How Does The California Primary/Actual Elections Work?

Primary election.  ALL candidates for a given office, regardless of party, appear on a single ballot for the primary. 

The top two vote-getters advance to the general election.  So if Democrat #1 and #2 have more votes than Republican #1....those two advance, and the Republican is NOT on the ballot in November.   

Reasoning? The state says this encourages broader voter participation and can lead to same-party matchups in heavily partisan areas like California.

General Election: A head-to-head runoff between the top two primary finishers. The winner is determined by plurality (most votes), with no runoff if no majority is required.

So for Porter (up until this week)....she figured that it'd be enough votes to spread around....where she would get votes...along with the second place Democrat....to edge out the Republican.

After the disaster of a interview....I'd say Porter lost easily lost 40-percent of her support for the primary.  The remaining  Democrats?  They have to now worry.....if they get into a bad interview.....will they destroy their odds.

This whole game built  to only have two Democrats in the November election?  Yeah, it's an odd way to build the system.

The List of Candiates For The Democratic Primary In California, For Governor

I looked at the primary list....for early 2026:

- Ethan Agarwal, tech entrepreneur, an UNKNOWN

- Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (2021–2025) and former Attorney General of California (2017–2021). Fairly well known in the state.

- Carolina Buhler, UCLA student. Total UNKNOWN

3.  Ian Calderon, former majority leader of the California Assembly (2016–2020) from the 57th district (2012–2020).  Mostly UNKNOWN

4.  Stephen Cloobeck, founder of Diamond Resorts.  Mostly UNKNOWN

5.  Zoltan Istvan, founder of the Transhumanist Party, Libertarian candidate for governor in 2018, and Republican candidate for president in 2020.  UNKNOWN

6. Thunder Parley, software engineer.  UNKNOWN

7.  Katie Porter, former U.S. representative from California's 47th congressional district (2019–2025) and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2024.  Has name-status, KNOWN, but considered a bit flaky.

8.  Raji Rab, pilot and perennial candidate.  Maybe known by 10-percent of the state.

9.  Tony Thurmond, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction (2019–present).  UNKOWN.

10.  Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor of Los Angeles (2005–2013) and candidate for governor in 2018.  Highly known.  

11.  Betty Yee, California Democratic Party vice chair (2021–present) and former California State Controller (2015–2023).  Known, but unlikely to draw more than 2-percent of the votes.

So here is the odd way this is playing out.  There's a 12th player talking about running....current California  Senator....Alex Padilla, U.S. senator (2021–present). 

Porter and Villaraigosa....appear destined to win, and advance.  There's some  feeling that both Porter and Villaraigosa are in trouble, and would lose....in a situation where  the Republican is Steve Hilton.  Becerra instead of Villaraigosa?  That also appears to hurt, instead of helping.

Padilla a wild-card?  Yeah.  He'd basically run to get the Hispanic vote....step down as Senator, and  in some wild way....Newsom might appoint himself into the seat.

All of this theater-stuff.....just to get Newsom in DC?  Yeah....an odd show.

Three Observations

 1.  At the end of 2025....the subsidy 'help' from the federal gov't ends....to cover your cost on your ObamaCare policy....meaning that your January cost will  bump up 10-to-20 percent.

If you review NY Times, and others....in the past week, they've started to talk about the ObamaCare program....mostly as a failure, and that 'something' has to be done before 1 Jan 2026.  In simple terms.....both the House and Senate need to come in...put six weeks of  hard work into it, and collapse ObamaCare....with a replacement concept.

Odds of this?  I give it one-percent chance.

If you think the shut-down crap is a big-deal.....that's only one-star emergency compared to this.

2.  Since the new UK law will go into effect where brothers can marry sisters or cousins....those marriages are considered valid in  the US.  So if 'John' married his aunt or sister.....moves from the UK to the US....the marriage is to  be recognized as valid.

Yeah....it's screwed up.

3.  Almost every instance that I see Kamala Harris these days.....she seems half-drunk.

Four Of My Theories

 1.  How did VP Kam Harris lose?

Well....back in the summer of 2020....as the Convention approached....I think that Jill Biden pushed Joe to select the weakest candidate possible....someone with marginal skills, anxiety issue (panic attacks), and who would never be a threat to removing  Joe from power.  Harris was the solution.

Summer of 2024....as pressure mounted for Joe to step aside....Jill unleashed the 'loser'....giving Harris 100 days to mount a worthless campaign....punishing all of those in the path of Joe.

