Could the burgeoning number of independent voters in California constitute the basis for a third party, to compete with the Democrats and the Republicans? I regularly get calls from national political reporters asking for reaction to this prospect, and now some state-based pundits are suggesting California’s penchant for innovation will change the political-party equation.

There’s some logic to the notion. In 1994, the year I managed Gray Davis’ campaign for lieutenant governor, voters unaffiliated with a political party made up 10.3% of the electorate. In 2018, voters with “no party preference” (as the state’s election law now designates them) outnumbered Republicans for the first time in California history. Now, independents are 27.5% of registered voters, and Republicans, only 24%. That means more than 5 million Californians prefer no party to the other choices.