During his eight-month campaign to replace outgoing U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Rep. Adam Schiff has picked up key endorsements from dozens of local, state and federal lawmakers. This includes House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
But while such strong early support is perhaps a signal of how he will fare in the March 5 primary, it is his opposition to former President Donald Trump that has built his reputation among Democrats nationwide, along with ample enmity from Republicans.
As House Intelligence Committee chairman, Schiff led the charge to impeach Trump in 2019 for, among other things, attempting to convince Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate his then-rival Joe Biden in the run-up to the 2020 election.
Schiff used this notoriety to his advantage during a visit to Santa Cruz Tuesday, where he addressed a group of roughly 150 supporters in an invite-only event sponsored by the Democratic Central Committee of Santa Cruz County.
Speaking of the numerous felony charges facing Trump—in particular accusations that he and a gaggle of co-conspirators tried to subvert the 2020 election—Schiff described Trump’s upcoming trials as “the test of our democracy.”
What is really on trial, he said, is the idea that the rule of law applies to everyone.
“We’re about to find out if that’s true,” he said. “We’re about to find out if we can really apply the law when it comes to the most powerful, when it comes to a former president or a candidate for president.”
Schiff is facing off against two of his House colleagues, Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland and Rep. Katie Porter of Orange County. The top two will advance to the November election.
Porter visited Santa Cruz on Sunday.
Schiff has so far outshined his opponents financially. He raised more than $8.1 million in the first quarter this year, compared to $3.2 million for Porter and $1.4 million for Lee.
The issues
Tipping his hat to the labor organizers in the crowd, Schiff said his father was a traveling salesman who purchased his family’s first home for $18,000.
“Imagine today trying to buy a home for the annual income of a clothing salesman,” he said. “And you see just how difficult things have become.”
The trouble, he said, is that wages have not kept up with inflation, a problem he says could be ameliorated by supporting legislation that allows workers to unionize.
“A big part of the answer is collective bargaining, and supporting working people in their ability to come together and negotiate for fair wages and good working conditions, healthcare and retirement,” he said.
Schiff said he fought for an expanded Child Care Tax Credit, a “simple step” he said benefitted 40% of the children who were living in poverty.
Touching on water quality—a subject important to many in agriculture-rich South County—Schiff pointed to the Central Valley, where residents cannot drink water thanks to contaminants from farm fields that leach into the aquifers.
He also discussed the Pajaro River Levee, and the Army Corps of Engineers policy that weighs property values when determining where to put flood protection projects. That policy—which places a zero-value on agricultural land—stopped the levee from receiving a much-needed upgrade for decades.
As a result, the levee has breached numerous times, including in March, when it flooded the town of Pajaro and nearby farm fields.
“The fact that one of the levees broke and washed away a California community, and the levee wasn’t fixed because the property values couldn’t justify it, is an environmental injustice of the very first order,” he said.
Schiff also criticized his own party for its failure while in power to enact any meaningful immigration reform.
“We should have done it when Obama was president, we should have done it in the first three years of the Biden administration,” he said. “And I am not at all surprised that we are losing support in the Latino community, because you can only promise a community for so long you’re going to take action and disappoint the community and expect it’s not going to have any repercussions.”
If elected, Schiff said he would work to shore up voting rights and boost the state’s broadband access. He also would look to reform the U.S. Supreme Court by expanding it, setting term limits and establishing a code of ethics.
He would also continue his efforts to increase mental health services for homeless people. He recently authored the Promoting Access to Treatment and Housing (PATH) Act, which would provide wraparound services for that population.
Schiff also told the crowd he plans to create affordable housing, and expand the number of Section 8 vouchers available.
That would help in communities such as Santa Cruz, where an average apartment costs $3,300 per month.
“This is such a profound indication of an economy that just isn’t working for people,” he said. “No matter what kind of resources we throw at the problem, ultimately if we can’t raise incomes, if we can’t do better by working people, then there won’t be enough money to throw at the problem.”
