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2024 United States Senate elections in California

The 2024 United States Senate elections in California will be held on November 5, 2024, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of California. There will be two ballot items for the same Class 1 seat: a special election to fill the seat for the final weeks of the 118th United States Congress (ending on January 3, 2025), and a general election for a full term that starts on January 3, 2025, starting in the 119th United States Congress. California uses a nonpartisan blanket primary, in which all candidates regardless of party affiliation appear on the same primary ballot and the two highest-placing candidates advance to the general election.

Incumbent Senator Laphonza Butler was appointed to the Senate by Gavin Newsom in October 2023 after fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein died in office, having served in the Senate since 1992. Two Democratic U.S. representatives, Katie Porter of Irvine and Adam Schiff of Los Angeles, entered the race before Feinstein announced that she would retire at the end of her term. A third, Barbara Lee of Oakland, announced her campaign on February 21, 2023. On October 19, 2023, Butler announced that she would not seek election to either a full Senate term or to finish the final two months of Feinstein's term.

Primary elections took place on March 5, 2024, during Super Tuesday. Schiff advanced to both the general and special elections, along with Republican former baseball player Steve Garvey. The winner will become the first male U.S. senator from this seat since John Seymour left office in 1992.

Background

California is considered to be a safe blue state at the federal and state levels, with Joe Biden carrying the state by nearly thirty three and a half percentage points in the 2020 presidential election. Democrats currently hold a large majority in California's U.S. House delegation, all statewide offices (including both U.S. Senate seats), and supermajorities in both of California’s state legislative chambers.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Advanced to general

Adam Schiff, U.S. representative for California's 30th congressional district (2001–present)

Eliminated in primary

Sepi Gilani, UC San Diego professor and surgeon
Harmesh Kumar, psychologist and perennial candidate
Barbara Lee, U.S. representative for California's 12th congressional district (1998–present)
Christina Pascucci, former KTLA news anchor
David Peterson, tech professional and perennial candidate
Douglas Pierce, cold case investigator and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018 and 2022
Katie Porter, U.S. representative for California's 47th congressional district (2019–present)
Perry Pound, investment firm CEO
Raji Rab, commercial pilot and perennial candidate
John Rose, office manager and political children's book author

Withdrew

Denard Ingram, psychologist and social worker
Lexi Reese, investor and former Google executive

Declined

Rob Bonta, 34th attorney general of California (2021–present) (endorsed Lee and Porter)
London Breed, 45th mayor of San Francisco (2018–present) (endorsed Lee, running for re-election)
Laphonza Butler, incumbent U.S. senator (2023–present)
Ro Khanna, U.S. representative for California's 17th congressional district (2017–present) (endorsed Lee, running for re-election)
Eleni Kounalakis, 50th lieutenant governor of California (2019–present) (running for governor in 2026)
Fiona Ma, California State Treasurer (2019–present) (endorsed Lee, running for lieutenant governor in 2026)
Holly Mitchell, Los Angeles County supervisor (2020–present) (running for re-election)
Gavin Newsom, 40th governor of California (2019–present)
Libby Schaaf, 50th mayor of Oakland (2015–2023) (endorsed Lee)
Eric Swalwell, U.S. representative for California's 14th congressional district (2013–present) and candidate for president in 2020 (running for re-election)
Oprah Winfrey, talk show host and media proprietor

Republican Party

Advanced to general

Steve Garvey, former professional baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres

Eliminated in primary

Sharletta Bassett, farmer
James Bradley, healthcare executive and perennial candidate
Eric Early, attorney and perennial candidate
Denice Gary-Pandol, former educator
Sarah Sun Liew, businesswoman, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022, and candidate for California's 33rd congressional district in 2020
Jim Macauley, sales associate and candidate for California's 20th congressional district in 2022
Jonathan Reiss, multimedia consultant and candidate for California's 25th congressional district in 2022
Stefan Simchowitz, art dealer
Martin Veprauskas, retired defense contractor

Write-in candidates

Danny Fabricant, retired sliding door repairman and convicted felon
Carlos Guillermo Tapia, realtor and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022

Declined

Lanhee Chen, Stanford University professor and runner-up for California State Controller in 2022
Larry Elder, radio host, former candidate for president in 2024, and candidate for Governor of California in the 2021 recall election
Kevin Faulconer, 38th mayor of San Diego (2014–2020) and candidate for Governor of California in the 2021 recall election (running for San Diego County Board of Supervisors)

Libertarian Party

Eliminated in primary

Gail Lightfoot, former chair of the California Libertarian Party and perennial candidate

American Independent Party

Eliminated in primary

Forrest Jones, service business owner

No party preference

Eliminated in primary

Laura Garza, railroad worker and perennial candidate
Don Grundmann, chair of the California Constitution Party and perennial candidate
Mark Ruzon, California chair for the American Solidarity Party and write-in candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022
Major Singh, software engineer, candidate for California's 14th congressional district in 2022, and candidate for governor in 2021

Write-in candidates

Michael Dilger, social media marketing professional
John Dowell

Declined

Dwayne Johnson, actor and businessman
Arnold Schwarzenegger, 38th governor of California (2003–2011)

Primary elections

Campaign

Schiff, Porter, and Lee declare

Media sources speculated for years that Dianne Feinstein might choose not to seek reelection in 2024 or resign before the end of her term, owing to her age, reports that her cognitive state was declining, and her decision not to take the position of Senate president pro tempore in the 118th Congress, third in line for the presidency, even though she would customarily have been offered the role as the most senior member of the majority caucus. There was also speculation that Feinstein might face opposition within the Democratic Party as she did in 2018, when she was challenged by fellow Democrat Kevin de León and defeated him by an unexpectedly narrow margin. In December 2022, Feinstein confirmed that she would not resign before the end of her term.

