The Los Angeles Times of November 9 has this op-ed by Michael Feinstein, criticizing the top-two system for crimping voter choice.
The Los Angeles Times of November 9 has this op-ed by Michael Feinstein, criticizing the top-two system for crimping voter choice.
Voters in California defeated a 9-term incumbent Congressman because of Top 2.
I think Congressman Mike Honda would have been defeated for re-election this year even if California still had a semi-closed primary, which we did 2002 through 2010. He was overwhelming defeated yesterdy and I am guessing he would have lost under either system.
Honda easily defeated a Republican challenger in 2012.
Honda received about 48% of the vote in the 2014 primary, where Khanna finished second, ahead of two Republican candidates, but was only able to get to about 52% in the general election.
If Khanna had run in 2014 in a segregated partisan primary, he would have been soundly defeated, if he ran at all. It would have been quite unlikely that he ran again.
Ro Hhanna might have won as an independent if California still had a semi-closed primary. He had newspaper endorsements throughout the district and a great deal of money. I heard more radio ads for Ro Khanna in the last few weeks than any other political ads on radio.