(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) -- Are there too many Democrats running for governor in California?
Corrin Rankin, the chair of the California Republican Party, told ABC News on the sidelines of a Republican National Committee meeting last month, "I think the Democrats should have a few more candidates. I say, if you're a Democrat, and you feel like running for governor? I say, jump in."
Rankin's taunt reflects very real anxiety among some Democrats in the state in the 2026 race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.
California uses top-two primaries, in which all candidates regardless of party are on the same ballot and the top two vote-getters advance to the general election.
It's been expected that a Democrat and Republican will advance or, given California's blue tilt, two Democrats. But a crowded Democratic field increases the chances that two Republicans and no Democrats make it past the June primary.
"The fact that it's a possibility at all is enough to raise eyebrows and generate concern," Steven Maviglio, a California-based Democratic operative, told ABC News.
RL Miller, who chairs the California Democratic Party's Environmental Caucus, told ABC News that the scenario where no Democrats advance is a bit "more of an academic exercise," but certainly something candidates are discussing in fundraising emails.
The Democratic field was effectively frozen for months until former Vice President Kamala Harris announced she would not run. Around a dozen Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, former Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, are vying for the nomination.
For some candidates, it's been tough to break through, but they say they want to stay in because they feel their experience means they're best for the job.
Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles and former state representative, told ABC News on the sidelines of a recent candidate forum in the city he once led that he's pointing to himself as "a proven problem-solver ... people are looking for competence, common sense and of course-correction. They want the next governor to focus on the challenges we face."
Asked more directly how he's trying to stand out and if he thinks the Democratic field needs to consolidate more before the primary, Villaraigosa did not say anyone should drop out but pointed again to his record.
"I'm running on a vision for California that says we can restore the California Dream... [I'm] the only one in this in this race who's been a chief executive of a large city," he said.
Betty Yee, California's former state controller, told ABC News on the sidelines of that forum in Los Angeles that she is pointing to her statewide job experience and financial acumen as a way she stands out from the pack.
"I think at the end of the day voters really do want somebody who can really just get on the job and begin to do the work," Yee said.
She also added that Democratic candidates have not had a "long runway" to run, given the focus on the Proposition 50 congressional map election last November and the uncertainty over whether Harris would run for the governorship.
"So now, with all that behind us, we now have the focus on the race... what I did during that time was just to engage and just do as much direct voter engagement as I could," Yee said.
Among the Republican candidates, front-runners Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco are expressing confidence that either one of them will make it to one of the top two slots in the primary.
Hilton, a business owner and former Fox News host, told ABC News that's because of what he said is backlash to high costs and other challenges in California, which has been dominated by Democrats in the state legislature and executive branch for years.
"There's a majority, a clear majority, who think we need change, and that means a change from the Democrats," he said.
Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, told ABC News that he feels there is a crowded Democratic field because Newsom has not cultivated an heir apparent.
"So the Democrat Party below him is just [in] complete disarray, which is why you see a dozen Democrats -- prominent Democrats -- jumping in this race, wanting to be the next heir apparent, and it has to benefit Republicans," Bianco said.
But Hilton expressed some skepticism about the benefits for the GOP of the top-two primary.
"Now on the Democrat side, you're right, there's a lot of candidates, but I think we've all seen how things work in California," Hilton said, speculating that unions and donors will at some point coalesce around one candidate.
But Maviglio, the Democratic strategist, cautioned that donors and labor unions are holding back because of the crowded field, and labor groups in particular have multiple allies in the ring.
"It's splintered," Maviglio said.
Some Democrats have pointed to the state party's upcoming convention in late February as a moment of truth -- since candidates may drop out afterwards if it becomes clear they don't have support to gain enough internal votes for the party's endorsement.
But no candidate is expected, at the moment, to clear the threshold for an endorsement.