Representative Adam Schiff (D.) and Los Angeles Dodgers legend Steve Garvey (R.) finished first and second, respectively, in California’s jungle-style United States Senate primary election on Super Tuesday. The two are now set to face off in the general-election contest in November.
Schiff, who made his name as a proponent of the since-discredited “Russiagate” theory and as a key figure in former president Donald Trump’s two impeachment proceedings, will be heavily favored to win on Election Day. No Republican has won statewide office in California since 2006.
Schiff and Garvey will compete for the Senate seat vacated by the late Dianne Feinstein, who passed away in September. Governor Gavin Newsom tapped Laphonza Butler to fill the seat, but Butler chose not to run to hold onto it.
Much of Garvey’s financial support in the primary race came from an unusual source: Schiff and his allies, who spent over $11 million boosting the 1974 National League Most Valuable Player, wagering that defeating a Republican candidate would be an easier task to accomplish than besting a fellow Democrat.
Porter, who forwent a reelection bid in California’s 47th congressional district to run for the Senate seat, has criticized Schiff’s strategy over the course of the primary race. She called Schiff’s claims that Garvey represents the “MAGA” wing of the Republican Party “disingenuous,” given the former first baseman’s opposition to a national abortion ban, for instance, and his promise to certify the 2024 election should President Joe Biden win. Porter described Schiff’s boosting of Garvey as “brazenly cynical.”
Garvey, for his part, has run a uniquely laid-back campaign; he has run no television ads and has limited his public appearances on the trail. Where Schiff’s campaign spent about $39 million during the primary race, Garvey had spent less than $1.4 million as of mid-February. Aside from a December trip to the U.S.-Mexico border and a January tour of homeless encampments and a meeting with Jewish leaders, his profile has remained low.