The actual system is a bit more nuanced, (or less nuanced, depending on your perspective) which is everyone runs in the same primary, there are no party divisions and the top two candidates proceed to the general election.
FWIW, it was proposed and supported by Abel Maldonado, who is a GOP politician, and it was opposed by the state Democratic party.
A lot of people just assume the democrats are responsible for everything that happens in California. It is somewhat notable when this isn't the case, so I thought I'd mention it. I don't really buy the logic either way, but if someone else wants to, I figure they should buy something that's accurate.
It moves the more important, and potentially decisive, election for all affected offices to the lower-turnout, more-conservative-electorate, and now badly-misnamed "primary" and only has a "general" election at all for an office if there is no majority vote winner in the primary.
Basically, most offices (but not Presidential elections) in California now have what is really the general election as the "primary", with a potential runoff as the "general election" if needed.
Do you know how often a majority in the primary occurs?
In anything actually contested, I wouldn't think it common. Feinstein had almost four times the votes of any challenger in the primary, and still did not have a majority.
I expect it would be more common for more local and/or more obscure offices, but I don't know at all just how common.
> Do you know how often a majority in the primary occurs?
Its early enough that the political strategies and funding streams haven't really adapted to it yet, so I'd be cautious in generalizing either way from the experience so far with the new system.
That being said, AFAIK, there have been very few, if any, first round majorities so far in the offices that used to have party primaries.
"Its early enough that the political strategies and funding streams haven't really adapted to it yet, so I'd be cautious in generalizing either way from the experience so far with the new system."
FWIW, it was proposed and supported by Abel Maldonado, who is a GOP politician, and it was opposed by the state Democratic party.