14 years later, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is back. Just as he said he would be.

He was famous for his movie quote, “I’ll be back”. Well, he’s back.  Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger & Lt. Gov Abel Maldonado played a central role in advancing California Proposition 14 in 2010. As governor at the time, he strongly supported the shift to a “top-two” open primary system as part of his broader push for political reform in California. Schwarzenegger argued that allowing all voters to participate in a single primary would reduce partisan gridlock, empower independent voters, and encourage more moderate candidates. Since 2010, all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, can move on to the November General Election ballot if they make the “top two”, and voters may vote for any candidate without party restrictions. Pre-2010, each Party got its top dog into the final fight, and only party members could vote in their Primary Election. It was meant to weaken the political parties, and it has. Last week, the two leading Republicans, Steve Hilton and Sheriff Chad Bianco, and four Democrats, U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, billionaire Tom Steyer, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and former Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, did the traditional televised candidate debate. What the six candidates had to say on issues was not really the topic that got the most attention. What dominated the messaging of the day was the fact that if all of the Democratic candidates stay in the race (they only let the top four on stage) and split up the vote, there's a 50/50 chance that the two Republican candidates would garner the top two spots, creating a situation in which the incredibly democratic state of California would end up electing a Republican governor in 2026. If the two Republicans split the 30% of CA Republicans expected to vote 15 and 15, they could well get there. This is not some sort of political fantasy; it is a real possibility. The Chairman of the Democratic Party, Rusty Hicks, holds a weekly press conference, releasing polling results, explaining the problem, and trying to get the candidates to understand that if some of them don't drop out, none of them will get a chance to move forward. So far, only one, former State Controller Betty Yee, has done the “right thing” for the party. So maybe, like the time-traveling half robot Schwarzenegger played in the movies, he will finally “blow up all the boxes” 14 years after the fact, which was his most famous quote outside of his time in Hollywood.