California voters were on the verge of deciding a historic election to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Tuesday. The race pitted Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank against Republican former Dodgers All-Star Steve Garvey.

After an expensive and acrimonious primary campaign between Democrats, the general election contest for the seat has become dull, bordering on boring.

Mr. Schiff and his allies spent more than $35 million on ads calling Mr. Garvey “too conservative for California” during the primary campaign. This strategy solidified Republican support for Garvey, and he was able to overtake Rep. Katie Porter, an Orange County Democrat, who finished in a distant third place.

Mr. Schiff remains the heavy favorite in the race, with recent polls showing him leading Mr. Garvey by a wide margin.

Mr. Garvey, 75, holds few public events and has struggled to gain support from voters in a state that has not elected a Republican to statewide office in nearly two decades.

Mr. Schiff, who held a significant lead in the polls, has expanded Democratic support in battleground states, raised money for House candidates in California, and traveled out of state to support Vice President Kamala Harris and future Senate colleagues. I focused on traveling to.

Dan Schnur, a professor of political communication at the University of Southern California, the University of California, Berkeley, and Pepperdine, said, “If this were a Senate race in 2000, the competitive nature of California politics and Mr. Garvey’s relatively recent sports His success there could have made him a very competitive candidate.” “But given the changes in the state and the passing of the years, it became an almost impossible climb for him.”

One of the most coveted seats in California politics, the Senate seat, is rarely open. The late Sen. Dianne Feinstein served in the Senate for more than 30 years, and Sen. Barbara Boxer for nearly a quarter of a century.

A Senate seat can also be a springboard to senior office, as was the case with Harris, President Nixon and California Governor Pete Wilson.

The California vote included two Senate questions. One person asked voters to choose either Schiff or Garvey to serve out the remainder of Feinstein’s term, which ends in early January. The other asked voters to choose one man to serve a six-year term in the Senate.

California’s election results must be certified before a winner can be sworn in, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York said.

Regardless of who wins, California will have two male senators for the first time in more than 30 years. Sen. Alex Padilla was appointed to the post the year before his predecessor, Kamala Harris, became vice president and was elected in 2022.

Mr. Garvey and Mr. Schiff entered the Senate race with name recognition and national recognition in very different areas, Mr. Garvey in Chavez Ravine and Mr. Schiff on Capitol Hill.

Garvey, who played first base for the Dodgers and San Diego Padres for 18 years, was known as “Mr. Padres.” “Clean” because of his sweet swinging home runs and his wholesome image.

Garvey toyed with the idea of ​​running for the Senate shortly after his retirement in 1988. Instead, he became embroiled in scandal, including mounting debts, lawsuits, and backlash from two children he had born out of wedlock.

He said he finally decided to run for office last year after deciding he could no longer tolerate the dysfunction in Washington.

Garvey relied heavily on nostalgia to promote his campaign to California’s older voters. He sold autographed baseballs for $100 on his campaign website and appeared at fundraisers under a banner depicting him swiping a baseball.

As an assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, Schiff won the conviction of former FBI agent Richard Miller, who was charged with passing classified documents to the Soviet Union. After serving in the California state legislature as a pro-law enforcement Democrat, he was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2002, and 15 years later, as a member of the House Intelligence Committee, he investigated the Trump campaign’s alleged ties to Russia in 2016. became famous nationwide. .

As the lead prosecutor in Trump’s first impeachment trial in the House, the Burbank Democrat, once dubbed a “little pencil neck” by the former president, used Trump’s vitriolic language to create a national gained fame. His role in the impeachment earned him praise among the democratsdemonized him among Republicans And sowed the seeds for a Senate campaign.

Both men frequently criticized President Trump during the campaign.

Mr. Schiff criticized Mr. Garvey for voting for Mr. Trump three times, including this year’s primaries, and sought to coax Mr. Garvey into supporting Mr. Trump’s most unpopular policy proposals, including mass deportations of illegal aliens. did.

California voters don’t want “a MAGA mini-me in a baseball uniform,” Schiff said.

Garvey called Schiff a liar for telling Americans there was evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016. He also accused Mr. Schiff of seeking revenge against Mr. Trump to advance his own career.

“How can you think about and focus on one man every day when you have millions of people in California to take care of?” Garvey said at a candidate interview last month. He said this in the only debate. “I think that’s disrespectful.”

Mr. Garvey reiterated that he voted for the “best person for the job” but did not seek the former president’s support, which Mr. Trump called a “big mistake.”

The heaviest elbows of the campaign came in the primary, where California Democrats were forced to choose between Schiff, Porter, and Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland, all moderately popular Democrats. was a member.

Schiff brings decades of experience to the table, including his high-profile work managing President Trump’s first impeachment trial and his role on the Jan. 6 House committee investigating the 2021 attack on the Capitol. focused. Lee relied on his long-standing progressive, anti-war credentials. And Mr. Porter struck a populist tone, pledging to fight corporate influence in Washington.

Garvey portrayed himself as an antidote to California’s failed liberal leadership.

Times staff writer Paige St. John contributed to this report.