California Congressman Adam Schiff’s strategy of running ads to boost Republican Steve Garvey‘s support paid off, knocking Katie Porter out of the race.
The Sacramento Bee (“Adam Schiff, Steve Garvey will face each other for California’s U. S. Senate seat this fall“):
Adam Schiff, the veteran congressman who led the impeachment of Donald Trump, and Steve Garvey, the former all-star baseball player, won the top two spots in California’s U. S. Senate primary and will battle for the seat in November’s general election.
Schiff, a Los Angeles area congressman, got the race he wanted, as polls show him defeating Garvey in the fall by double digits.
Garvey barely campaigned in the runup to the primary, while Schiff and his backers ran millions of dollars in ads reminding voters Garvey was a diehard conservative. California hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate since 1988.
The strategy worked. Republicans rallied around Garvey, pushing Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee to third and fourth place Tuesday in a race where only the top two finishers advance to the general election.
Garvey and Schiff will vie for the seat now held by Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom named her last year to fill the seat of the late Dianne Feinstein, who died in September.
But the victory was at least temporarily overshadowed by abysmally poor security.
WaPo (“Protesters shut down Schiff’s victory speech and call for cease-fire in Gaza“):
Protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza interrupted a speech by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Tuesday night — loudly shouting him down and forcing him to truncate his remarks, as he was attempting to claim victory in the California primary contest to determine who will replace the late Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate.
Schiff had taken the stage to greet a packed and elated crowd at the Avalon event venue in Hollywood shortly after networks announced that he and Republican Steve Garvey would advance to the general election in California’s Senate race. But tensions erupted almost immediately in the crowd as the protesters repeatedly shouted “Cease-fire now!” and “Let Gaza live!” — drowning out Schiff’s remarks. Security removed some of the protesters, but they were scattered throughout the audience and a fight broke out in the crowd at one point just below the stage.
As tensions built, a security guard approached the Burbank congressman to urge him to leave the stage, but Schiff motioned him back — signaling that he intended to finish his speech.
Thanking his supporters as he tried to continue through his speech over the shouting, he made a point of stating that Americans are “lucky to live in a democracy where we all have the right to protest.”
But some of Schiff’s supporters angrily confronted the protesters both while the Congressman was still speaking and after his remarks — one man stood inches from a protester’s face as he raised both middle fingers at her. Eventually, security escorted the remaining protesters from the room, but the crowd of Schiff’s supporters — who had been ebullient and eager to celebrate as they waited for him to speak — also quickly fizzled.
Schiff had been the strongest defender of Israel among the top three Democratic Senate contenders. Rep. Barbara Lee has long called for a cease-fire and Rep. Katie Porter shifted her position during the race, calling for a “bilateral cease-fire” in December under certain conditions.
Schiff recently told reporters that he had the same position as the Biden administration, “which is there needs to be a deal to release the hostages and have a pause in the fighting.” He added that “the obstacle to getting that temporary cease-fire is Hamas.”
The eruption of tensions at Schiff’s victory party on Tuesday night exemplified the problems that Democrats are confronting in races all across the country, as pro-Gaza protesters increasingly show up to disrupt their events and demand a cease-fire. The strength of those sentiments, particularly among younger voters, has become a major hurdle for President Biden’s reelection campaign.
I continue to have my doubts that this issue will have much resonance at all in November. With rare exceptions, Americans simply don’t vote on foreign policy. And, if anything, Trump and the Republicans are stronger backers of Netanyahu and considerably less sympathetic to the Palestinian cause than Biden and the Democrats.
I’m surprised that Schiff’s team didn’t have better security screening in place. Americans have a right to protest but not inside a private event. This could easily have turned violent.
