California Democrat Adam Schiff wins Dianne Feinstein's former Senate seat | US elections 2024

Democrat Adam Schiff, the California congressman who led the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump, has won his campaign for the U.S. Senate, an influential position he is expected to hold for decades.

In a state where Democratic voters significantly outnumber Republicans, Schiff won over his opponent, Republican Steve Garvey, a former major league baseball player with no political experience who dodged the question of whether or not he would vote for Trump was.

In the primary election this March, Schiff had already defeated two other progressive Democratic challengers, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who represented Oakland, and Katie Porter, who represented a swing district in right-leaning Orange County.

Schiff placed first in the primary as a Democrat who had promised “unambiguous support” for Israel and rejected calls for a ceasefire. Protesters chanting “Let Gaza live!” and “Ceasefire now!” interrupted Schiff’s victory speech in the March primary election.

Schiff will fill the Senate seat that Dianne Feinstein held for 31 years until her death at age 90. The position of Democratic senator from California is not officially a lifetime appointment, but in practice incumbents often serve for decades, making the role a particularly powerful man at the national level and within the Democratic Party.

In some ways, Schiff, a powerful campaign fundraiser, has already taken on that leadership role. While Garvey made a last-minute attempt to appeal to Latino voters with Spanish-language television ads in the weeks leading up to the election, Schiff was so confident in his Senate victory that he spent time campaigning with Democratic congressional candidates across the state in states like Ohio and Florida has a Democratic majority vote.

Like Feinstein, Schiff is a centrist Democrat whose attempt to brand himself as a progressive during the primaries was rejected by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. His Senate campaign platform included abolishing the filibuster and the Electoral College and increasing the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court.

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