → ’ → 2010
“We, the public, speak to each other in different ways.
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We → speak → ways
Politicians talk to each other in different ways. ...
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Politicians → talk → ways
It feels to me like we talk a lot more about triage than we do about building a shining city on a hill.
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we → feel → hill
It’s a different universe.
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It → ’ → ?
But others question the effectiveness of the California’s good-government reforms and merits of the self-glorification that followed.
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that → question → glorification
“It’s not clear that any of these reforms helped elect more moderates or limit polarization
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It → elect → polarization
,” said Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at UCLA.
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Hasen → say → UCLA
“Reformers may have over-promised in the early 2010s what election reform could actually do to improve the lives of Californians.
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reform → promise → Californians
And Californians did not fully appreciate the unintended consequences of reforms enacted with even the best of intentions.
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Californians → appreciate → intentions
The efforts to claw back the 2010 reforms occurs at a time of declining trust in institutions and during a fragile moment in the nation’s democracy.
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efforts → claw → democracy
Trump continues to push debunked claims that the 2020 election was rigged, as well as other voting misconduct conspiracies that often focus on California.
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that → continue → California
In a prime-time speech last month, the president again raised concerns about the length of time it took California elections officials to count ballots in the June 2 primary.
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it → raise → primary
“It took a month to count the votes,” he said.
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he → take → votes
“I wonder what they were doing.”
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they → wonder → what
Trump delivered a prime-time address on Thursday night about vulnerabilities in the election system, claims that largely were not backed up by the evidence he provided.
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he → deliver → evidence
Lauded by civic groups, the good-government reforms were championed by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and funded by major GOP donor Charles Munger Jr.
Both of the state’s major political parties as well as prominent politicians and several labor unions opposed the efforts when they were placed on the 2010 ballot.
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they → laud → ballot
Jessica Millan Patterson, a former state GOP chairwoman, is among those who believe the temporary pause in independent redistricting that voters approved in November will not be temporary.
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voters → believe → November
And she said the top-two primary is a failed experiment.
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primary → say → ?
“Speaking as a Republican, I just don’t feel that it has served us well at all,” she said.
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she → speak → us
“Not only has it locked us out of many general election ballots, but it has also not moderated Sacramento at all.”
California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks, who supported the suspension of independent redistricting, agreed with Millan Patterson about the top-two primary.
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who → lock → primary
“The current top-two system has failed to deliver on what its supporters promised,” he said.
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he → fail → what
“It’s well past time to review, revise and maybe even repeal it.”
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It → ’ → it
Hicks expressed fears earlier this year that the top-two primary would result in two Republican gubernatorial candidates advancing to the November ballot in a strongly Democratic state because of a sprawling and splintered Democratic field.
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candidates → express → field
Hicks’ rare public move urging low-polling Democratic candidates, which included every minority candidate of color in the race, to consider their viability sparked widespread controversy during the primary.
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which → urge → primary
The tension was heightened by a controversial USC debate selection process that would have resulted in no candidates of color taking the stage.
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candidates → heighten → stage
(The debate was canceled less than 24 hours before it was scheduled to take place.)
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it → cancel → place
Ultimately, the June primary resulted in the same outcome Californians have seen since the top-two primary was approved — a gubernatorial general election contest between a Democrat and a Republican.
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primary → result → Democrat
…and 33 more, not listed.
