LOS ANGELES — California Democrats are united in their disdain for President Donald Trump. But that’s about all they can agree on.

Heading into the annual state Democratic Party convention in San Diego this weekend, the Democratic-controlled Legislature is mired in a contentious sexual harassment scandal. Cutthroat primaries have party officials on edge. And grass-roots activists are still seething, nearly two years after Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary.


Escalating the tension in the nation’s most populous state, the national party and a handful of other outside groups are beginning to muscle into crowded congressional races, hoping to head off a nightmare scenario in which the state’s unusual, top-two primary system results in no Democratic candidate at all appearing on November ballots in several key races.

“The gloves are coming off,” said Joshua Morrow, executive director of 314 Action, a political action committee that announced this week it will spend at least $1 million on television ads in the Los Angeles area ahead of the June primary, seeking to bolster three preferred Democrats running in crowded primaries.

The state convention — which is expected to draw several thousand activists and party officials — comes as California Democrats seek to highlight their dominance as a model for the party nationwide.

Democrats presently hold every statewide office and large majorities in both houses of the Legislature. Four potential presidential candidates are scheduled to address delegates over the weekend: U.S. Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, as well as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer.

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But infighting appears certain. In addition to a contested races for governor and attorney general, one of the most obvious flash points is the ongoing debate among state lawmakers over single-payer health care. State Senate leader Kevin de León’s bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein is another likely point of conflict, with progressive groups courting delegates in an effort to block the state’s senior senator from receiving the party endorsement.

Like the fight over single-payer health care, the Senate primary is colored by the lingering bitterness surrounding the 2016 Sanders-Clinton primary.

“We’re a very big tent; that’s how it is, and [there is] a lot of excitement. Sure, there could be some negative stories coming out of there, but it also shows how excited people are, that this midterm election is as important as a presidential year,” said former Sen. Barbara Boxer.

“Politics,” she said, is “rough and tumble.”

Southern California is critical to Democratic efforts nationally to retake the House, so party endorsements in a number of races add another dose of volatility to the weekend.

In races for 14 GOP-held House seats around California, the number of Democrats lining up to take on Republican incumbents is record-breaking, leading party leaders to worry that the competition, and the elbow-throwing, could damage the unity and energy that has been fired up by the party faithful’s dislike of Trump.

Those fights will unfold against the backdrop of mounting fears that the state’s top-two primary — in which the top two vote-getters advance to the November general election regardless of party affiliation — could leave Democrats off the November ballot in several key House contests.

Rep. Adam Schiff acknowledged California Democrats need to become more focused.

“The jungle primary is a real concern … we saw before in the district that [Congressman] Pete Aguilar now represents that you can have a district that is even majority or plurality Democratic, and you get too many Democratic candidates — and you get two Republicans in the runoff. So that is a real concern,” he said.

Earlier this month, Democratic strategist Joe Trippi and pollster Paul Maslin launched a new super PAC, CA-BAM!, in part to help cull the field in competitive races, while national and state party leaders press candidates to consider the potential ramifications of over-crowded primaries.

“There have been conversations going on between party leadership and [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] leaders and members of Congress trying to talk to various candidates,” said Eric Bauman, chairman of the California Democratic Party. “Without telling people, ‘Hey, you have to get out of the race’ — because that’s not the way Democrats do things — but to try to bring people to a sense of realization that if we have five, six, seven Democrats running in a race and they have two Republicans, they’re going to get the two spots.”

In a recent call with candidates seeking to succeed retiring Rep. Ed Royce, Bauman said he told the group, “If we lose the opportunity to deliver three, four or more seats to the Democratic conference, then America loses the opportunity to have at least one House that acts as a stop for Trump’s divisive and hateful agenda.”

Down-ticket Democrats are already sharpening their elbows. In the race to unseat Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in Orange County, Democrat Harley Rouda’s campaign accused fellow Democrat Hans Keirstead of lying about his credentials, then announced it had asked the House Ethics Committee to investigate Keirstead for “failure to comply with the FEC’s financial disclosure rules,” for allegedly not providing information about underlying holdings in investment accounts.

Democrats are widely favored to prevail in November in California’s statewide elections. But in the more uncertain House races, the DCCC has been conducting polling and said it is “keeping all options on the table” for intervening in primary elections. The prospect of national Democrats attempting to pick winners has infuriated some candidates and Democratic activists.

“Local Democrats don’t appreciate Washington telling them who their nominee ought to be,” said Schiff. “So it’s a real problem. And we haven’t figured out how to resolve that.”

Dave Jacobson, a Democratic strategist working with several House campaigns, said delegates “will refuse to be dictated to by the Washington power brokers and top-down politics.”

“Rather than suppressing Democratic votes, and a healthy debate among wide-ranging fields of Democratic candidates, Washington Democrats should focus like a laser on attacking Republicans who are promising to advocate for the Trump agenda,” he said.

But if Democrats are now looking ahead to the 2018 midterms, they’re also fretting about embarrassments from their recent past.

One lawmaker facing accusations of sexual harassment, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, has indicated she will contest efforts to oust her from the Legislature. Another, state Sen. Tony Mendoza, resigned this week amid accusations of inappropriate behavior. But he could still run for reelection — and press for an endorsement.

Garcia, who effectively won the party’s endorsement in a preconvention meeting before stories about her alleged conduct broke, cannot technically be denied the plum unless the party scraps all the endorsements under convention rules. Party leaders and insiders are leaning on Garcia to stand down and take herself out of the running — and to spare the party the mortifying possibility of endorsing her while she stands accused and under a cloud of investigation.

But on her Facebook page, Garcia — who urged men accused of sexual harassment to step down — has denied accusations and has said she will cooperate with the investigation, while mounting a fight to maintain her seat.

The Democratic Party’s women’s caucus, headed by Christine Pelosi, is expected to tackle the issue at a Saturday morning meeting that could be raucous and divisive. Garcia, Pelosi said, “has yet to respond” to many in the party who have asked her remove her name from the consent calendar.

“Job One is making sure the people who go out and ask for the party’s endorsement are people we want to support, who will be champions for our issues,’’ she said. “A candidate who is willing to sweep harassment under the rug is not a candidate who will fight for the rights of vulnerable people … and a candidate who is harassing staff isn’t someone you want to send people to work for.”