Tuesday was a great night for Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, as early resulted indicated he had bested all of his Democratic opponents and is set to faceoff against Republican former Dodger player Steve Garvey in November.
It was also an excellent evening for the baseball superstar whose low-budget campaign scored big among Republicans and some independent voters.
Schiff held 33.2% of the vote, closely followed by Garvey with 32.4%, Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, with 13.8% and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, with 7.4%, as of the secretary of state office’s last update at 3 a.m. on Wednesday. The Associated Press and New York Times declared a primary victory for Garvey and Porter around 9 p.m. on Tuesday night.
See the latest election results.
While still unofficial, the results sets the stage for a partisan showdown in November, which in the deep blue state of California favors Schiff.
“I think that he (Schiff) wanted Steve Garvey, he got Steve Garvey and in the end this should be a runaway for him to become California’s next United States Senator,” said veteran campaign consultant Michael Bustamente.
Schiff was the leading fundraiser and launched a formidable campaign with over $31 million in war chest. He ran as a defender of democracy, piggybacking on the national prominence he gained after leading the House effort to impeach former President Donald Trump in 2020.
Garvey jumped into the race in November and used his celebrity status to rally support around his platform as a common sense conservative focused on crime, homelessness and the cost of living.
He also received a helping hand from Schiff’s TV advertisements, which touted the former Dodger’s Republican loyalties in what many considered a strategy to shore up his support among GOP voters. In an election night speech in Long Beach, Porter said that her opponent spent more to “boost the Republican” than promote his own campaign.
Schiff made no apologies when asked about this tactic at…
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