The election to name the next governor of California feels very strange. For one thing, it’s only the second election since 1998 in which the Democratic nominee will not be a sitting governor (Gray Davis in 2002, Jerry Brown in 2014, Gavin Newsom in 2022) or lieutenant governor (Newsom in 2018), or a former governor (Brown in 2010). So it’s not surprising that there’s a bumper crop of Democratic candidates in the field and no clear-cut front-runner. At the recent California Democratic Party convention that hands out official endorsements for primary candidates, none of the nine would-be governors got more than 24 percent of the delegate votes; 60 percent was required for the party nod.

But California’s top-two election system adds a complication to the mix. The top two performers in the June 2 nonpartisan primary will receive ballot lines in the November general election. They could be a Democrat and a Republican, two Democrats, or two Republicans. According to the latest polling, from the generally reliable Public Policy Institute of California, five gubernatorial candidates — three Democrats (Katie Porter, Eric Swalwell and Tom Steyer) and two Republicans (Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco) — are bunched together in the low teens in voter support. From the beginning of this race, Democrats have been warning that their vast and starless field could produce a strange all-Republican general election for California governor. In the PPIC survey, Hilton is currently running first and Bianco third. And the two Republicans are running first and second in the RealClearPolitics polling averages.

Understandably, Democratic candidates want some of their rivals to........

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