In their first debate, California’s U.S. Senate candidates argue about some issues, but Donald Trump is the real sticking point
During the first debate that took place tonight, the three Democratic candidates for the empty Senate seat in California sought to emphasize their differences. However, the true grounds of dispute were the one Republican contender who was there, Steve Garvey, and his position on Donald Trump.
Attempts were made by Representatives Adam Schiff (D-CA), Katie Porter (D-CA), and Barbara Lee (D-CA) to dampen his support for the former president after he declared his plan to do so in the event of his return to power.
“What more do you need to see of what he’s done to say that you will not support him, that you will not vote to put him back in office?” “What do you think?” Schiff inquired.
The former Dodgers star and political outsider Garvey said, “That is an extreme case of identity politics, attempting to cast me in a negative light.” Garvey is a political outsider. Conducting research and experiments using the acronym ‘MAGA.’ My life is like this. My path is the one I chose.
Following Garvey’s statement that he had voted twice for Trump, Porter posed the following question: “As your own man, what is your decision?”
According to him, “You’re banging on that trash can, just like the Astros did a few years ago.”
Garvey’s ensuing several minutes of talk, during which he blasted Joe Biden and backed Trump’s leadership, did not provide any indication of his voting intentions. During this time, he also defended Trump’s leadership. Garvey, when challenged with the audience from the University of Southern California, instead responded, “Let’s face it, at the end of the day, it’s all a personal choice.” This statement seemed to spark even more baseball analogies and opposition. I am going to make my own choice within the parameters of sovereignty, regardless of where that may be taking place.
The discussion, which was arranged by Fox 11, USC Dornsife, and Politico, had a wide range of subjects that were debated. Some of the topics that were covered included political divisions within the Democratic Party, such as the war between Israel and Gaza and earmarks. Even though Elex Michaelson and Melanie Mason, the moderators, asked a lot of insightful questions and brought up a lot of interesting topics throughout the 90 minutes, the participants often went back to what they had said before.
It is possible that the Democrats who were there had other reasons for wanting to talk with Garvey, although he may be regarded as a long shot in the blue state of California. Candidates from any political party are eligible to participate in the open primary in the state of California; the top two finishers will go on to the general election competition.
There have been other polls in which Schiff has been placed second, but Garvey has also been ranked second and has the potential to surpass Porter and Lee. There is a possibility that Schiff is enjoying more attention and support from conservatives as a consequence of his assaults on Garvey.
When the former baseball great criticized Trump’s opponent later in the debate, Schiff and Garvey’s disagreement became more heated than it had been before. “I think you’ve been censured for lying.”
In the aftermath of it, Schiff was emphatic about going after “the MAGA enablers of his in the Congress.”
“The reason our democracy is in trouble is folks don’t dare to stand up when they need to,” according to Schiff.
Lee delivered a scathing criticism of Garvey after the latter reprimanded the participants about their lack of homelessness. “When was the last time any of you went to the inner city, actually walked up to the homeless as I have over these last three weeks?” As an additional point of clarification, Garvey said that he “went up to them and touched them and listened to them.”
“They said, ‘You’re the first time anybody has come up and asked us about our life,'” according to Garvey.
To convey her dissatisfaction, Lee made the following statement: “As someone who has been unsheltered, I cannot believe how he described his walk and touching and being there.” After some time had passed, they continued to talk until Michaelson eventually raised his voice and made the following observation: “Let’s get some order in here.”
Throughout the majority of the conversation, Porter portrayed herself as a candidate who would stand up to the corporatist swamp and lobbying in Washington. Schiff, on the other hand, emphasized his record of accomplishments, while Lee enumerated many progressive ideas, such as Medicare for All, that she has long supported.
Garvey pitched himself as a moderate Republican, providing cautious support to Obamacare and committing to oppose a countrywide abortion prohibition. This was although he maintained a tough stance on issues such as the border. It should come as no surprise that Schiff and Porter had disagreements sometimes. He expressed skepticism about her capacity to do her duties, and she insinuated that he was employed by a large corporation.
“Representative Schiff may have prosecuted big oil companies before he came to Congress, but when he got to Congress he cashed checks from companies like BP, from fossil fuel companies,” she said, while continuing to claim that she “delivered results on climate in my few years in Congress.”
“First of all, I gave that money to you, Katie Porter, and… the response I got was thank you, thank you, thank you,” according to Schiff. However, pay attention to the fact that, after everything is said and done, the only thing that counts is what you have achieved. Regarding the achievements that she has achieved, Representative Porter did not elaborate.
Every candidate will have to fight with the same obstacle over the following several weeks, which is to capture the attention of voters in the days leading up to the primary election on March 5. No matter how in-depth the conversation was, the majority of Californians may only be exposed to commercials for Schiff and Porter during the whole of this conflict.
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