Terrified Democrats Launch Petition to Undo ‘Top-Two’ Primary System, Fearing All-Republican Governor Ballot in 2026

In a display of partisan panic and raw hypocrisy, California Democrats are now plotting to dismantle the state’s voter-approved “top-two” jungle primary system—the very mechanism they once championed as a bulwark against gridlock—all because early polls show two Republicans could seize the November 2026 gubernatorial ballot and threaten their iron-fisted, multi-decade monopoly on power. 

Political consultant Steve Maviglio, a longtime Democratic operative and founder of Forza Communications, filed a petition last week with state officials seeking to repeal Proposition 14 (2010) and restore separate party primaries. Under the proposed change, the top vote-getter from each party would advance to the general election, virtually guaranteeing a Democrat on the ballot in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2-to-1. 

Maviglio admitted to the Los Angeles Times. “It was extremely scary to envision the November ballot for governor with Republicans on it.” With Democrats dominating California for nearly two decades, with the help of Maviglio, moms are extremely scared to walk their children to school amid homeless encampments and open-air drug use. 

His fear is palpable (and elitist). Recent polls, including those covered extensively by the California Globe, have shown Republican frontrunners Steve Hilton, the Trump-endorsed former Fox News host and advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco surging ahead of a fractured Democratic field. As one Globe analysis noted, Hilton’s momentum reflects growing voter exhaustion with 15 years of unchecked Democratic governance since Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in 2011. 

Undoing the Will of the Voters

This petition isn’t just a policy tweak. It’s a brazen attempt to nullify the expressed will of California voters. Proposition 14 passed with 54% approval in 2010  to foster moderation and reduce partisan extremism. Now, Democrats want to scrap it the moment the system they supported threatens to hold them accountable. A new website, UndoTheTopTwo.com, frames the current system as “undemocratic” and “corrupt.” Yet.  the timing reveals the true motive: pure electoral self-preservation. The system wasn’t undemocratic and corrupt as long as Democrats dominated elections. For years, Democrats have reaped the benefits of the top-two system, using it to consolidate power while lecturing Republicans about “democracy.” Yet as soon as the possibility emerges of an all-Republican general election matchup, Democrats move to rewrite the rules.

As the California Globe has documented repeatedly, this is the same party that has presided over California’s transformation from the Golden State to the Beholden State, a cautionary tale of high taxes, crushing regulations, rampant homelessness, crime, and record out-migration–all while shielding the public from the true costs of their billion-dollar vanity projects like the secretive State Capitol Annex renovation boondoggle. How much are Democrats spending on their vanity project? No one knows.. nor will they, by design.  

Decades of One-Party Democratic Rule Under Fire

California hasn’t elected a Republican governor since Schwarzenegger in 2003–2011. Democrats have enjoyed supermajorities in the state Legislature for well over a decade, passing progressive wish-list after progressive wish-list with little opposition. The results speak for themselves: the highest cost of living in the nation, failing schools in many districts, businesses fleeing to red states like Nevada and Texas, and a growing sense among everyday Californians that Sacramento is broken beyond repair.

Maviglio’s petition is the latest salvo in what the Globe has long described as Democrats’ “leading through fraud, deceit, divisiveness, and election interference.”

State Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks has even begged weaker Democratic candidates to drop out of the race to avoid vote-splitting—a tacit admission that the jungle primary is working exactly as intended, forcing candidates to appeal beyond their base.

The Broader Context: A Party in Panic

This move comes as the 2026 governor’s race to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom heats up. Hilton and Bianco represent a clear alternative: law-and-order, economic freedom, and an end to the bureaucratic nightmare that has driven so many Californians to the exit ramps. As Hilton himself has hammered home, California under one-party Democratic rule has delivered the worst business climate, highest poverty rates (when adjusted for cost of living), and a toxic environment for families and businesses alike. 

Democrats aren’t just afraid of losing an election, they’re terrified of what an open contest on the general election ballot would mean for their narrative of permanent dominance. 

Whether Maviglio’s initiative gathers the necessary signatures and makes the ballot remains to be seen. But one thing is crystal clear: California Democrats are so frightened of the will of the voters that they are willing to rewrite the rules mid-game rather than compete on ideas. In a state already starved for real competition, this latest power play only underscores why breaking the one-party grip has never been more urgent.