A jungle primary is an election in which all candidates for elected office run in the same primary regardless of political party.
Also known as the “blanket primary“, “open primary” or “top two primary”, the top two candidates who receive the most votes advance to the next round, similar to a runoff election.
However, there is no separate nomination process for candidates before the first round, and parties cannot narrow the field. In fact, it is entirely possible that two candidates of the same party could advance to the second round. For this reason, it’s not surprising that the parties haven’t rushed to embrace jungle primaries because they ultimately reduce their power.
