The four major candidates for California’s open U.S. Senate seat met again this evening, this time in a one-hour debate in San Francisco that resulted in fewer clashes than their first meeting in January.
However, less than a month before the state’s open primary, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has focused a number of his attacks on Steve Garvey, the only Republican on stage, particularly regarding the Donald Trump “issue.”
“Let me also say this to Mr. Garvey: The greatest threat we face to our democracy is Donald Trump,” Schiff said.
Garvey has voted for Trump in the last two presidential elections, but said that when it comes to supporting him this year, he “will make that decision when the time is right.” In response to Schiff, Garvey said that “the most dangerous threat to democracy is the dismantling of the Constitution.” Tight packing. Eliminate obstruction. “These are the things that dismantle democracy.”
Their exchange continued. “Then Donald Trump packed the Supreme Court, which is why millions of Americans lost their right to reproductive freedom, which is why the Supreme Court struck down air quality and water quality regulations,” Schiff responded. When he started talking about eliminating voting rights, Garvey interrupted him.
“You’re focusing your attention on one person and one person only,” Garvey said.
Schiff, who has long been one of Trump’s most prominent enemies, topped the polls in the race, leaving it to Garvey and Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) to secure the other spot on the ballot in the general election. At the back is Representative Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).
Porter called Schiff “cynical” for highlighting Garvey in his ads, on the grounds that defeating the former Dodger star, as a Republican, would be much easier than it would be. In other words, by highlighting Garvey’s past support for Trump, Schiff is also giving the Republican candidate the attention he needs to shore up support among right-wing voters in the state.
During the discussion, Porter made another criticism of Schiff’s ads. In response to a question about age limits for elected officials, Porter said: “As Mr. Schiff knows very well, it is true that we have gerrymandering and very blue district elections in which there are no truly competitive elections.” She said: “In fact, he hopes the race will turn “The Senate is in a race with the ads it’s running now.”
With the help of a loud bell ringer, moderators Frank Buckley of KTLA and Nikki Lorenzo of Inside California Politics kept the candidates within their time limits and tried to pin them on specific questions. When the candidates attempted to answer their talking points, they followed up with the questions again.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.
Schiff was asked whether President Joe Biden was “wrong” when he said last week that Israeli retaliatory measures were “exaggerated” in its response to the Hamas terror attack. After Schiff initially responded by expressing support for Israel’s right to defend itself and for the way the president handled the war between Israel and Hamas, Schiff was asked again about Biden’s comment. “I don’t know that I express it the way the president does,” he said. But I think he is right to try to reach this negotiated agreement, where we will have a long pause, so we can get the hostages out and get more aid in.”
Meanwhile, Garvey spoke generally when pressed about specific regulations he would repeal as a way to try to solve the state’s housing crisis. When asked again, he said: “We see the cost of housing continuing to rise for one simple reason. Take young adults. Young adults cannot afford to have the most important equity in their lives…So I keep coming back to the idea of opening the doors, getting inflation down.”
Other moments:
In the last debate, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) clashed with Garvey and criticized him for berating his Democratic rivals as out of touch with the issue of homelessness, when she herself was once homeless. In tonight’s debate, Garvey told her: “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
For her part, Lee was asked about the legislation, which she saw as one that specifically addresses the homelessness crisis. She cited an expansion of the agency’s homelessness task force and other proposed legislation, including proposals to address difficulty obtaining tenant security deposits.
Lee was also asked about her call for a $50 per hour minimum wage and how that would impact small businesses. Noting that she owns and operates a business, she said, “I know what worker productivity means — and that means you have to make sure your employees are taken care of and paid a living wage.”
Garvey, who has called for a review of the money being spent to solve the homelessness crisis, was asked whether those who are homeless should be allowed to live in RVs and tents while they wait for a permanent solution. “I don’t think so. I think it’s inhumane. There are two or three fires a week in downtown Los Angeles.” “There are two or three deaths every week. Let’s go back to humanity. They must be taken off the streets. They need care.”
On the border, Garvey was the most critical of Biden, saying that he “opened the doors wide and created a crisis in the United States.” He should be the one to intervene and close the borders.”
Although he has taken a hard line on the border issue, Garvey was noncommittal when asked if he would accept an endorsement from Trump, though he did not criticize the former president. “These are personal choices. I answer to God, my wife, my family and the people of California. Please respect that I have personal choices.”
“There’s no question that we have a crime problem in California, especially with these burglaries and thefts,” Schiff said, while noting that when Garvey was “playing baseball,” he worked as a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Porter was asked why, after five years in Congress, she waited until last week to present a 10-point plan to resolve the crisis. She pointed to her work as a consumer advocate, but was again pressed for an answer. “I have been working on housing issues since the day I was elected and have talked a lot about this and the challenges my family faces,” she said.
At a number of points, Porter attacked the “Washington insiders” who ensured that billionaires received tax breaks. “The problem is that value-creating, hard-working workers are not receiving enough to live on while working people in Washington continue to give huge tax breaks to the wealthy.”
Schiff took some swipes at Porter’s attacks on career politicians. “You can’t walk the halls of Congress without stumbling upon five people who say they’re going to shake up Washington,” he said. “And they don’t end up actually getting anything done.”