California's Trump tax return law raises fears of Republican lockout [View all]

[Gothmog]

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For Republicans who already face a steep climb to blunt Democratic dominance here, the possibility of Trump’s absence from 2020 primary ballots threatens to suppress turnout at a time when they need every vote they can get. That risk conjures another scenario that’s keeping conservative strategists up at night: Republicans getting locked out of general election races thanks to California’s primary system, which allows the top two vote-getters to advance to the general election regardless of party and regularly produces Democrat-vs.-Democrat contests.

“We all know that the top of the ticket generally dictates the turnout,” California Republican Party Chair Jessica Patterson told POLITICO. “If the Democrats have a huge intensity — which they likely will, because our primary is so early — and Republicans don’t have their likely nominee to turn out to vote for, this could really affect our legislative and congressional races, where two Democrats could end up in the general.”

The newly signed law compels gubernatorial and presidential candidates to disclose financial information if they want to appear on primary ballots. It drew nearly immediate legal challenges from Trump and Republican groups, including the California state party, who decry the law as an unconstitutional exercise in partisan politics.