Asked about the possibility of two Republicans advancing from the upcoming gubernatorial primary during a Q&A following his budget presentation on Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters that Democrats have a “break-the-glass” contingency plan to ensure that at least one Democrat survives the contest.
California will hold a “jungle primary” on June 2, with all candidates — regardless of party — competing on a single ballot. The top two finishers will advance to a November runoff.
Republican candidate, former Fox News host Steve Hilton, currently leads the pack. The RealClearPolitics polling average currently shows Hilton at 20% and the other GOP candidate, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, at 13%.
While the prospect of Hilton and Bianco locking all Democratic candidates out of the general election appears less likely than it did just two weeks ago, Democrats apparently have a plan to ensure it doesn’t happen.
In the clip below, Newsom, who has so far refused to endorse a candidate in the race, said he does “not see that scenario taking place.”
He added, “There is a ‘break the glass’ scenario and there’s many people that have a deep understanding of what it would look like if Democrats were locked out and we’re going to do everything to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
While he did not provide specifics, Politico reported:
[T]he Democratic Governors Association recently began sending mail highlighting Republican Steve Hilton as a fierce conservative. The ostensible opposition campaign could drive GOP voters to Hilton, ensuring he consolidates the party’s voters and saps the support of the other Republican candidate, Chad Bianco, enough to keep him from finishing in the top two.
Regarding his lack of an endorsement, Newsom noted, the field is full of “a lot of good Democrats I’ve worked with for years and years and years on the ballot making their case.”
Newsom explained that he completely understands the candidates’ frustration, because he “was in a similar position with a similar stubborn governor that refused to get involved.”
In 2018, during his first run for the governor’s mansion, then-incumbent Gov. Jerry Brown (D) refused to endorse a candidate. Newsom said, “I developed tremendous animus towards him, and now I offer forgiveness.”
As this race has shown, the campaign trail has been marked by plenty of twists and turns, some dramatic, such as former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s withdrawal last month, and others more subtle.
In the immediate aftermath of Swalwell’s spectacular political collapse, far-left billionaire Tom Steyer emerged as the leading Democratic candidate. But over the past two weeks, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has surged past Steyer and gained significant momentum. Becerra is now running neck and neck with Hilton in recent polling. The RealClearPolitics average places Becerra at 19.8%, just 0.2 points behind Hilton — effectively a statistical dead heat.
Steyer, meanwhile, sits at 14% in the polling average, narrowly ahead of Bianco, who stands at 13%.
It may be worth taking a closer look at what precisely Democratic operatives are doing behind the scenes to shape — and potentially influence — the trajectory of this race. With so much at stake, you can bet Democrats will pull out all the stops to prevent a Republican from capturing the governorship.
That reality raises broader questions about coordination, spending, ballot harvesting operations, and other political tactics that could affect the outcome of the contest long before votes are cast. Just as the Republican National Committee deployed teams of attorneys ahead of the 2024 presidential election to monitor election procedures and respond quickly to potential irregularities, Republicans may want to consider a similarly proactive legal and organizational strategy in California’s gubernatorial race.
Similar to what pundits say about any potential deal with Iran, when dealing with Democrats, the guiding principle should be: “Don’t trust and verify, verify, verify.”
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn.
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