Analyst: Trump endorsement may hand California to Democrats
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters writes that Trump's surprise backing of Steve Hilton could keep two Republicans from advancing past the June primary.
CalMatters political writer Dan Walters is echoing our initial reaction that Donald Trump may have just handed the California governor's house to Democrats this election.
As we reported yesterday, Trump unexpectedly put his thumb on the scales in the California governor's race. On Sunday, Trump endorsed political commentator Steve Hilton over Riverside sheriff Chad Bianco in the primary.
Dan Walters writes this morning that this is the latest chapter in what was already the weirdest campaign for governor in recent history.
"Who would have thought that Donald Trump would, perhaps unwittingly, help Democrats dodge the embarrassment of allowing a Republican to win the governorship?" Walters writes.
For weeks, leaders of California's Democratic Party have worried aloud about having so many Democrats running for governor that two Republicans could finish first and second in the state's June 2 primary election, thus guaranteeing election of a GOP governor in November.
Walters says that would be the only way a Republican governor could be elected in deeply blue California.