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It’s game time in California’s grueling pitched battle for a vacant Senate seat, and Democrats are about to find out if they can secure the two seats in the general election.
Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has long been the favorite to take the top spot, but a late wave of Republican baseball great Steve Garvey has shaken the field.
California political races are conducted through a “jungle primary” system in which the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.
That means that if Garvey, a former first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, is eliminated, Democrats could split their votes (and money) between two of their party’s candidates in the general election, by time that they would boost the liberal candidates in the vote.
The Golden State Senate race has already been one of the most expensive for the upper chamber in the 2024 cycle.
Diverting more donor money to a reliably blue state could pose complications for Democrats as they grapple with a brutal Senate map in which they have to defend 23 seats compared to 11 for Republicans.
Schiff’s allies, who refrained from running for Democratic leadership in the House of Representatives after former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) resigned in 2022, have spent considerably to boost Garvey and avoid an infighting within the party in November.
Both Schiff and his allies have spent at least $11 million to keep Garvey afloat, according to the Washington Post – and it seems to be working.
A recent Los Angeles Times/UC Berkeley The poll found Garvey in first place at 27%, followed by Schiff at 25%, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) at 19% and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) at 8%.
If Garvey lands in the top two with Schiff, the Democrat could likely overwhelm the former first baseman by consolidating liberal support in the general election.
Overall, Schiff is still on top Added RealClearPolitics with an average of 26.5%, followed by Garvey with 20.5%, Porter with 18.3% and Lee with 9%.
Currently, Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) is serving her temporary appointment to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who died last year. Butler, former chair of EMILY’s List, is not running to retain her seat.
All three top Democrats have positioned themselves as aggressive progressives.
Schiff, 63, who was the lead impeachment manager in President Donald Trump’s first trial in early 2020, is eager to position himself as a key adversary of the 45th president should he win the November election. He has also earned Pelosi’s coveted endorsement.
Porter, 50, a protégé of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), has already cast herself as a progressive firebrand in the House, aggressively investigating Wall Street executives and other business leaders in exchanges that are often They have gone viral.
And then there’s Lee, 77, who was the only member of Congress to vote against authorizing military force after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He has had the backing of Rep. Ro Khanna (D. by California).
Garvey, 75, a 10-time All-Star who helped lead the Dodgers past the Yankees in the 1981 World Series, is a first-time candidate.
The heated race for the California Senate looms the risk of low turnout due to a Historically sleepy Super Tuesday on the presidential front, where both Republicans and Democrats have clear favorites.
That could boost Garvey’s chances.
The Golden State allows voting by mail until March 12.
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