Eight Democrats are running for governor of California. Two Republicans lead the polls. State Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks issued an open letter March 3 begging candidates without a viable path to drop out. Nobody did.
California has elected a Democrat to every statewide office since 2010 — 32 consecutive wins. Now its top-two primary could send two Republicans to the November ballot because Democrats refuse to consolidate. The progressive wing backs Katie Porter and Betty Yee. The moderate wing backs Antonio Villaraigosa.
Silicon Valley billionaires fund San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the latest entrant. Billionaire Tom Steyer and Congressman Eric Swalwell split the middle. The February convention couldn’t endorse a single candidate.
February PPIC polling shows five candidates within four points. Steve Hilton, Republican, former Fox News commentator, leads at 14%. Katie Porter, Democrat, former congresswoman, sits at 13%. Chad Bianco, Republican, Riverside County sheriff and Oath Keepers member, holds 12%. Eric Swalwell, Democrat, Bay Area congressman, trails at 11%. Tom Steyer, Democrat, billionaire hedge fund founder, rounds out the top five at 10%. The Primary is June 2nd.
California is the most visible symptom. The same fracture is splitting the party in courtrooms, primaries, and fundraising networks from New Jersey to North Carolina to Texas — and in Colorado, where HCA has documented the civil war with TRACER and FEC filings for months.
Three elections in five weeks exposed the fault lines. On February 5, progressive activist Analilia Mejia upset former Congressman Tom Malinowski in New Jersey’s 11th District special primary. Mejia — Bernie Sanders’ former national political director, endorsed by Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Elizabeth Warren — raised $600,000. Malinowski raised twice that and still lost.
AIPAC’s super PAC spent $2.3 million attacking Malinowski and inadvertently cleared the lane for the candidate further to his left.
On March 3, Texas delivered the opposite verdict. State Rep. James Talarico defeated Rep. Jasmine Crockett 53 to 46 for the Democratic Senate nomination. Talarico is a white male Presbyterian seminarian who campaigned in deep-red rural Texas on economic populism and Christian faith. Crockett ran on base activation and combative anti-Trump style.
Talarico raised $1 million in his first 12 hours on small-dollar donations and outraised even Republican incumbent John Cornyn. Texas Democrats picked the big-tent candidate over the progressive firebrand.
The same night in North Carolina, incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee survived progressive challenger Nida Allam by 1,202 votes. More than 122,000 Democrats cast ballots in the race. Sanders, Justice Democrats, Leaders We Deserve, and the Working Families Party all backed Allam. Outside groups spent $4.5 million.
Down-ballot, North Carolina Democrats purged three of their own state legislators who had crossed party lines to override Gov. Josh Stein’s vetoes — one lost by 11 points, another by 42, a third by 48.
The establishment is fighting back above the primary level. On March 1, Third Way convened hundreds of Democratic officials and operatives in Charleston to stop Ocasio-Cortez from winning the 2028 presidential nomination. Third Way president Jon Cowan opened the event by attacking her directly.
Five days later, strategist James Carville repeated his call for Rep. Ilhan Omar to leave the party entirely, citing her 2018 statement that the country “should be more fearful of white men.” Carville called it “mathematical insanity” to win without white males — 33% of the electorate. His July 2025 New York Times op-ed called the party situation a “civilized civil war” that is “necessary to have” but “even more necessary to delay.”
DNC chair Ken Martin drew his own line, telling vice chair David Hogg to drop his $20 million campaign to primary Democratic incumbents or resign his DNC position. Justice Democrats announced 12 primary candidates for 2026. Thirty House Democrats face challengers who raised $100,000 or more — $64 million in collective fundraising diverted from fighting Republicans.
The voter data explains the urgency. Democratic-aligned analytics firm Catalist found male support for Democrats dropped from 48% to 42% between 2020 and 2024. Among young Black men, support fell from 85% to 75%. Among young Latino men, from 63% to 47%.
Third Way focus groups found young men calling Democrats “the anti-male party.” The factions disagree on the fix — centrists say drop identity politics and go economic, progressives say racial justice messaging is essential to mobilize the base.
HCA identified this pattern four months ago. A November 2025 analysis titled “Do Democrats Face a Modern Night of the Long Knives” documented the progressive infrastructure replacing the party’s establishment class — Pelosi’s retirement, Durbin’s departure, Nadler and Schakowsky stepping aside. The article named Rep. Shri Thanedar of Michigan as an imminent target. Justice Democrats endorsed his primary challenger three weeks later.
HCA’s reporting in Colorado has since tracked the civil war with hard numbers. TRACER filings from January 15 showed Democrats raised 12 times more than Republicans for statewide races — then spent nearly $10 million fighting each other in primaries. FEC data published February 2 showed $38 million raised for federal races, with Democrats burning $14 million on internal civil wars.
CD-8 fielded six Democratic candidates who spent $4.8 million fighting each other. Four Democrats raised $8.3 million in CD-4. Lauren Boebert raised one-tenth of that.
ActBlue processed $9.18 million at a 13-to-1 ratio over WinRed, but the “grassroots” label collapses under scrutiny. Most Democratic candidates showed the vast majority of their ActBlue money came from large donors, not small-dollar contributors. Out-of-state money flooded state races at 557-to-1 over Republicans.
The moderate wing is losing the money war. Shannon Bird — the only locally funded competitive Democrat in CD-8, with 94.7% Colorado money — resigned from the legislature trailing progressive Manny Rutinel two-to-one. State Treasurer Dave Young dropped out of the same race after raising $164,000. Rutinel had raised $2 million.
In CD-4, Trisha Calvarese sued state chair Shad Murib in Denver District Court for moving the assembly date one day to make her progressive rival eligible.
AI analysis of TRACER data found Attorney General Phil Weiser — running for governor — had 1,988 campaign finance disclosure violations. Secretary of State Jena Griswold — running for attorney general — had 492 contributions with missing information. Weiser’s office investigates Griswold while both face identical complaints. Democrats suing Democrats, investigating Democrats, outspending Democrats.
California may hand its governorship to a Republican because eight Democrats refused to yield. Texas voters chose the big-tent candidate while the centrist establishment launched a preemptive war against its own rising star. From Colorado courtrooms to North Carolina primaries to Charleston strategy sessions, every wing of the party is fighting a different enemy — and none of them are Republican. A party at war with itself is asking voters to trust it with power.
Support Independent Local Journalism — High Country Advocate was created as a real alternative to regional media that too often silences dissenting voices while taking sides in the political struggle. Producing in-depth, unflinching reporting like this series and others is expensive: servers, editing, research time, and legal review all add up quickly. If these articles have informed you or given you new perspective, please consider supporting HCA with a paid subscription — every subscriber helps keep this reporting strong and independent. 