Democrats Turn on Their Own Campaign Strategy After California Primary

Democrats are turning on their own campaign strategy that Representative Adam Schiff used to win his primary in California on Tuesday.

Schiff is facing criticism from members of his own party after his super PAC poured well over $10 million into ads about Republican Steve Garvey throughout the primary race.

Although the strategy paid off and ultimately helped Schiff defeat his two progressive opponents, Representatives Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, in California’s “Top 2” primary, some are warning that the tactic could hurt Democrats down the ballot later this year.

“Adam Schiff will win in November but his strategy of boosting Garvey will make it that much harder for CA Dems in competitive House seats,” Oakland-based activist and strategist Tracey Corder said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “That is short sighted, selfish, privileged behavior.”

“Adam Schiff’s Super PAC gave millions to Steve Garvey’s GOP campaign. Down ballot races that would stay blue if Porter or Lee were the other nominee, are now up for grabs,” progressive Democrat and former House candidate Jen Perelman wrote. “ANY seat that flips Red in CA in Nov, you can thank Adam Schiff. Another reason why Any Blue Won’t Do.”

Perelman’s tweet caught the attention of other progressive Democrats, like former New York Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou and former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner, the latter of whom responded, “The Dems got what they wanted!”

But while Schiff’s ad strategy appeared to upset members of his own party, it is not a new one. In the 2022 midterms, Democrats across the nation spent more than $43 million on ad campaigns to help boost election deniers in the Republican primaries in hopes that it would improve their odds in the general election. The line-of-thinking was that supporting far-right candidates would give Democrats an easier opponent to face in a head-to-head matchup.

While most states select a Democratic and Republican candidate during the primary season, in California, the top two finishers—regardless of party affiliation—advance. So, Schiff was eyeing an easy November matchup against Garvey, rather than a fellow Democrat, especially since polls had suggested that a Schiff-Porter general election would have been close, and likely expensive.

Garvey, a first-time candidate and former Major League Baseball star, entered the race late in October with little money to spend in the state’s expensive media markets. But with a large war chest of $50 million, Schiff helped boost the Republican’s candidacy, saturating the airwaves with ads attacking Garvey as a conservative ally of former President Donald Trump.

The strategy paid off Tuesday. Schiff’s ads not only consolidated the Republican vote behind the former Dodgers and Padres first baseman but gave Garvey enough footing to beat Porter for the second general election spot.

The Schiff-Garvey matchup means California will not have a woman senator for the first time in more than three decades. If Schiff wins, as he is expected to do in solid blue California, he will be the first white man to represent the state in the Senate in 32 years.

“Boosting Garvey did wonders for Schiff,” podcast host Ben Yelin posted on X. “Hurts Democrats downballot, potentially, as Republicans have more of a reason to show up.”

“I lost all respect for Adam Schiff who put himself over the party or the country by propping up Steve Garvey because Schiff was afraid to run against another democrat in November and it’s going to hurt democrats down the ticket,” another X user wrote.

But others are optimistic about a Schiff-Garvey matchup. With six competitive House races on the ballot in California in November, Democrats will be aiming to flip the five GOP-held seats while holding onto the sixth as they seek to take back control of the House.

Responding to a tweet calling Schiff’s primary strategy “the gamble of a lifetime,” political commentator Russell Drew wrote: “Adam Schiff can be a hero by giving away lots of his cash to other Democratic candidates in California up and down the ballot. He won’t need it.”