Primary elections are the preliminary elections where political parties are able to select candidates for the position they are running for. This allows parties to narrow down their support efforts, often backing one person for each position.

For example, if there are 3 candidates of the XYZ party running for governor, the primary election will narrow it down to one candidate for XYZ to support.

In California, we have a type of Primary considered Open. This means citizens are able to vote for any candidate of any party during this election before the final one (General Election).

California also has a top-two candidate election system where the two candidates with the most votes in the primaries move on to the General Election to compete against one another. This system helps making the candidate-picking process easier by removing competitors that get the least amount of votes.