The California jungle primaries destroyed almost all of the right wing wingnuts in California. That's practically centrist by tautology.
However, the more interesting cases are actually where there have been two Democratic candidates, and, yes, much to my irritation, it really does seem to promote "centrism". See: Harris vs Sanchez for US Senate, for example.
Now, whether "centrism" is a good thing is up for debate as history shows that the centrist position is almost always the wrong position over the long run.
> The California jungle primaries destroyed almost all of the right wing wingnuts in California
No, they didn't.
> However, the more interesting cases are actually where there have been two Democratic candidates, and, yes, much to my irritation, it really does seem to promote "centrism".
Almost invariably, the candidate thar had the most institutional support (usually, a more centrist one) in the primary wins the general in that case, same as they likely would have in the prior system where the institutional support would have won them the party nomination. The difference is that they campaign against another (usually more leftist) Democrat in the general.
California used to have actual moderate republicans. Yes even in the Bay Area. Over time those guys retired. The voters moved left a little. And the Republicans followed the national party moving way to the right. The result was the Republicans inability to field viable candidates against Democrats.
The jungle primary was a response the loss of a viable opposition party.
Got to say after Feinstein won against de Leon in 2018 I'm kinda done with hearing conservatives bitch about her.
However, the more interesting cases are actually where there have been two Democratic candidates, and, yes, much to my irritation, it really does seem to promote "centrism". See: Harris vs Sanchez for US Senate, for example.
Now, whether "centrism" is a good thing is up for debate as history shows that the centrist position is almost always the wrong position over the long run.