California's new "top two" primary election produced about two dozen November contests that will pit candidates who belong to the same political party against each other.

Two of those are in the Valley, and they will be red vs. red as Republicans battle each other for the first time in a general election.

In the 5th Assembly District -- which runs from Madera County north through the Sierra foothills to Placer County -- Republicans Frank Bigelow and Rico Oller will clash.

And in the 23rd Assembly District, it appears likely that former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson and Clovis City Council Member Bob Whalen are headed to the November ballot. Patterson was the top vote-getter in the district and Whalen has about a two-percentage-point lead over Democrat Richard Rojas.

In these GOP-only contests, will someone be aggressive about trying to win over Democratic voters?

Political analyst Tony Quinn, a redistricting expert and former Republican legislative staffer, said they will have to.

"Nobody wants to come out and say, 'Hey, I'm going to be a moderate,' " Quinn said. "But you wait and see. Come October, somebody is going to be communicating with the other voters."

Oller, a conservative firebrand who already has served stints in both the state Senate and Assembly, sees no reason to change his message.

"Why would I? I'm going to be exactly who I am," said Oller, who beat Bigelow by 4.5 percentage points. "That's [Bigelow's] problem. He's more morally flexible than I am."

Los Angeles-based political analyst Allan Hoffenblum, a longtime Republican strategist and author of the California Target Book, which tracks the state's elections, said in the old primary system, Oller and Patterson would be "picking out the color of their [Capitol office] rugs today" in solidly Republican districts.

But there are plenty of Democrats to woo in November. For instance, the 23rd -- which covers eastern Fresno County and a chunk of Tulare County -- has more than 81,000 registered Democrats. They make up a little more than 34% of the district's registered voters.

Whalen thinks he will win over Democrats and left-leaning independents not with his political stances, but with his approach to governing.

"I am trustworthy, and they just want somebody up there who is going to be honest in their approach to the budget and to programs, even laws that are in place," he said.

Patterson said he won't change campaign strategy because his was never partisan. He cited his time as mayor of a city with both Republicans and Democrats, as well as a long history of business experience.

"That was the message I tried to convey in the primary," he said. "It will be the message that I will try and convey in the next go-around."

At the same time, when Patterson talks about his audience, and where he can turn in Sacramento to build a coalition for his California Restoration Act, it is "Republicans and conservative Democrats."

The reform plan, he said, is still in the working stages, but would use states such as Florida, Texas, Ohio and Arizona as examples for ways to turn back "high regulations, irrational tax policy and an unfriendly business climate."

He touts his ability to work with Democrats. In particular, he said he and Gov. Jerry Brown worked well together when Patterson was Fresno's mayor and Brown was in the same position in Oakland.

Whalen said much the same thing.

On the Clovis City Council, he said, all five members -- four Republicans and a Democrat -- "get along well. Once a vote is taken, we reconcile and move forward and do what is best for the city of Clovis. I'd do the same for California."

Oller also said he "had some great relationships with legislative Democrats." But that doesn't mean he will be gracious in the legislative arena. "I will be confrontational, but not mean. If you are not confrontational, you are impotent."

The only one of the four so far to acknowledge the vast numbers of potential votes that can be gained from Democrats and independents is Bigelow. Still, he said he considers himself a conservative.

"I'm approaching [the general election] much like I did as a county supervisor," he said. "I will share with people who I am, what I've accomplished as a supervisor, and what I can accomplish as the District 5 representative."

One thing of note with Bigelow: He hasn't signed any no-new-taxes pledges that are so popular these days among Republicans.

"I don't believe I need a piece of paper to tell me what to do," he said.

First, however, you've got to get elected. And whether local Republicans like it or not, experts say they will have no choice but to try to appeal to the Valley's Democrats.

Said Hoffenblum, the Republican strategist: "You have to appeal to the other people, and if you don't, you're not going to come in first."