Will California voters 'orphaned' in top-two primary be strategic in November House races?

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Set us as preferred Esther Kim Varet has gotten a lot of questions recently from “depressed” liberals wondering whom they should vote for in November to represent them in the redrawn 40th Congressional District, which covers a large swath of inland Orange County and portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties.The Democratic art gallery owner placed third in last month’s closely watched primary for the seat, behind Republican incumbent Reps.Ken Calvert of Corona and Young Kim of Anaheim Hills.

Calvert and Kim were pushed into the same district by last year’s Proposition 50 and will be the only two candidates facing off for the seat in November.Kim Varet said her supporters have “obviously put a lot of thought into” which of the incumbents to support, but they have had a hard time swallowing the idea of voting for either.So she tells them why, “if we’re playing a kind of longer game,” they should vote for Kim.She says Calvert is favored to win, so supporting Kim will “force both sides to spend more on this race” and reduce Republican spending on other races where Democrats still have a shot at beating a GOP incumbent.

She says Calvert is “much more senior” than Kim, so ousting him would be “more significant.” And Calvert, as chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, has funded Trump’s war in Iran and would be “morally the better target.”In last month’s primary, Kim Varet and other Democratic candidates collectively won 42.9% of the district vote, compared with Calvert’s 34.9% and Kim’s 20.6%.If enough of those Democratic voters coalesced behind Kim, they could end Calvert’s 33-year run in Congress.Whether they will, however, is unclear.

Such “orphaned” voters — those left without a candidate of their party in a general election — are historically just ...