California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday made it quite clear he was in no hurry to help Speaker Mike Johnson plug holes in his extremely thin GOP majority, with Newsom announcing Monday the special election to fill the seat vacated by loser former Speaker Kevin McCarthy would have its initial jungle primary round on March 19th with a runoff set for May 21st, Politico reports.
The catch is that the March 19th primary is taking place after the March 5th Super Tuesday primary for the 2024 general election and the full two-year term in the 119th Congress, which Newsom decided to split it up to avoid confusion on the 5th. The district is pretty safe red and Politico’s reporting doesn’t mention any Democrats running. CNN’s Manu Raju’s tweet about the special didn’t either and seemed sound even more certain that the vacancy would stretch to May.
So if you’re rooting against making Mike Johnson’s life easier then you’re rooting for two Republicans to both pull 35-ish percent on March 5th and then on the 19th to force the top-two runoff in May. If a Dem comes in second on the 5th or one of the Republicans wins a majority then the whole GOP field’s going to consolidate and the seat will be filled two months earlier.