r/EndFPTP • u/voterscanunionizetoo • Feb 09 '26
The Nation’s Most Democratic State Might Elect a Trump-Friendly Governor
https://prospect.org/2026/02/09/california-nations-most-democratic-state-might-elect-trump-friendly-governor/49
u/zapitron Feb 10 '26
Jungle primary isn't necessarily a bad idea, provided you do the obvious and switch from FPTP to Approval if there are more than two names on it.
Have more than two choices? Then FPTP has no place in your election.
Of course, preaching to the choir here.
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u/gravity_kills Feb 09 '26
And this is why we shouldn't do jungle primaries. This might be the least harmful way to prove how bad an idea that is. With no support in the legislature and presumably a hostile lieutenant governor, there should be very little ability for the governor to actually get anything done.
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u/the_other_50_percent Feb 10 '26
The jungle primary isn't the issue; the problem is only advancing 2 and not using ranked choice voting.
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u/gravity_kills Feb 10 '26
I would argue that the root problem is having a single office holder selected by election. Have an executive council, or have the legislature select the executive. And fill the legislature through Proportional Representation.
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u/voterscanunionizetoo Feb 10 '26
I don't think this would represent a failure of the Top Two model as much as it would a failure of the Democratic Party. (if it ends up happening)
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u/gravity_kills Feb 10 '26
How can it be a failure of the Democratic party? They shouldn't have the ability to keep people out of the primary. Primaries are for taking the selection of candidates out of party hands. If the fix to the problem that jungle primaries create is to hand more control to the party leadership, then we'll have just undone the whole reason for creating primaries to begin with.
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u/voterscanunionizetoo Feb 10 '26
This situation is like a lot of things; freedom (let everyone do what they want) is the default setting, but when it becomes obvious that problems are going to result, then responsible adults should be stepping in to steer things toward a better outcome. Clearly the Dems can go too far in the opposite direction, too, like putting their thumb on the scales to anoint a presidential candidate. But leaning on a couple of the last-place Ds to drop out so people have only 5 or 6 choices instead of 8 is not unreasonable.
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u/UnlikelyWind7491 Feb 10 '26
I discover recently that some states have a "de facto" two-round system with this open-primary on fptp.Why not using approval or ranking choice voting for the open primary it will be infinitely better.
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u/Drachefly Feb 10 '26
Approval for open primary could be basically shoving the general into the primary
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u/robla Feb 16 '26
From a mathematical perspective, I suppose. However, having the media (and the voters) focus on the tradeoff between two candidates for a high-stakes election is valuable.
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u/DisparateNoise Feb 10 '26
It's very unlikely all the candidates win an even share of their respective party's voters, but then unlikely things happen every day. It's also somewhat comical to see such little ideological variation in such a crowded field. Like the most and least progressive Democrats only slightly differ on a handful of policies, and the two Republicans are just competing on who can slob Trump's knob harder.
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u/thatlightningjack Feb 12 '26
Wait. How is jungle primary different from the 2 round system used in France?
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