LOS ANGELES — Republican former baseball star Steve Garvey set up a showdown in the US Senate with Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff is on a shoestring budget and with a peak campaign schedule, but now he’s faced with a tough question: What’s next?
Garvey, a perennial All-Star who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, expressed optimism about the campaign to run for the seat once occupied by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Yet heavily Democratic California has not elected a Republican Senate candidate since 1988, a year after Garvey retired from baseball. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state by a 2-to-1 margin, and Democrats hold every statewide office and dominate the legislature and congressional delegation.
“They’re saying at the general election we’re going to strike,” Garvey, a first-time candidate, said of his doubters. “Know this: It’s not over until it’s over.”
It’s a rare opportunity for the Republican Party to enter a major statewide race in this Democratic stronghold.
Garvey managed to consolidate Republican votes and bypass two Democratic House incumbents, Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, to win one of two slots on the November ballot with Schiff. His first task will be to raise money to operate in a state with some of the most expensive media markets in the country, but he will likely find that difficult as donors tend to spend their money in more competitive states, with control over the House of Representatives and the Senate. on the line.
Garvey celebrated with cheering supporters at a hotel in Palm Desert, his hometown, where he warned Schiff not to underestimate him despite the state’s Democratic tilt. He said he would run a campaign that would appeal across party lines, focusing on inflation, the state’s out-of-control homelessness crisis and rising crime rates in cities.
California places all candidates, regardless of party, on the same primary ballot and the two who receive the most votes advance to the general election. The Republican Party has failed to advance a candidate to the general election in two of the last three U.S. Senate races in California.
And Garvey will be on the ballot on a Republican Party presidential ticket, likely led by former President Donald Trump, who is widely unpopular in California outside his loyal base. The last time a Republican won a race of any kind in California was in 2006.
The matchup also means that California will not have a woman in the Senate for the first time in more than three decades.
Schiff enters the race as a strong favorite, but he has his own challenges. His victory party was marred by raucous protesters chanting “Free Palestine” and “Ceasefire Now,” forcing the congressman to talk over them as they continued to roar. Schiff took several pauses and appeared to rush his remarks.
Schiff, who has been outspoken in support of Israel’s right to defend itself, changed course Tuesday and backed the Biden administration’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza as part of a broader deal that will see the release of hostages would include. “My position is the same as the government’s,” Schiff said. The chaotic scene was a reminder that even in a strongly democratic state, he will have to carefully navigate the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
He also faces the task of repairing relationships with supporters of Porter and Lee, two well-known progressives.
The campaign nevertheless represents a new era in California politics, which has long been dominated by Feinstein and a handful of other veteran politicians.
Garvey and Schiff also advanced to the November ballot in the race to fill out the remainder of Feinstein’s term after the general election. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed longtime Democratic organizer Laphonza Butler to serve out Feinstein’s term, and Butler opted not to seek election to the seat. The winner of the November election would serve a shortened term until early January, after which the full six-year term would begin.
The race is California’s first open election for the U.S. Senate since 2016. Even before Feinstein announced in early 2023 that she would not seek re-election, many of the state’s ambitious Democrats were eagerly awaiting their shot at the coveted seat.
Garvey’s candidacy, buoyed by name recognition among mainly older voters, provided an unexpected twist in the race. The dynamic between Schiff and Porter became increasingly tense in the final weeks of the campaign, as both vied for a spot in the general election.
Garvey secured his spot on the fall ballot by positioning himself as an outsider pitted against entrenched Washington insiders.
He is deeply indebted to Schiff and his supporting super political action committees, who spent millions of dollars on ads highlighting Garvey’s conservative credentials, indirectly increasing his visibility among Republican and right-wing voters.
Garvey hopes to follow a path blazed by other famous athletes-turned-politicians, including former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a one-time bodybuilder and actor who became the last Republican to hold the state’s top job; Utah Rep. Burgess Owens, a former NFL player; and former professional basketball player Bill Bradley, who became a long-serving U.S. senator in New Jersey.
He calls himself a “conservative moderate” and argues that he should not be tied down by conventional labels, such as Trump’s Make America Great Again political movement.
Garvey has twice voted for Trump, who lost California in a landslide but remains popular among Republican voters, but has said he is undecided on this year’s presidential election. He personally opposes abortion rights, but does not support a nationwide abortion ban and will “always uphold the voice of the people,” citing the state’s long-standing bias in favor of abortion rights.
He also had to overcome the reemergence of tawdry details about his private life, including having two children with women he wasn’t married to, that had undermined the clean-cut public persona he cultivated in his Dodger days.
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Associated Press writer Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California, contributed to this report.