Adam Schiff, the centrist Democratic congressman, is poised to be the next US senator from California after securing enough votes to advance to the November election. He will face off with Republican Steve Garvey, a former professional baseball player, who also performed well in the non-partisan primary on Tuesday.
Schiff, a pro-Israel Democrat, was quickly called a winner by the Associated Press, and Garvey secured his spot in the general election about an hour after polls closed.
The two progressive Democratic candidates were trailing far behind, with the Orange county congresswoman Katie Porter in third place and the Bay Area congresswoman Barbara Lee in the fourth spot.
Garvey stands little chance of winning in the general election; the last time a Republican won a statewide seat in California was in 2006. Facing off in the runoff with an inexperienced Republican candidate in a majority-Democratic state would probably see Schiff cruise to victory in November.
The primary broke records as the most expensive Senate race in California. Schiff’s campaign is widely seen as having engineered Garvey’s strong primary performance by spending millions of dollars to air ads attacking Garvey, the former first baseman for the LA Dodgers and an inexperienced Republican candidate, thus elevating his name recognition among Republican voters in a way the Garvey campaign itself was not able to afford.
Schiff’s strategy appeared to be effective at boxing out his two Democratic progressive competitors. Neither Porter nor Lee are expected to return to Congress next year, after choosing to compete in the Senate race rather than run for re-election in their House districts.
Lee, a longtime progressive, had called for a ceasefire in Gaza in October 2023. Porter broke with the Biden administration in December to call for a “bilateral ceasefire”.
Schiff, in contrast, has shown continuing support for Israel’s military offensive in Gaza and has refused to call for a ceasefire, a position that has sparked protests by some young progressive California Democrats.
Polls showed Porter, a nationally prominent consumer advocate known for grilling CEOs with the help of her trademark whiteboard, would have been a strong competitor against Schiff in a two-Democrat race.
In early polls, Porter had been coming in second after Schiff, with Lee trailing behind, until growing support for Garvey pushed Porter into third place.
Porter denounced the Schiff campaign’s ads targeting Garvey in early February, writing Schiff was “playing cynical, anti-democratic political games to avoid a competitive election in November” and that “voters deserve better”.
Garvey has done minimal campaigning for the seat and gave a lackluster performance in campaign debates. He has struggled to answer policy questions from journalists. When asked about homelessness and his lack of specific ideas, he said: “Once we get through the primary, I’ll start a deeper dive into the [issues].” In addition to his baseball career, he also starred in weight-loss infomercials and is reportedly estranged from several of his adult children.
Schiff was the frontrunner throughout the California Senate primary, thanks to his fundraising prowess, and a public profile burnished by his prominent roles in the first impeachment of Donald Trump and the investigation of the January 6 insurrection.
In all, at least $65.3m was spent on advertisements in the Senate primary battle, a record-breaking amount more than the last three Senate races combined, Politico reported, citing data from AdImpact, a political ad-tracking service.
Porter’s campaign was also targeted in the race’s last month by $10m in attack ads from a Super Pac funded by the cryptocurrency industry. The Pac celebrated Porter’s defeat in a statement on Tuesday night. In a speech after the race was called for Schiff, Porter told supporters: “We had the establishment running scared – withstanding three-to-one in TV spending and an onslaught of billionaires who spent millions peddling lies and our opponent spending more to boost the Republican than promoting his own campaign.”
Schiff struggled to deliver his victory speech as protesters interrupted throughout his remarks, shouting: “Ceasefire now!”
In a statement after polls closed, Lee quoted her “mentor and friend” Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress, who said: “You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas.”
She added: “Our campaign has always been about giving a voice to people who don’t feel heard in Washington – and I’m exceptionally proud of the grassroots, multi-ethnic, cross-generational coalition this campaign built across California.”
The California Senate seat became available after Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving woman in the US Senate, died in September. Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and former labor leader, was appointed her replacement, but did not run for a full term.
By November, California will not have a female senator for the first time in 30 years.
In early results in California, it was too close to call the outcome for Proposition 1, a mental health funding ballot measure proposed by Governor Gavin Newsom to “prioritise getting people off the streets, out of tents and into treatment”. The measure had a very slight edge as of Wednesday morning, with half the votes still to be counted. Prop 1 is supported by healthcare companies, construction workers and the prison guards union and opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union and disability rights advocates, who argue it would fund locked-door psychiatric institutions and involuntary treatment and take money from community programs.
On Wednesday evening, Los Angeles district attorney George Gascón, one of the most prominent progressive prosecutors in the US, advanced to a runoff in his re-election, surviving a primary race that pit him against 11 challengers.
Overseeing the largest local prosecutor’s office in the country, Gascón was first elected in 2020 on a platform of reducing mass incarceration and holding police accountable for misconduct and unjust killings. In the years since, he has weathered fierce backlash from police groups and others pushing for a return to more punitive policies.
To win the primary outright in California, Gascón needed to get a 50%-plus-one vote. Anything less triggers a runoff race between the top two candidates in November regardless of party.
Nathan Hochman, a former GOP attorney general candidate and federal prosecutor, was close behind Gascón in early returns. Many of Gascón’s 11 challengers, including Hochman, have pledged to undo his reform agenda.
