Republican Senate candidate and former baseball All-Star Steve Garvey is getting a campaign boost from an unlikely source: his top rival for the seat once held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Democratic Representative Adam B. Schiff.
Schiff's camp sees Garvey, a political novice, as its biggest competitor in the close 2024 U.S. Senate race between two top Democrats, Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine and Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland. It would have been a long shot to win the coveted seat by releasing a new ad depicting .
“Two strong Senate candidates. Two very different visions of California,” the narrator chimes in, later pointing out that Garvey is “too conservative for California” and twice voted for Donald Trump. did.
Two political strategists say the message will likely turn off the state's Democratic voters, but as intended, it may increase the former baseball player's appeal to Republican voters.
“It's clear that Mr. Schiff is trying to shore up Mr. Garvey's credibility as a runoff opponent, so Mr. Schiff can take the rest of the summer off,” he said. said Garry South, a Democratic political consultant who led Gov. Gray Davis' successful campaign.
The Democratic Party has an overwhelming advantage in voter registration numbers in the state, and the two candidates who received the most votes in the March 5th primary will win in November regardless of party. California's open primary system effectively gives the Senate race an edge. That will end when Mr. Schiff and the Republicans take over the top spot on March 5th.
Mr. Porter, who is running against Mr. Schiff for the general election, criticized the ad as a political ploy.
“Adam Schiff knows he's going to lose to me in November. That's what this brazenly sarcastic ad is about — promoting his own political career and supporting qualified Democratic female candidates. and support Republican candidates.” She wrote to X, Social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “What we need is honest leadership, not political gamesmanship.
Mr. Schiff's campaign argued that voters needed to know about Mr. Garvey's record, given his recent rise in the polls.recently University of California, Berkeley Institute of Government Garvey finished third in the poll, co-sponsored by the Times, with 13% of likely voters. He trailed Mr. Porter and Mr. Schiff, who received 17% and 21% support, respectively.
“If Steve Garvey is elected, he will be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump's extreme policies,” Schiff spokeswoman Marisol Samayoa said. “California voters have a right to know the difference between the two top polling candidates.”
Similar efforts have been successfully implemented in past California campaigns, including the 2018 gubernatorial race. Democrat Gavin Newsom's campaign boosted little-known Republican John Cox's gubernatorial candidacy by publicly criticizing him over his pro-Trump and anti-abortion views in an ad. Ta.
Republican voters rallied behind Mr. Cox, and the businessman finished second in the primary over former Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, good enough to take on Mr. Newsom in the November election. Ta. Newsom defeated Cox in that election.
Mike Madrid, a Republican strategist who worked on Villaraigosa's 2018 gubernatorial campaign, called Schiff's campaign ad a “smart move.” The best option in California's top two primary system is to promote one Republican. ”
He hoped this move would succeed in boxing Porter and Lee out of the race.
“Increasingly, Republicans are becoming pawns to checkmate with the person who comes in second in the Democratic primary,” Madrid said. “That's what happened with Antonio, and it appears the same thing is happening with Porter and Lee at this point.”
