Barring a significant upset, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey, a former Major League Baseball star, are set to emerge from California’s top two “jungle” primaries on Tuesday as the finalists for the open U.S. Senate seat previously held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
The situation has left progressives nationally and in California frustrated, wondering how they will end up on the outside looking in at a Senate race in one of the nation’s bluest states. And the answer, to many, comes down to a long-standing failure of the left to consolidate around a single candidate in contested primaries.
“In race after race after race, the left is penalized for lack of consolidation while more moderate Democrats end up having a lane all to themselves,” said Morris Katz, a progressive Democratic ad maker who is neutral in the California primary.
The die is not cast yet: Some polling has Rep. Katie Porter, one of the two progressive candidates, within striking distance of Garvey. Rep. Barbara Lee, the other candidate, trails Porter by a wide margin.
Schiff, an antagonist to former President Donald Trump and frequent presence on MSNBC, has taken advantage of the division to his left. He’s spent millions of dollars on advertisements elevating Garvey with attack ads aiming to improve Garvey’s standing among GOP voters. (Porter responded with a much smaller ad blitz of her own bolstering Eric Early, another Republican contender.)
In heavily Democratic California, Schiff wanted to face a Republican in the general election over either of his more progressive rivals. Schiff’s placement as one of the top two vote getters in the Golden State’s unusual nonpartisan primary system virtually assures him Feinstein’s old seat.
But the ideological implications of Schiff’s impending triumph ― a defeat for the progressive wing of the party ― have gotten less attention than Schiff’s tactics themselves. Although Schiff is a hardened partisan…
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