Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff was leading in very early returns Tuesday over Republican former baseball star Steve Garvey, who was holding his own in the race for California’s open U.S. Senate seat, ahead of Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee in the crowded field.
The Bay Area’s races for two open seats in the U.S. House of Representatives saw former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo out front in early returns while Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian and Assemblyman Evan Low battled for second place in the South Bay’s 16th District. All three are Democrats running for the seat of retiring Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo.
In the East Bay’s 12th District, Democrat and BART board director Lateefah Simon was leading the field while fellow Democrats Jennifer Tran and Tony Daysog were in a close race for second place for the seat Lee is giving up to run for the Senate.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey fields questions during his election night party, Tuesday, March 5, 2024, in Palm Desert, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
The returns represent Vote By Mail ballots, and the final results won’t be known until precincts are counted. In California’s “top-two” primary, the two candidates with the most votes in the congressional races will compete against each other in the November general election regardless of party affiliation, setting up the possibility of a runoff between two candidates of the same party.
In heavily Democratic California, where Democrats enjoy a 2-1 advantage over Republicans in party registration, the party is expected to keep the open Senate seat held more than 30 years by late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, now occupied by Democratic Sen. Laphonza Butler, who was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and will step down after the election.
But that hasn’t kept a stunning amount of donor money from pouring into the Senate race, with some $70 million being spent by the top four candidates alone and more than $16 million by outside political action committees looking to steer the outcome just in the primary.
Schiff, of Burbank, a former federal prosecutor and state lawmaker who has served in the House of Representatives since 2001 and gained national exposure leading the first impeachment case against former Republican President Donald Trump, has consistently led the field in both fundraising and polling.
Schiff enjoyed support from more than 300 other California elected officials including 80% of the state’s Democratic congressional delegation including Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former House Speaker, as well as the backing of 18 statewide labor unions.
Katie Porter, of Irvine, a consumer advocate who has built up a colorful persona using a pen and whiteboard to emphasize points while grilling corporate executives in hearings since she first was elected in 2018, has been Schiff’s biggest threat in the race from the political left, raising significant funds to stay competitive.
With her ballot in hand, Congresswoman and U.S. Senate candidate Katie Porter, right, speaks to the media as she waits for her son, Luke Hoffman, 18, to vote for the first time at the vote center at the University Hills Community Center in Irvine on Saturday, March 2, 2024. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Porter was backed by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, California Rep. Robert Garcia, several state lawmakers including Sen. Scott Wiener of San Francisco and Assembly members Buffy Wicks of Oakland and Alex Lee of Milpitas, as well as the Consumer Federation of California.
Lee, of Oakland, who has served in the House since 1998, was a favorite of the Democrats’ far-left progressive wing best known as the sole vote against military action in Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., in 2001.
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, left, gets a hug from BART board member and Cal State trustee Lateefah Simon, who’s running for her seat, at Lee’s Super Tuesday election night gathering in downtown Oakland, Calif., on Tuesday, March 5, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Lee was backed by Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna, Maxine Waters, Mark DeSaulnier and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, state Senators including Nancy Skinner and the California Legislative Black Caucus. Lee appealed to progressives as a Black woman whose lived experience battling discrimination and poverty deserves a voice in Congress, but struggled to raise money and never polled above fourth place.
Steve Garvey, of Palm Desert, a 10-time All-Star and World Series star for the Dodgers in 1981 and the Padres in 1984, is a political rookie making his first bid for public office in a long-shot bid to give California Republicans their first victory in a statewide race since 2006 and first U.S. Senate win since Pete Wilson in 1988.
Garvey, backed by police unions, has vaulted with his baseball stardom over 10 lesser-known Republicans in the polls despite not raising anything close to the two leading Democrats. He has appealed to voters’ frustrations with the state’s problems with housing costs, homelessness, crime, drugs and illegal immigration that have worsened under Democratic leadership.
While all 52 California House seats in Congress were up for reelection, only seven are open races with no incumbents, including those now held by Schiff, Porter and Lee, and the seat of former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, who resigned after losing the speakership in a GOP quarrel. Only 10 California races are considered somewhat competitive, but just four are considered true toss-ups — those held by Republicans Ken Calvert, Mike Garcia, David Valadao and John Duarte.
The competitive 16th district in the South Bay race drew nine Democrats and two Republicans, and though it is considered a safely Democratic seat it has become the state’s most expensive House race, with candidates spending nearly $6 million and Super PACs more than $2.4 million in the primary. Democratic tech entrepreneur and veteran Peter Dixon amassed nearly $2.8 million largely from his own wealth, followed by Sam Liccardo with $2.2 million, Evan Low with $1.4 million and Joe Simitian with $1 million.
Former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo is running for California Congressional District 16 in 2024. (Photo Courtesy of Sam Liccardo)
The contest for Lee’s 12th District in the East Bay has been dominated by Lateefah Simon, whom she endorsed, and who was one of only two elected office-holders along with Daysog, Alameda vice mayor, among the seven Democrats and two Republicans to contend for the seat.