Senate Republicans said Wednesday they are betting on former baseball star Steve Garvey to “knock it out of the park” as he takes on Rep. Adam B. Schiff in the general election for a U.S. Senate seat in California.
Mr. Schiff, a Democrat, and Mr. Garvey, a Republican, were the top finishers late Tuesday in California’s open primary, in which the top two vote-getters advance regardless of party.
Mr. Garvey raised little money during the primary campaign but edged out two Democratic congresswomen, Reps. Barbara Lee and Katie Porter.
“Steve Garvey has proven his campaign is about bringing Californians together and working as a team to find commonsense solutions to problems like rising costs, crime, and an open Southern border,” National Republican Senatorial Campaign chairman Steve Daines, Montana Republican, said. “I’m pleased to congratulate Steve Garvey on advancing to California’s general election and am hopeful he will knock it out of the park in November.”
It will be a tall order for Mr. Garvey. California is a deeply blue state and Mr. Garvey will be under pressure to run more ads and increase his fundraising if he wants to challenge Mr. Schiff, who raised his profile in recent years as a chief antagonist and investigator of former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Schiff and Mr. Garvey are seeking to complete the Senate term of late Sen. Dianne Feinstein through late January and then serve a full six-year term.
Feinstein died last year, and Democrat Laphonza Butler was appointed to the seat, though Ms. Butler decided not to run in the election.
Mr. Schiff and his supporters boosted Mr. Garvey’s profile, at the expense of Democratic rivals, in the final weeks of the campaign by attacking Mr. Garvey as “too conservative” for California — a move his opponents described as cynical and harmful to down-ballot Democrats because it might have increased GOP turnout.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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