Based on that link, I think it’s harder to keep Democratic candidates off Democratic primary ballots than it is to keep third parties off general election ballots.
Anecdotally, this tracks. Bernie was a long-time independent who Democrats would have loved to keep out of the primaries in 2016 and 2020, but they couldn’t. Meanwhile (as you point out) de la Cruz faced all sorts of ballot access challenges in 2024.
So why were Dems allowed to keep Claudia off the ballots?
Based on that link, I think it’s harder to keep Democratic candidates off Democratic primary ballots than it is to keep third parties off general election ballots.
Anecdotally, this tracks. Bernie was a long-time independent who Democrats would have loved to keep out of the primaries in 2016 and 2020, but they couldn’t. Meanwhile (as you point out) de la Cruz faced all sorts of ballot access challenges in 2024.
There wasn’t a Dem primary last election.
Because no one ran on the Democratic ticket opposing Biden.