(Updated with more results and Super Tuesday details) The Hollywood congressman is one step closer to becoming the Golden State’s junior senator, but on Super Tuesday he saw up close some of the deep challenges Democrats face from their own base.
In California’s dual primaries this Super Tuesday, Adam Schiff finished first with just under 40% of the vote. NBC News and the Associated Press called Schiff a little more than 30 minutes after polls closed in the nation’s most presidential election. A densely populated country.
It wasn’t a night filled with balloons and victory dances for the veteran congressman.
Dozens of protesters chanting “ceasefire now” over the deteriorating situation in Gaza made it nearly impossible for Schiff to skip his speech to supporters at the Avalon on Vine Street in Los Angeles.
As security tried to keep the protesters at bay, Schiff initially tried to cast their presence as a sign of democracy’s strength, but their sheer numbers overwhelmed the congressman and his triumphant party in Hollywood. The protesters’ incursion likely resulted in a shorter speech than the socialite had intended, and it exemplifies the backlash Democrats are facing — from President Joe Biden to down races — as the end of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza remains elusive.
Protesters disrupt Democratic Senate candidate US Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) as he speaks during a primary night party at Avalon in Los Angeles // Credit: Getty
Chief has represented Burbank for more than 20 years, and is running for the seat that the late Dianne Feinstein held from 1992 until her death last September. With his territory including Disney, Warner Bros. and more, Schiff, a news regular, has drawn support in the race from high-profile fans like Nancy Pelosi, Jon Hamm, former Sen. Barbara Boxer, and Billy Crystal.
For a while it looked like the battle zone would turn into a race for second place. Will Schiff face fellow Democrat Kate Porter or Republican Steve Garvey in November? The dust-up is short-lived if the final results support the trajectory we’ve been seeing so far.
“Welcome back to California,” Garvey told his supporters, as his lead over Porter proved insurmountable. “We haven’t come this far just to go this far,” he added in a speech that sounded similar to Ronald Reagan’s. Hell, Garvey even mentioned the 1984 Dodgers game in his remarks.
On a low-turnout day, Schiff received 37% of the vote, while political neophyte Garvey received 29% to the three-term Orange County congresswoman’s 15%. Beloved Oakland Congresswoman Barbara Lee, whom many thought Gov. Gavin Newsom would appoint to serve out the remainder of Feinstein’s term, came in fourth place with 7% of the vote counted.
Under California’s jungle primary rules, where all candidates for elected office compete in the same primary regardless of their political party and the top two vote-getters advance, Schiff strategically worked harder for Garvey than the former Dodger player did for him. Himself.
On the Super Tuesday that wasn’t, which saw Joe Biden and Donald Trump win delegates in their long marches to the GOP and Democratic conventions this summer, Garvey’s run to second place allows Schiff to avoid the bloody blue-state civil war that will surely erupt. If Porter is his challenger in November.
In a state that has not elected a Republican to state office in decades, another benefit for longtime Congressman Schiff in the race against Garvey is cost savings.
Major fundraiser, former House manager in the first impeachment trial of the former president in the SenateCelebrity Apprentice The host will save millions not only from his own coffers but from the accounts of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. As California approaches a sure thing in American politics, the DSCC can allocate money to closer races like incumbent Jon Tester in Montana.
Aside from the Senate race, the bid for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, Gov. Newsom’s mental health and Proposition 1, which focuses on homelessness, could also be a game-changer in the Golden State.
George Gascón, Los Angeles City Council
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Having defeated two recall attempts since his 2020 win, incumbent Los Angeles Rep. George Gascón faces 11 challengers in this election, five of them from his office. The latest results have Gascón 23% to 18% for Nathan Hoffman. Biggest fundraiser in DA race Former federal prosecutor Huffman was unsuccessful in his 2022 bid to be the Republican nominee for California attorney general. With two very different views on reform and the role of the Democratic Alliance, as well as an inability to even agree on whether crime is rising or falling in the country’s largest province, Gascón and Hoffman will address this issue again in November. the second.
There is a bit of déjà vu in their race.
Funded by large donations from Netflix founder Reed Hastings and other Hollywood stars, former San Francisco District Attorney and former LAPD officer Gascón ousted incumbent Jackie Lacey in a bitter, close-quarters 2020 showdown.
Backed by bipartisan support in Sacramento and with a big push from Gov. Newsom, Proposition 1 is the only statewide measure on the ballot this year. A combination of two bills passed by the Legislature, the Behavioral Health Services Program and the Bond Measures, as they are officially known, would allow the state to raise more than $6 billion in bonds for housing for those living on the streets. Prop 1 is currently slightly ahead in results received, and also aims to create facilities for those with mental health and substance abuse issues.
Moving into the final years of his term as governor and facing another recall, Newsom put much of his political infallibility on the line for the premiere.
Not that Biden’s replacement and likely nominee for the White House one day can resist setting at least one foot on the national stage tonight.
While the runoff races appear earlier than usual, remember that voting in California often takes weeks to conclude.
A ballot was mailed to every resident of the state. For those who choose to make their voice known this way, the mail-in ballot must be postmarked by today to be valid. However, as long as the ballot is taken by March 12, it will be counted.
California joined Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Arkansas, Virginia, Massachusetts and Texas in voting in today’s Republican presidential primary. Alaska and American Samoa joined those 15 states in holding their Democratic primaries on Super Tuesday.