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The U.S. Senate race in California next year could be the first in modern state history with no Republican candidate, but thats not necessarily ideal for Democrats.

The contest to succeed retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, will be the first Senate election without an incumbent conducted under the top-two primary system approved in 2010. Under this system, all candidates run in a nonpartisan primary, and the two who receive the most votes face off in the general election regardless of party affiliation.

With Republicans comprising just 28 percent of the statewide electorate, there is a good chance that the top two candidates will be Democrats.

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That could be a problem.

The California Democratic Party is increasingly divided between two camps: left-wing progressives and pro-business centrists. That rift would be further exposed in an all-Democrat election.

Given that the cost of the race is expected to hit a record-breaking $100 million, California Democrats could spend a fortune slinging mud at fellow Democrats rather than Republicans.

Indeed, the best-case scenario for Democrats may be one in which a Republican squeaks onto the general election ballot. That would give the race a partisan cast that Democrats could win easily at a much lower cost.

Dan Schnur, a former Republican strategist who now heads the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California, noted that the states business community spent millions of dollars this year backing centrist Democratic candidates in legislative races.

A Nov. 23 analysis by the Sacramento Bee found that seven of the 10 Democratic Assembly and Senate candidates running in open seats who were funded by pro-business, independent-expenditure committees won their races.

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All-Democrat California Senate race could expose intraparty rifts, drain funds