2.  Why Joe Rogan's podcast matters to most people?

I think most people who watch PBS, CBS, or CNN.....would prefer to have their own list of  questions asked....which mostly agrees to what Joe would ask.  If you view what the CNN dimwit asks.....it's like a 4th grader question.

3.  Did Ilhan Omar marry her brother?

My theory.....she would have married anyone....to plus-up or make happiness with her family.    I didn't say she slept with the brother.....just fake-marry the guy.

4. These 427 counties that Harris won in 2024?

If you go line-by-line....they are all urbanized counties....with a heavy Democratic-base on the city council.

This Jack Smith Epic Saga?

So the basic story laid out of Trump's prosecutor...Jack Smith...Yesterday....6 October 2025, a major political-nuke-blast  erupted when FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino briefed Republican senators on newly uncovered documents from the FBI's "Arctic Frost" investigation. 

This probe, which evolved into Special Counsel Jack Smith's federal case against Donald Trump regarding the 2020 election interference and January 6 Capitol riot, allegedly involved Smith's team subpoenaing and analyzing the private phone records of at least eight Republican senators and one House representative in September 2023. 

The records included call dates, times, originating and receiving locations, and phone numbers.....but not the content of conversations. Sources indicate the surveillance targeted communications potentially related to the certification of the 2020 election results.

Folks targeted: Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Mike Kelly (R-PA).

So, my five observations:

1. The odds of Jack Smith hearings now?    100-percent chance....likely starting by early December....in the Senate.

2.  Did Jack Smith confer with any House/Senate Democrats?  If  yes....their career is likely finished.

3.  The judge who signed off on this?  Whoever it is....they are finished.

4.  So, where did Smith get this idea?  AG?  White House?   

5.  Finally, the damage done....enough to wreck the 2026 mid-terms entirely...giving Republicans an additional  3-to-5 Senate seats, and 15-plus House seats?  

Concluding?  Well...if you had to pick anyone likely to have a heart attack all  of the sudden...it'd be Jack Smith.  

My Doctor Strange-Trump Commentary

 Why is the 13 July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, with 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks firing eight shots from an AR-15-style rifle...grazing Trump's ear....killing one attendee....and injuring two others....in a state of confusion...even a year later?

First.....no real motive...no clear ideology or manifesto; mixed signals suggest a "lone wolf" with eclectic online activity.  It's like Crooks woke up and needed to resolve a problem.

Second....there's systemic lapses by the Secret Service (USSS)....which suggest either massive questions of incompetence vs. intent.  I watched one  guy discuss this....suggesting well over 20 different 'failures'.  As he stated....you could expect 2 or 3....but when you  get to 5 or more....it gets into one-in-ten-thousand odds. At twenty...he figured it was a one-in-ten-million odds that all could happen on the same day....same event.

Third....if you start counting conspiracy theories.  I would suggest it's up around 300 of these now existing.

Fourth.....it's just odd....it was mid-summer of 2025 before a final report occurred, and all we can say....Trump survives an incident that in 10,000 cases....should have resulted in 9,999 deaths. It's like one of those Marvel movies where Doctor Strange has reset the clock 9,999,999 times....to get the one outcome where Trump survives.

Four Things That Changed

 When  I left the 'farm' in 1977....I went off on a adventure (that's really the only way to view life today).  Over the past 20 years, I've come to recognize four evolutions/changes going on, and their effect on society.

First, through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s....no one really openly discussed their politics, their religion, their economic 'woes'  or their 'affairs'.

Somewhere along 2004....I started to notice that trend dissolving. People seemed convinced that if they confessed their politics, religion, financial screw-ups, or sexual hijinks...you'd want to step into their 'circle' (join their club), and there seems to be no positive or plus-up to this.

Second, most all news outlets/social media platforms....seems to have gathered up a agenda around 2010, and serve more to being a propaganda-unit than anything else.

Third, Covid delivered a massive blow to 'trust'.  If you sound like a BS-artist....I'll mute you in a heartbeat.

Fourth and final....you end with a gut-feeling of living around a cult-group.  Yeah, there's this feeling of being around Manson family members, Children of God folks, or Maharishi Mahesh Yogi people.  You'd like to ask them questions....like how they got this brain-washed, but it's better that you sip through your coffee quickly and get back on the road.

If you tried to piece all of this together.....it reminds me of the summer of 1860...leading up to April of 1861....where the Civil War starts.