Rep. Adam Schiff talks to The Bee + Poll shows Rep. Barbara Lee can be competitive
Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!
AN INTERVIEW WITH ADAM SCHIFF
The California Democratic Party Convention wrapped up this past weekend, and Congressman Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, swung by as part of his campaign to replace retiring U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Schiff took a few minutes to talk with The Bee in a telephone interview, where he discussed his Senate prospects, his push to reform the U.S. Supreme Court and the ongoing standoff between the U.S. House GOP and President Joe Biden over raising the debt ceiling.
Schiff is running against two progressive Democratic congresswomen, Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee (and also Republican Eric Early). While Schiff is hardly conservative, some Democrats in the progressive wing of the party have rebelled against his candidacy, adopting an “anyone but Schiff” mentality in the primary.
For his part, Schiff disputed the characterization that he doesn’t have progressive support.
“I’m very proud of the broad progressive support that I have,” Schiff said, adding that “there are three progressives running for the Senate.”
Schiff’s campaign pointed to the more than 150 endorsements that he has received, including from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who delivered the keynote address as the Democratic convention.
Schiff said that you can’t be progressive if you don’t make progress, and he’s done that on a variety of topics, including “bringing millions back to California to house the unhoused.
“Those are the kinds of progressive accomplishments that Californians are looking at,” he said.
Polls show Schiff and Porter running neck-and-neck at the moment. Asked what he planned to do to pull ahead by primary day in 2024, Schiff said that he is going to continue making the case that what’s most important is a record of effectiveness, “and I have a record of effectiveness.”
Schiff’s campaign pointed also to an April NBC News report showing that his campaign is outpacing Porter’s and Lee’s in fundraising; Schiff’s campaign had $24.6 million in the bank, compared to Porter’s $9.4 million and Lee’s $1.15 million.
Schiff has also become an outspoken proponent of reforming the U.S. Supreme Court, specifically by expanding its size.
“Right now, I think we need to make the case to the country that the Republicans have packed the court,” Schiff said, adding that the current Supreme Court isn’t conservative, but reactionary.
As for how to get the votes necessary to expand the court, Schiff said “it’ll be necessary to do away with the filibuster in the Senate.”
Asked whether Biden would go along with growing the Supreme Court, Schiff said that he believed Democrats can make the case for it.
“He recognizes this as much as anyone how the court has been packed,” Schiff said.
Finally, with Republicans and the White House still stalemated over the debt ceiling as of Friday, Schiff offered his own prescription for the problem.
“We should have a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling,” he said.
Schiff accused the Republicans under House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of being hostage takers to the budget; he said that Republicans “made this crisis and they can unmake it by letting us have a vote on a clean bill.”
“The consequences are enormous and I think they need to stop playing chicken with the American economy,” Schiff said in closing.
REP. BARBARA LEE INTERNAL POLL SHOWS CAMPAIGN POTENTIAL
Voters are much more well-disposed toward Rep. Barbara Lee when presented with a positive biography of the Bay Area congresswoman, according to a poll released by Lee’s campaign last week.
The survey, conducted by FM3, Evitarus and HIT Strategies, quizzed 1,380 likely California primary voters on who they support to replace Feinstein in the Senate.
Without any other information, Republican Early got the most support at 27%. Democrats got slightly less, with Porter getting 24%, Schiff getting 21% and Lee getting 11%. The remaining 17% were undecided.
After being read a positive bio of each of the candidates, voters changed their minds. Early’s support dropped to 26%, Schiff’s dropped to 20% and Lee’s support increased to 20%. Porter’s support remained the same and 10% of voters were undecided.
“The survey data confirm that the race will be highly competitive, and that once voters learn more about all three candidates they are all competitive in a race for a spot among the top two candidates that will head to a November runoff,” according to the survey.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“To put this all in perspective: Ron DeSantis just became the first presidential candidate in American history to launch his campaign after suffering a massive defeat to a cartoon mouse.”
– California Gov. Gavin Newsom, via Twitter.
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