The Right Voting Reforms--and the Wrong Ones

[Celerity]

Today on TAP: Insurgents are defeating establishment candidates across the country. But bad election laws and Trumpian interventions could frustrate these trends.

https://prospect.org/2026/06/10/right-voting-reforms-democrats-primaries-california-maine-ranked-choice-trump-mail/


Democratic California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra interacts with members of the media after a campaign event at Mercado La Paloma on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Los Angeles. Credit: Etienne Laurent/AP Photo

In Maine yesterday, Graham Platner won his primary with 72 percent of the vote, suggesting that the latest allegations against him may be titillating the national media but not scaring off Maine voters. In California, as late mail-in votes were counted from last Tuesday’s elections, progressives enjoyed a near-sweep, with the notable exception of the governor’s race.

In a Central Valley House swing district, educator Randy Villegas won a runoff slot against Republican incumbent David Valadao, beating state assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, the Democrat backed by the party establishment and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “It’s a classic example of D.C. insiders and elites trying to swoop in thinking they know what’s best for the community,” said Villegas, who was endorsed by the state Working Families Party and local Democratic clubs. Federal campaign finance records show that several groups spent at least $2.2 million against Villegas, including the AIPAC-aligned Democratic Majority for Israel and several super PACs affiliated with the House Democrats’ centrist caucuses.

In a Sacramento district, longtime Democratic Rep. Doris Matsui—she or her late husband has held this seat in Congress since 1979—will face progressive city councilwoman Mai Vang, again backed by the Working Families Party. Vang got more votes than incumbent Matsui in the primary. And in the contest for Los Angeles mayor, progressive city councilmember Nithya Raman edged out Spencer Pratt, a Republican reality TV star, for one of the two November slots against incumbent Democrat Karen Bass. But in the governor’s race, billionaire progressive Tom Steyer, despite spending at least $210 million of his own money, could not catch Republican Fox commentator Steve Hilton. (Hilton, a British-born transatlantic carpetbagger, served as director of strategy for U.K. prime minister David Cameron from 2010 to 2012.) So corporate Democrat Xavier Becerra will face Hilton in the fall.

It could have been worse. Had things broken differently in California’s jungle primary, with a fragmented Democratic field, the final two in November could have been Republican Hilton and Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. At last count, the major Democrats received about 60 percent of the vote in the state, while the major Republicans received about 35 percent. Yet Democrats might have found themselves locked out of the general election. One option to solve this problem is ranked-choice voting, where voters rank multiple candidates in order of preference, and lower-performing candidates are gradually eliminated, with voters’ next choices receiving those votes until someone gets over 50 percent. This system saves the cost of a runoff and gets closer to true voter preferences.

snip