In an effort to avoid an embarrassing repeat of the Senate election in 2016, when no GOP candidate appeared on the November ballot, the California Republican Party may change its rules and pick sides in the primary.
Party leaders hope that creating an endorsement process for statewide candidates would allow GOP voters to unite behind a single person in a multi-candidate primary field, increasing the chances that a Republican wins one of the top two spots in the primary and makes it to the general election.
“Democrats provide guidance by endorsing early, before the primary. One reason [for Republicans] to do this is to put us on equal footing and give us as good a chance as possible to make sure our nominee gets on the November ballot,” said Harmeet Dhillon, the state’s Republican national committeewoman and the author of one of two proposed bylaw changes that would allow a candidate to receive the endorsement if he or she is backed by 60% of delegates at a state party convention.
