Democratic Senate hopeful Rep. Adam Schiff will face Republican Steve Garvey in California’s Senate race in November, defeating two other Democrats to get to the ballot.
Schiff’s campaign ran ads ahead of Tuesday’s Golden State primary calling out the lone Republican in the race, former Major League Baseball star Garvey, for being a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump.
Schiff also characterized Garvey as “too conservative for California,” hoping the ads would act as catnip for Republican voters, bringing his two Democratic rivals, Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, to their knees.
California is such a blue state — especially in a presidential election year — that having Garvey as a rival virtually guarantees that Schiff will replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein and serve the remainder of her current term.
The state has jungle-style primaries, with the top two voters, regardless of party, advancing to the November ballot.
Former House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff was the first candidate in California’s Senate race to advance to the general election
Republican Steve Garvey (right) and his wife Candace (left) celebrate his victory in California’s jungle primary Tuesday evening in Palm Desert, California
On Tuesday night, within 30 minutes of polls closing, Schiff officially advanced to the general election, and at 9:01 a.m. the Associated Press said Garvey would be the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee’s opponent.
The results were bad news for Porter, a nationally known progressive, as well as longtime California lawmaker Lee. Porter received about 15 percent of the vote and Lee only received about 7 percent.
The quick announcement of the race went virtually unnoticed at Porter’s Long Beach Watch Party, where a deejay played Katy Perry’s Firework, a favorite at Democratic Party events, and, oddly enough, YMCA, a well-known part of former President Donald Trump’s rally playlist , said.
“We know we’re going to come up short tonight. Let me also say this: our opponents threw everything, every trick, millions of dollars, every trick in the playbook to topple us. But I’m still in high heels,” Porter said to cheers.
She denounced the “billionaires” who “spent millions selling lies and our opponent who spent more on boosting the Republican than on promoting his own campaign,” she said of Schiff.
Schiff’s own watch party, held at a Hollywood nightclub, was interrupted by protesters shouting in support of a ceasefire in Gaza.
Meanwhile, at Garvey’s campaign event, held in Palm Desert, California, the former baseball great loaded his speech with baseball terminology.
“What you’re all feeling tonight is what it’s like to hit a walk-off home run. Kind of like San Diego in 1984,” he said. “For the general election, to face Adam Schiff, this is the first game of a doubleheader. So keep the evening of November 5 open because we will celebrate again,” Garvey said.
National progressives hammered the outcome.
“Adam Schiff put his own selfishness above democracy by unseating Republican Steve Garvey, who will now turn out to be Trump voters in key House races that could determine control of Congress,” said Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. whose group had supported Porter.
Porter’s voters were also angry.
“I’m bummed about it,” said Porter supporter Chris Miller, a 67-year-old retiree from Costa Mesa. “It pisses me off,” she added when asked about Schiff’s ad campaign elevating Garvey.
“I think it shows what a strong candidate she was if that’s what he felt they should do — take her down,” Miller added.
After her brief remarks to supporters, Porter walked across the room to greet them.
“I don’t do reporters, I do people,” Porter told DailyMail.com when asked if she would answer a question.
Ultimately, Schiff’s ads apparently had an impact.
‘The advertisements that have stood against Steve Garvey, for me, I looked at them and I started laughing a little bit because I thought these are the exact reasons why I want to vote for him,” 32-year-old Michael Mesbah said. DailyMail.com at his polling place in downtown Huntington Beach Monday.
Mesbah, who works in advertising, went to the polls on Monday with his wife Allyssa, 29, a dancer, where they both cast votes for Trump and Garvey.
He wasn’t surprised when he learned those ads were paid for by Schiff.
“That would make sense because they are flattering ads if you look at them from that perspective,” Mesbah said.
Other voters interviewed by DailyMail.com didn’t know much about Garvey, although 34-year-old Nick Mao, a general contractor in Huntington Beach, said he wasn’t happy with the ex-baseball player’s wife problems.
‘I mean he doesn’t have full respect for the way he treats women. “I think if we can get a Republican in there, I think that’s better than what we’ve had,” Mao said. an independent, who reluctantly voted for the baseball great.
Garvey played for the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1969 to 1982 and has now entered politics as a Republican in deep blue California.
Long ago After his political career in the mid-1980s, Garvey was involved in a wave of scandals and lawsuits and found himself in staggering debt.
Before divorcing his wife Cynthia Truhan, he became romantically involved with his secretary Judy Ross.
While dating Ross, Garvey began seeing CNN assignment Rebecka Mendenhall, without telling the women about each other.
While this was going on, he impregnated medical products representative, Cheryl Ann Moulton.
He eventually proposed and had a child with Mendenhall, although he broke off the engagement.
Through it all, he was involved in child support and custody lawsuits.
Garvey Sports Illustrated said at the time: ‘Some people have a midlife crisis. I’ve had a midlife disaster.’
More recent stories from the Los Angeles Times questions raised about his behavior as a father.
“These experiences have equipped me to better understand the adversities others face in their lives and to serve the public with empathy and integrity that was lacking in Washington, DC,” the candidate said in a statement to The Times when he was told was asked to respond to claims of child abandonment.
