Indeed, a California primary move could spark pushback from Nevada and South Carolina, which follow Iowa and New Hampshire on the primary calendar. | Getty Seeking 2020 clout, California looks to jump the primary queue

OAKLAND, Calif. — In the age of Trump, California Democrats are tired of their state’s votes being an afterthought.

That’s why the state's top election official is pushing to reschedule the California primary to directly follow the early contests in Iowa and New Hampshire — a bid to pump up solidly blue California's clout, and voter turnout, in the 2020 presidential race.


Arguing that the nation’s most populous state should no longer be an “afterthought” in the presidential race, Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Tuesday announced his support for a bill from state Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) that would move up the California presidential primary from its current spot near the end of the primary calendar to third — a position currently held by Nevada.

“We need to make California, and California issues, much more of a priority for all people seeking the presidency,’’ Padilla, a Democrat, told POLITICO on Tuesday. With California registration now leading the nation at 19.4 million voters, he said, “it’s going to be great for turnout. ... And it will make California much more relevant.”

The move by Democratic lawmakers — in a state where Democrats control both legislative houses and all statewide offices, and where Hillary Clinton racked up 4 million more votes than Donald Trump — reflects what political observers say is a new strategy as the party looks toward the 2020 presidential election. The bill has a good chance of becoming law, and would potentially change the rhythm of candidates' primary campaign strategies.

Lara’s bill specifically schedules the state presidential primary for the third Tuesday in March, which is traditionally just after the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. The bill would also authorize the governor to shift the date even earlier if other states try to jump the line and move up their own dates.

Indeed, a California primary move could spark pushback from Nevada and South Carolina, which follow Iowa and New Hampshire on the primary calendar.

The bill also would combine the presidential primary with elections for statewide office and legislative races, a move that “will help engage new voters from the top of the ticket down to state legislative races,” Lara and Padilla said in a joint statement Tuesday.

The move is about putting California "front and center between now and 2020 in national politics,'' said political analyst David McCuan, a professor of political science at Sonoma State University. "We know that California is the center of the anti-Trump movement — and by doing this so early, what the secretary of state is doing is pushing even more Democrats into the fold as the anti-Trump forces coalesce."

An early California primary would dangle a mother lode of electoral votes that could give the winner “a huge tailwind," he said.

But Bill Whalen, a former adviser to former GOP Gov. Pete Wilson, said that the shift could also be interpreted as “a Democrat using state taxpayer dollars to fund a Democratic vanity exercise."

"They would never do this for Republicans,'' said Whalen, a fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. "This is about the Democrats making the state more relevant to their own party."

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The date of the California presidential primary has shifted around over the past decade. "We've gone back and forth, but I believe it's time we have a permanent say in the presidential primary schedule,'' Padilla said Tuesday.

The state had an early primary for four presidential elections beginning in 1996, with mixed results in turnout and clout. In 2008, California’s early Feb. 5 Super Tuesday vote for Democratic presidential candidate Clinton helped keep her campaign afloat, while giving Sen. John McCain a critical boost toward the GOP nomination.

But in 2012, the state reverted to its historic June primary, after Gov. Jerry Brown and the state legislature argued it would be more efficient to combine the presidential primary with the regular state primary in June.

Lara, in a statement released Tuesday, said “California is the largest, most diverse state in the nation with one of the largest economies in the world. Yet Californians’ voices are silenced when it comes to choosing presidential nominees."

He added: "California is leading the nation on clean air, criminal justice reform, and expanding healthcare for all, and moving up our presidential primary will ensure our state’s voters are heard in the national debate.”

A hearing on the bill (SB568) is set for 1:30 p.m. April 18 before the Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments at the state Capitol.