Adam Schiff campaigns for others amid California’s snoozy Senate race

LOS ANGELES — Rep. Adam Schiff was the star of California's marquee primary showdown to be the state's next senator. Now, in a far less gripping general election, he's embracing a new role — supporting player.

Comfortably leading in the polls over his Republican rival Steve Garvey, Schiff has spent much of the general election boosting other Democrats in tougher races, including California's most competitive House contests and vulnerable Senate incumbents outside of his home state.

The Burbank congressmember has raised more than $7 million to date for Democratic candidates, including Kamala Harris' presidential bid and various party committees, his team said. His schedule for the closing weeks of the campaign, shared exclusively with POLITICO, includes a barnstorming tour of California's swing House districts and at least six out-of-state jaunts for events with Democrats in the country's toss-up Senate races.

Schiff's ability to share the political spotlight underscores the luxury of running as a Democrat against a Republican in deep-blue California. He spent tens of millions in the top-two primary on TV ads blaring about Garvey's conservatism, ensuring GOP voters would consolidate around the former baseball star and sidestepping a potentially bruising fight in November with fellow Democratic Rep. Katie Porter .

"It was my sense that if I was in a Democrat-on-Democrat general election, I would have to be solely focused on my own race. It would be tens of millions of dollars spent in California for one Democrat to beat another," Schiff said in an interview. "But I made the runoff with a Republican candidate. That gives me bandwidth to help others in addition to my own campaign."

The Senate race underwent a whiplash-inducing transformation from a red-hot primary to snoozy general election. Schiff owned the airwaves over the winter, accounting for more than 40 percent of the roughly $75 million in the run up to March 5.

The ad landscape looks to be far quieter in the fall. Schiff has yet to make any significant on-air investments, though he said the campaign would "definitely" be up on air. Garvey released his first ad on Thursday, the first salvo in the $2.5 million he's reserved in airtime in the campaign's final weeks, according to the tracking firm AdImpact.

Schiff's pivot to ensemble player happened almost immediately after he punched his ticket for November, using his lucrative email fundraising list to promote swing-state Democratic senators such as Bob Casey of Pennsylvania and Wisconsin's Tammy Baldwin . To date, he's raised more than $2 million for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, including transferring $1 million directly from his own campaign coffers last week, his team said.

He has hosted in-person fundraisers in Los Angeles and San Francisco for a slate of Senate incumbents and Democratic challengers and appeared at campaign events in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Before Election Day, he has trips planned to six other states, including New Mexico, Michigan and Nevada.

The trips are certainly far-flung from Schiff's home state, but political strategists say the upside is obvious when it comes to currying favor with his likely future colleagues.

"The race ended in March, so Senator-elect Schiff is doing exactly what he should to maximize his impact in the Senate," said Dan Newman, a Democratic strategist who advises Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom similarly took advantage of a non-competitive reelection race in 2022, flexing his digital fundraising muscle and traveling out of state to boost other Democrats.

"But Congress is a different beast," Newman noted. "Senator Schiff will be at the bottom of the seniority scale, needing colleagues to give him good committee assignments, pass his bills, etc."

Johanna Warshaw, communications director for Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen , said Schiff has been especially effective with fundraising messages about his and Rosen's shared Jewish faith, a specific appeal that has resonated with donors.

"To have a partner like Congressman Schiff — who has the national network, has the national profile and name recognition — be willing to lend their name to our fundraising and help extend our donor network is super super helpful," Warshaw said.

After building a fundraising juggernaut as a leading antagonist to former President Donald Trump, Schiff has made a habit of spreading his largesse around. In 2020, he doled out roughly $19 million to President Joe Biden's campaign, as well as House and Senate races.

This cycle, he has put particular muscle into California's battleground House seats, noting that his home state could very well deliver Democrats the majority. Schiff has appeared at events for state Sen. Dave Min and Derek Tran, two Democrats in fiercely competitive Orange County contests , but also for longer-shot Democrats like Jessica Morse , who is challenging GOP incumbent Rep. Kevin Kiley.

"I know what it's like to run in a race like Jessica's," Schiff said. "I can make the case — you can win this."

Schiff's emphasis on other Democrats' campaigns — particularly those out of state — runs the risk of appearing too overconfident in his own race. Matt Shupe, a spokesperson for Garvey, said he was delighted that Schiff was "campaigning all over the country instead of California."

Garvey himself took to social media this week to tweak Schiff for posting about the Pennsylvania Senate race, saying "it's clear that Adam Schiff is running for Washington D.C., not California." Schiff insisted to POLITICO the Senate was "his first priority" and insisted he was "running hard in California."

"In every respect, I'm running more aggressively than the guy I'm running against," Schiff said, comparing Garvey's effort to an "18th century front porch campaign where you sat on the front porch and waited for people to come to you."

Shupe dismissed Schiff's description as "misinformation." He pointed out that Garvey outraised Schiff by $1.5 million in the last filing period.

"Adam obviously has been around for decades and has a machine. We started from literally scratch," Shupe said. "We overcame that machine, which speaks volumes to the work that Steve has put into it."

The former Dodger star has done a steady stream of local television interviews, and he has been making campaign stops throughout the state, including rural enclaves like Shasta and Colusa. But unlike Schiff, Garvey's campaign has little overlap with the fierce House races that are powering millions of dollars worth of spending in the state.

Schiff, by contrast, is linking most of his in-person events in California this month with the battle for the House. In addition to seven planned events with the state's frontline Democrats in October, he is closing the election with a five-day get-out-the-vote tour across nine House districts.

For Schiff, campaigning with the House candidates is a convenient twofer — a chance to contribute to the party's top priority races while increasing his own exposure in the politically competitive corners of the state.

Appearing at a fundraiser this summer for Tran, the first-time candidate aiming to oust GOP Rep. Michelle Steel from her Orange County seat, Schiff was greeted as a party hero. Tran, introducing him to the crowd, extolled Schiff as "the walking example of patriotism." The pair was eagerly covered by local Vietnamese-language media, which reaches a pivotal voting bloc in the region.

Asked how Tran's race factored into his own campaign, Schiff answered not as a longtime House member but as the likely senator the political world expects he'll be.

"I want a Democratic House to work with," he said.