California voters this year will do something they rarely do: choose someone completely new to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.
Steve Garvey, a retired professional baseball player and a Republican, and Rep. Adam Schiff, a Burbank Democrat perhaps best known for taking on Donald Trump when he was still in the White House, are vying for the spot. The two men are contending for the seat that was long held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, until her death in September 2023.
Schiff, 64, is a longtime congressman, having represented an L.A.-area district since 2001. He’s an attorney and former state senator who launched his Senate bid only after talking with Feinstein, who had planned to retire at the end of her term. Schiff saw his national name ID increase in recent years as he led Trump’s first impeachment trial, participated in the prime-time Jan. 6 insurrection hearings and became an expert on intelligence.
Garvey, on the other hand, has been more politically active on the sidelines. He played 14 seasons with the Dodgers before finishing with five seasons with the San Diego Padres. But Garvey, 75, has advocated for fitness-related bills in Washington and considered a political career after his retirement from baseball in 1987, though he was sidetracked by issues in his personal life.
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Garvey said “reducing inflation” would be his primary focus, if he’s elected to the U.S. Senate. He said, in a questionnaire posed by the Southern California News Group, that he wants to “ease the affordability crisis facing so many hardworking families across California and the nation.”
“I would oppose new federal spending, stand up to higher tax increases and regulations that will drive up the cost of living on everyday goods and services and streamline burdensome regulations that can stifle economic growth and increase production costs,” Garvey said. “This also includes eliminating excessive regulations as it relates to new home construction, as increasing housing supply will assist those renting or buying a house alike.”
Schiff, too, noted that housing costs have become burdensome for Californians. He said his No. 1 priority in the Senate would be “to address California’s twin crises of housing affordability and homelessness.”
“Too many Californians can’t afford to rent or buy a home because more of their paycheck goes to rising housing costs, and too many end up homeless,” Schiff said. “The federal government can help speed up the building of millions of new homes by incentivizing local governments to cut through bureaucratic red tape and eliminate costly delays.”
“But it’s not enough to just prevent people from becoming homeless. We need to dramatically change how we get people into housing and keep them housed,” he added, pointing to providing wraparound services, increasing access to mental health and substance abuse treatment for those who are homeless and coming up with metrics to track how — and if — programs are actually working to address homelessness.
When it comes to the southern border, both Garvey and Schiff said they wanted to crack down on the trafficking of humans, guns and drugs, such as fentanyl, into the U.S. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection says it has seized 19,700 pounds of fentanyl so far for fiscal year 2024.
“We also need to address the surge of migrants fleeing persecution or seeking a better life, with a much more efficient asylum and adjudication system,” Schiff said. “But enforcement at the border should be coupled with a fix for the ‘Dreamers’ and a pathway for citizenship for millions of undocumented people already in the U.S. There used to be bipartisan support for comprehensive immigration reform, and I hope we can achieve that once again.”
Garvey said he is supportive of increasing modern surveillance and monitoring technology at the border as well as the number of border patrol agents.
“We also must end the practice of catch-and-release and return to actually enforcing our laws for those crossing the border illegally,” said Garvey. “While we can and should have broader conversations about fixing our legal immigration system, in the meantime, we can’t continue to create a magnet at the southern border that compounds this crisis.”
Both candidates said immigration reform is complex, but a mass deportation plan is unrealistic.
Schiff said additional border resources, judges and interpreters to adjudicate cases and resources for border communities are needed instead.
“I don’t believe the answer is cutting off the U.S. from people who are seeking a better life,” Garvey said. “The real issue lies with those here in the U.S. with bad intentions. We do need to take action to remove criminals that are wreaking havoc on our communities. Extraditing terrorists and drug trafficking rings will improve public safety and restore trust in our security.”
The state of the race
No, you’re not seeing double: The U.S. Senate race is on the ballot twice.
Voters are asked to pick a candidate to serve the upcoming six-year term and to finish out the remainder of Feinstein’s term. Theoretically, that means both Garvey and Schiff could be victorious come November, although that’s highly unlikely.
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Sen. Laphonza Butler, a former labor leader and Democratic strategist, to the seat when it became vacant. She was sworn in on Oct. 3, 2023, becoming only the third Black female senator in history.
At the time of her appointment, the Senate race was already a crowded one. She opted not to run for the seat.
Schiff, a Democrat, is heavily favored to win the election. Recent polling from the Public Policy Institute of California showed Schiff leading Garvey by 28 points, or 63% to 35%.
He’s been spending his time leading up to Election Day campaigning for Democratic congressional candidates, including Dave Min and Derek Tran in Orange County and Rep. Raul Ruiz in Coachella Valley.
Garvey, meanwhile, recently launched what his campaign is calling an “all-in Latino community strategy” in the final stretch. The plan included at least $5 million in ad buys, including on Spanish-language stations, that target Latino voters.
In terms of the money game, Schiff has raised more than $39 million this election cycle, spending nearly $54 million. Garvey raised nearly $11 million in this election and spent about $7.7 million.
Find out more about Garvey and Schiff — and other candidates on your ballot — with the Southern California News Group’s Voter Guide. Both candidates were sent questionnaires and in their own words, detailed their plans on various issues, from artificial intelligence to the environment and from the U.S. Supreme Court to crime and public safety. You can also find what’s on their playlists as they’re on the campaign trail.
Staff writer Hanna Kang contributed to this report.
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