Will Schiff, Lee, Porter, or Harvey be our next Senator?
The California Primary senate race on March 5th is a rare opportunity to represent the country’s most populous state, a seat once held by Senator Diane Feinstein for over 30 years. Over 20 candidates are running but the top candidates are Democrats – U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter, Adam Schiff, and former Los Angeles Dodger, Republican Steve Garvey.
This Senate race was widely expected to be a three-way match between the Democrats but the likelihood of a low turnout (evidenced by the low number of return mail-in ballots,) increases Republican Steve Harvey’s chances.
It matters because the top two finishers in the March 5th primaries, regardless of party, advance to the general election in November.
A new poll released Friday by the Public Policy Institute of California shows Rep. Adam Schiff leading at 24%, Rep. Katie Porter at 19%, with Garvey just behind at 18%.
Presidential election years usually drive Democratic turnout in California, but a potential President Joe Biden and Donald Trump matchup has led to voter apathy.
“This is a low-interest, low-turnout kind of election cycle. That generally creates an electorate that is older, more conservative, whiter,” said Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc. Garvey could end up with the highest total if Democratic candidates split the Democratic votes.
Democratic candidates Barbara Lee, Adam Schiff, and Katie Porter joined a Feb. 8th Ethnic Media Services forum to discuss their platforms, plans, and policies. Republican Steve Garvey was invited but did not participate.
Rep. Barbara Lee Believes That Representation Matters
Representative Barbara Lee (CA -12) has represented Oakland and most of northern Alameda County since 1998. She is the highest-ranking African American woman appointed to Democratic Leadership, serving as Co-Chair of the Policy and Steering Committee. She also serves on the Budget Committee and the powerful Appropriations Committee, which oversees all federal government spending.
Rep. Lee believes that representation matters. “I was on public assistance, food stamps, and Medi-Cal, raising two small boys as a single mother, a former survivor of domestic violence and so I know what it takes to help lift people out of poverty into the middle class. I know what it takes to grow the middle class.”
Her stepmother was Japanese. “It was during that period living in a border town, having a stepmother who was Japanese-American, speaking Spanish – it really gave me a perspective of who I was as an ethnic person, as a person of color, as a girl, but also some of the challenges.”
Rep. Lee has deep roots in the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles. She was a business owner, “I’ve made a payroll. I know what it takes to create jobs.”
Healthcare is a top priority for Rep.Lee, a clinical social worker by profession. She established a single-payer healthcare framework in California through Affordable Care Act negotiations, The Global Fund for AIDS epidemic support, and supports Medicare for all including immigrants, “championing with Senator Sanders the Oligarch Act, the CEO compensation act bills, that will force billionaires to make their fair share.”
Lee backs the Biden administration’s support for Ukraine during the war and is prepared to support any bill that would ensure a free and open press in this country. Climate justice is integral to her portfolio. “Frontline communities deserve to have a seat at the table,” she said, criticizing a recent Senate immigration deal that “did not have members of Congress at the table from border states, it didn’t have any black or brown members.”
“Black women fight for everyone,” says Rep. Lee who is fighting for parity, equity, and justice for everyone.
Rep. Adam Schiff Wants To Make Healthcare A Civil Right
Representative Adam Schiff (CA-30) who has represented parts of Los Angeles County since 2001 also serves on the House Committee on the Judiciary. A Stanford graduate, Rep Schiff has a law degree from Harvard as well.
“My family moved here, like so many in search of the California dream,” says Rep. Schiff. “We were lucky to grow up in a decent neighborhood and a decent house with good and decent public schools that gave us every opportunity to succeed. And I want that for every Californian.”
As a federal prosecutor, he took on oil companies, big polluters, and smugglers of hazardous waste. Schiff was the youngest member elected to the California State Senate in 1996, earning kudos for his work to expand Metro rail into the San Gabriel Valley, authoring California’s Patient Bill of Rights and legislation to bring up-to-date textbooks to our schools.
In Congress, Schiff is probably best known as the lead impeachment manager for spearheading the Democratic case before the Senate for Mr. Trump’s first trial in 2020.
Schiff believes in legislation to make racially equitable health care a civil right and will fight to restore the Child Tax Credit, which lifted 40% of families with impoverished kids out of poverty. He also supports Medicare for all and a universal basic income pilot project for Americans on Medicaid.
“I wanna make sure that people can afford housing for themselves and their family and that they can afford childcare. That women connect to the workforce and not be forced out of the workforce because they can’t afford childcare.”
One of the gravest threats, said Schiff, is the decades-long effort to disenfranchise particularly people of color. His priority in the U.S. Senate will be to do away with the filibuster and pass voting rights.
He supports legislation to repeal the NRA’s immunity from liability, and as a vegan, wants to reconcile with environmental injustices that disproportionately impact communities of color.
Schiff supports a comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship and relief for DACA recipients and Temporary Protected Status holders. In every aspect of policy, in every appointment he will have to make, he wants a workforce that looks like America. He is proud of his leadership in diversifying the House Intelligence Committee because “it’s good for keeping the country safe.”
“I want to fight to make the economy work for everyone, to protect our democracy, to protect our planet.”
Rep. Katie Porter Believes In Accountability
Representative Katie Porter (CA-47), a single mom with three school-aged kids, has represented Orange County since 2019. She grew up on her family’s farm in the 1980s and 1990s in Iowa during a farm crisis that informed her choice to become a consumer protection attorney.
Rep. Porter, a Yale University and Harvard Law School graduate, is a member of the bicameral Joint Economic Committee, House Natural Resources Committee, and the House Oversight Committee, a fact proudly displayed on her minivan license plates which read OVRSITE.
“Oversight is about holding those people accountable. So it’s not just about giving speeches. It is about getting answers.”
Rep. Porter wants Medicare for all because it delivers the highest quality care with the most choice of doctors and the lowest cost. “I ran in Orange County, California on Medicare for all and I won …Why? Because I tell the truth. That’s a win for all of us.”
Big health insurance corporations and private equity are buying up safety net hospitals, and big pharma “are writing too much of the policy in Washington,” she adds. She is the only person in this race who doesn’t take corporate PAC money because “it corrupts decisions,” and would push for a ban on congressional stock trading because it would give younger voters more confidence in government.
Porter has held polluters accountable by successfully pushing laws raising rates on those who drill and lease public land. “I’m a mom,” she said. “You make a mess, you pick it up.”
Porter wants to invest in affordable home ownership and is working to undo the harms of racist redlining policies. Raising wages says Porter makes it easier for people to raise their children because it is an investment in our future.
She believes the U.S needs an immigration system that recognizes the value of immigrants to the economy through asylum protections and citizenship pathways, particularly for DACA and TPS recipients.“Immigrants are an incredible source of strength to this country,” she added.
Washington has long overlooked the needs of hard-working Americans, especially communities of color, said Porter, who believes the next senator needs to be their champion.
“You can see the result of that in the work that I’ve done…working to hold polluters accountable for poisoning our communities which disproportionately harms communities of color, holding big pharma accountable for price gouging and for driving up our health care costs, for short changing our dialysis patients, to hold big insurance accountable for failing to cover mental health coverage, to hold the gun lobby accountable for spreading lies that endanger lives.”
Why will you vote twice on the ballot for the Senate race?
When California Sen. Dianne Feinstein died in September 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler to serve the remainder of her term. Voters are now being asked to pick a senator to serve the short window from when the election is certified to when the term ends on Jan. 3, 2025, and also to pick a senator for the next full term, from January 2025 through January 2031.