Adam Schiff is famous for fighting Donald Trump. Why he’s not dominating California Senate race

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff received a standing ovation from Sacramento voters at a campaign stop earlier this month — but the aspiring senator spoke to his Northern California audience as if they may not know enough about him.

“Let me just introduce myself,” Schiff said. “Because a lot of you know me as the guy that stood up to Donald Trump.”

Schiff has much going for him in the race to replace retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein. He’s a strong fundraiser, a D.C. Democratic star endorsed by House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, and, of course, an outspoken foe of the former president.

However, many Californians probably know relatively little about the Los Angeles-area congressman.

Schiff may have won over avid MSNBC viewers with his attempts to impeach Trump in 2019 and 2020. But even those aware of him are probably not familiar with his stances on important California issues, such as housing, homelessness and child care.

Now he faces an uphill battle to win over Golden State voters in a competitive race against two House colleagues: Rep. Katie Porter of Orange County and Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland. The top two vote-getters in the March 5 primary advance to the general election.

In deep blue California, that means the primary winner will likely also be the victor in November.

“I think each of them likely have stronger constituencies in the region that they’re from,” said Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of politics at Pomona College. “So they’re going to have to do a whole lot of work to make sure voters know them throughout the state.”

A proud Trump punching bag

Schiff, 63, is considered more moderate than Lee, a steadfast progressive, and Porter, best known for her consumer protection advocacy and use of a white board to explain complicated policy issues.

But Schiff, who wants to show voters his policy chops and effectiveness as a legislator, likes to push back by saying, “You can’t be progressive unless you can make progress.”

For most of his congressional career, Schiff was known for his national security and foreign policy work. At a Women Democrats of Sacramento town hall on Aug. 4, he preferred to tout domestic and California accomplishments.

“I’m very proud of the progress I’ve been able to make over the years,” he said. “Building mass transit, building an early earthquake warning system, getting legislation passed to improve education, bringing millions back to the state to help find shelter for homeless people.”

However, he is also banking on his national reputation as a Trump rival and protector of democratic institutions.

Schiff is a hero to many Democrats for his work as House Intelligence Committee chairman, where he not only led the 2019-2020 effort to impeach Trump, but also became a favorite target. At rallies, Trump dubbed him “Shifty Schiff” and “little pencil-neck Adam Schiff” and called on him to resign.

The then-Democratic-run House impeached Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in connection with his efforts to get Ukraine’s president to find damaging information on then-former Vice-President Joe Biden, his principal political rival. The Republican-controlled Senate acquitted Trump of the charges.

Schiff has continued to be a punching bag for angry Republicans. In June, the GOP-led House voted narrowly to censure him for his role in investigating Trump.

The congressman leaned on these experiences during the town hall, which drew about 100 voters to Oak Park Community Center. At times, it seemed as though Schiff was running against Trump, rather than Porter or Lee.

“We’re going to need someone in the Senate who’s going to fight to defend our Democracy,” Schiff said. “While that is not a job that I relish — and it has been a difficult one and subjected our family to all kind of stress — I feel like our nation is at sea. And we are in a storm. And I have been fortunate in that I could do something in this storm to see us through.”

Campaigning in Sacramento

The crowd was an ideal one for Schiff: most voters in attendance were older and very politically engaged. A few were huge fans of the congressman.

Several people thanked him for his impeachment work and said they “slept a little bit better” knowing he was in Congress.

Oak Park resident Tony Carpenter even gifted the congressman handmade figurines of Schiff and Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, who was House manager of the second impeachment and a member of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack.

Carpenter said he began watching the news “24-7” during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is how he got to know Schiff.

“He seems like he’s very honest,” Carpenter said. “And that’s what I look for — integrity. I was an Army vet, I can see strength. I can see diligence and just a caring for the job. And I could see it during the impeachment process, where he was being riddled by lies by the other side. He was being attacked up and down.”

Judy Covington of Elk Grove said she liked all three Senate contenders. She had mostly made up her mind about her candidate of choice, but she was not quite ready to share her decision publicly.

Covington already appreciated Schiff prior to the town hall, but she was impressed by his desire to see a code of ethics for U.S. Supreme Court justices.

“They’re all very smart, capable people,” Covington said. “I just have to see just a tad more before I decide.”

Schiff positives and negatives

Schiff starts the race with a lot of traditional advantages. He raised $8.1 million in the second quarter of this year, an unusually big number for a Senate candidate in the spring before an election year. He had $29.5 million on hand.

Porter raised $3.2 million in the quarter and had $10.2 million available. Lee raised about $1 million and had $1.4 million on hand. Former tech executive Lexi Reese has raised about $1.1 million and had $625,450 available.

The Trump turmoil has given Schiff considerable stature with Democrats, but polls don’t show much benefit so far. The Public Policy Institute of California found in June that Porter was slightly ahead of Schiff and Lee.

An Emerson College poll the same month had Schiff with 15%, Porter at 14% and Lee at 6%.

Here are some reasons experts offer for why Schiff has not surged ahead.

▪ Name recognition. Schiff has been a Los Angeles-area congressman for 23 years. To win statewide, “he’s got to raise his name recognition,” said Spencer Kimball, Emerson College polling executive director. Porter, Lee and Reese face the same challenge.

“If you’re a member of Congress, you’ve got a strong outlook on what’s going on nationally and locally but you’re not necessarily strong on your statewide perspective and what it takes to move California voters,” said Mark Baldassare, PPIC statewide survey director.

▪ Age. “His energy is not with younger voters. They’re with Katie Porter now,” Kimball said. That means “they’ll be online, talking about her.”

Schiff’s base, according to his poll, is voters over 50, particularly those over 65. Porter is 49 and Lee is 77. He got 6.7% of voters 18 to 34 years old in the Emerson Poll. Porter had 16.8%.

Schiff was the choice of 27.3% of voters over 65. Porter had 11.9%.

Younger voters generally “want to see more progressive policies. That’s where Porter may fit in,” Kimball said, while older voters may be watching the news more often and thus are more familiar with Schiff’s Washington work.

▪ Gender/race. California has not had a white male senator for about 30 years, since Sen. Alan Cranston left office in January 1993. Schiff is opposed by two prominent congressional women, as well as Reese.

His gender “could become a difficulty for him,” said Jessia Taylor, Senator and governor analyst for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

Porter led Schiff and Lee among women in the Emerson poll.

▪ Washington, D.C. stardom. This could work both ways.

“Schiff has become one of the nation’s best-known House members. Schiff’s notoriety helps explain his strong fundraising,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political analysis firm.

That will help the congressman pay for advertising to get his message out in California, one of the biggest and most expensive media markets in the country, Kondik said.

California has witnessed a parade of establishment-versus-progressive fights within the Democratic Party. This occurred most recently when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Biden vied for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Sanders easily won the California Democratic primary.

It comes down to this, said Baldassare: On the one hand Schiff “can remind people of all the great things he’s done,” he said.

But at the same time, “People want to know what he’ll do for their part of the state. He’s got to go out and prove himself again.”