Tipsheet

Katie Porter Will Be Out of Congress As Schiff and Garvey Face Off in California's U.S. Senate Race

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  March 06, 2024 10:15 AM

Tuesday was not a good night for soon-to-be former Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), as she gave up running for reelection in California's 47th Congressional District to run for the U.S. Senate. Ultimately, however, it will be Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) facing off against Steve Garvey, a Republican. With California's jungle primary, it was quite possible that voters would be choosing from two Democrats in the general election. 

Polls closed at 11pm EST, with Schiff, who is currently favored to win the race, being projected to advance less than half an hour later by Decision Desk HQ. 

Garvey was projected to advance not long after, still less than an hour after polls had closed. Recent polls, including one released last week from the Berkeley D-Lab, showed Garvey surging into a top spot. 

With 82 percent of the vote in, Schiff has 34.6 percent of the vote. Garvey is not far behind, with 32.3 percent. Not only is Porter in a distant third with 14.3 percent of the vote, but she lost her home district of Orange County, coming in third there as well. 

In highlighting how "Katie Porter Gave Up a Swing Seat in Congress to Lose to the Establishment," Joe Cunningham at our sister site of RedState pointed to coverage from POLITICO highlighting how Porter seemed to be giving up in the final weeks:

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Porter, from a swing district in Orange County and a protege of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, had kept the race close until the final six weeks. But she opted not to directly confront Schiff on the airwaves, where her message of promising to shake up the Senate and crusade against corporations was drowned out by Schiff’s anti-Trump profile and the money he raised as a result.

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Porter, meanwhile, responded to the TV ads by continuing to promote the central pillars of her campaign. She tried to remind voters of her fighter persona in Congress, where she toted a little whiteboard and went viral with her regular grillings of CEOs and corporate leaders.

Porter also went viral, though, for what could hardly have given a more tone-deaf response to the murder of 22-year-old Laken Riley, whose accused killer is an illegal immigrant from Venezuela who had been arrested before. 

"I think the important thing to focus on is any one instance shouldn't shape our overall immigration policy, which has so many different facets, including economic choices about what workers to allow and how to create prosperity in America," she dismissively offered while speaking to CNN last month. "So the situation is tragic and it's a loss and it's important to acknowledge that, but also to recognize all the other how all the other parts of immigration policy fit together."

Such remarks are horrific regardless, but even more inexplicable given that they were made by a candidate running for higher office in a race where she at one point had a chance.

Also out is Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, who made headlines--and not in a good way--for proposing a $50 minimum wage. Another Republican candidate, Eric Early, came in fifth. 

Again, Schiff is heavily favored to win this race, and he's had the backing of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). This is California in 2024, after all, and forecasters consider the race to be "Solid" or "Safe Democratic." However, if there's a chance Garvey has a shot, it forces Democrats to spend money where they might never have thought to do so. The same goes for Maryland's Senate race, given that former Republican Gov. Larry Hogan is running, with that seat now considered "Likely Democratic." Another poll from the Berkeley D-Lab has also addressed how California could play a role in the 2024 election even if President Joe Biden is almost certain to win the state.

The seat is currently held by Democratic Sen. Laphonza Bulter, dubbed Maryland's third senator due to her residency. She had been appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom following the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-CA) last September, with the governor fulfilling his promise from years before Feinstein even died to fill the seat with a black woman. Butler declined to run for a full term, though.