Jon Stewart Panics over Crowded Democrat Field that Could Allow Republican to Win California Governor Race

Comedian and The Daily Show host Jon Stewart is worried that there are too many Democrat candidates in the race for California Governor and the left’s crowded field will allow a Republican to sneak in and win the race.

Stewart invited San Jose’s Democrat Mayor Matt Mahan onto his show to talk about his race for California governor this year, and when Stewart asked Mahan why he is running for the Golden State’s top office, the mayor reeled off a one-liner in reply, Fox News reported.

“Well, Jon, I just didn’t think enough people were running for governor,” Mahan joked.

The humor in the reply comes as Mahan stands as one of eight Democrats running for California governor this year, all of whom will be on November’s ballot. On the other side of the aisle, only two Republicans are running to replace sitting Gov. Gavin Newsom. Unlike other states where only one Democrat and one Republican appears on a gubernatorial ballot, California has an open system that allows multiple candidates from the same party to end up on the final ballot.

But Mahan’s little quip worries the left-wing Stewart.

“So there are like, two or three Republicans running and like, eight or nine or 10 or 11, or 20 Democrats?” Stewart said exaggerating just a bit. “It’s a great plan, and it so smacks of the Democratic Party to split the vote into such fractious fiefdoms that the only two people standing are the two Republicans.”

“So smart, so typical!” Stewart added.

Mahan then added that so far “undecided” is beating all the candidates, which made Stewart’s funk even worse.

Despite all that, Mahan says that he is very proud of his record of reform in San Jose, where is has been praised for his policies on the homelessness issue, and he is running as a pragmatic candidate.

Stewart is right to worry that his favored party could lose in November. A new Politico poll shows that Republican Steve Hilton is at the top of the polls with 19 percent, while Democrat Tom Steyer pulls in at second with 13 percent, and Democrat Eric Swalwell is third at 11 percent. In fourth place, the second Republican, Chad Bianco, is sitting at 11 percent and in fifth is Democrat Katie Porter, also with 11 percent. Six more Democrats are also in the race, with all receiving less than 6 percent in the Politico poll.

For his part, Mahan is in 8th place with only three percent of the poll. And as Mahan noted, the poll also shows that 17 percent are “undecided.”

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