As a resident of CA-25, I find myself in a strange and unprecedented quandary this election season. Thanks to the crazy new primary system that California enacted this year - one in which the top two vote-getters of whichever party compete against one another in the general election - my only choice for the House of Representatives comes down to two Republican candidates, Steve Knight and Tony Strickland. Since the Democratic candidate came in third in the primaries, he was eliminated from the November ballot.
This leaves me with a difficult decision. Do I hold my nose and vote for the less offensive of the two Republicans, or simply sit out this election?
My heart says sit out this round, but my head keeps telling me to vote for the least offensive Republican candidate. Apparently, I'm not the only one cognizant of this predicament, for today I received in the mail a flyer from a group called the Southern California Progressives encouraging me to choose the lesser-of-two-evils, in this case Mr. Strickland, who is described as "a practical problem solver and political moderate with a proven record of bringing diverse groups of people together to get things done." Knight, on the other hand, is labeled an "extremist Republican who has established himself as one of the most conservative members of the California legislature."
Has it really come to this, that we are being asked to vote for candidates from the opposite party based on how much worse their right-wing-wacko opponent would be if elected into office?
Anybody else facing a similar situation?