In January 2023, with the question of Feinstein's reelection decision still open, U.S. Representative Katie Porter announced that she would run for the Senate. She confirmed that she would stay in the race even if Feinstein chose to run for another term. Porter was first elected in 2018, unseating incumbent Mimi Walters. She later gained national fame for her progressive politics, and frequently went viral for her pointed questioning of corporate executives in congressional hearings, often while using a whiteboard. Porter's coastal, Orange County-based district is considered highly competitive, and all of her elections have been close.

Two weeks later, Porter was joined by another Democratic member of the House, Adam Schiff, who said that he had consulted with Feinstein before entering the race. A progressive Democrat who unseated incumbent James Rogan in 2000, Schiff's profile rose significantly during the presidency of Donald Trump, owing to his role as a lead impeachment manager in the first impeachment of Donald Trump, his service on the January 6 Committee, and his frequent appearances on MSNBC. Schiff has not faced a competitive election since 2000, as his Los Angeles-based district became significantly more Democratic during the 2000 redistricting cycle and has been considered a safe seat ever since.

A third Democratic House member, Barbara Lee, reportedly told members of the Congressional Black Caucus in January that she would also run for the Senate. As she was already 76 years old in January 2023, Lee reportedly pitched herself to donors as a transitional senator who would serve only one term. A longtime progressive first elected in a 1998 special election, Lee is known for being the only member of Congress to vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force of 2001, which led to military deployment in Afghanistan and several other countries. Lee filed to run for Senate in early February 2023 and formally announced her campaign later that month. Lee's district, based in Alameda County and including one of the state's largest cities in Oakland, is one of the most Democratic-leaning districts in the entire country.

Feinstein continued to demur on her reelection plans, at one point saying she would not announce her decision until 2024. But in February 2023, she confirmed that she would retire, ending a political career that spanned over 50 years. The 2024 election is only the second California Senate race without an incumbent since 1992, the other being the 2016 election following Barbara Boxer's retirement. However, Politico pointed out that the 2016 election had an "early and prohibitive frontrunner" in Kamala Harris while the 2024 election has no clear frontrunner, and thus considers the 2024 election the first truly open California Senate race in 32 years.

Early months of the race

Lee, Porter, and Schiff have similar voting records in Congress and similarly progressive platforms. As a result, they were expected to differentiate themselves by their life stories and individual strengths rather than their ideologies. All three have faced controversies that could damage their campaigns: Porter has been accused of mistreating congressional staff, Lee's age was seen as a potential issue, and Schiff was expected to face opposition from progressives due to his past support for overseas military intervention and for taking donations from groups affiliated with the oil, payday loan, and pharmaceutical industries, though he has declared he would not accept funds from corporate PACs in his Senate campaign. Schiff has also been criticized for listing his primary residence as Montgomery County, Maryland in tax documents, though his campaign maintains that he lives in Burbank, California. Other important factors include geography, as Schiff and Porter both represent southern California while Lee represents northern California, and diversity; a victory by Schiff would leave California with no female senators for the first time since 1992, while a victory by Lee would make her only the fourth black woman to serve in the Senate .

Schiff began 2023 with $20.6 million in his campaign account compared to $7.7 million for Porter and just under $55,000 for Lee. All three quickly began raising large sums of money; for example, in the first 24 hours of her campaign, Porter raised over $1.3 million. The three also launched super PACs to aid with fundraising, each competing for the top California fundraising firms and consultants. Former Federal Election Commission chair Ann Ravel predicted that the race would be one of the most expensive Senate elections in history. The expensive nature of the race led media sources to speculate that a wealthy candidate could run a competitive self-funded campaign, akin to Rick Caruso's campaign in the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election. This scenario seemed to come to pass when former Google executive Lexi Reese joined the race in June 2023; her aides told Politico she would spend a "significant" amount of her own money on her campaign. However, Reese made little impact on the race and dropped out months later; though she raised $2 million, much of it self-funded, she wrote that this was "just not enough to run a state-wide campaign."

Throughout most of 2023, there were no prominent Republicans in the race. This has been attributed to California's heavy Democratic lean and Republican donors' wariness of the high cost of running a statewide campaign in California; GOP strategist Duane Dichiara estimated that a Republican would need at least $80 million to run a viable Senate campaign. Additionally, California's top-two primary system may allow two Democrats to advance to the general election, a scenario that played out in the 2016 and 2018 Senate races, though the three-way division in the 2024 Democratic field could help a Republican reach the general election. Republicans would also benefit from the fact that the 2024 California Republican presidential primary, held on the same day as the Senate primary, was expected to be hotly contested and entice Republican voters to turn out in higher numbers.

Feinstein's death and replacement

Feinstein faced calls to resign throughout 2023 due to reports of her declining health, including from U.S. Representative Ro Khanna. She declined to do so. California governor Gavin Newsom had previously committed to appointing a black woman to the Senate if a seat opened up, after facing controversy due to appointing Alex Padilla to the seat left behind by Kamala Harris after she was elected vice president. Possible appointees speculated by media sources included Barbara Lee, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass, San Francisco mayor London Breed, Los Angeles County supervisor Holly Mitchell, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, and talk show host Oprah Winfrey, though Bass, Mitchell, and Winfrey said they would not be interested. In September 2023, Newsom confirmed he would fulfill his promise to appoint a black woman, but said he would not appoint any candidate running to succeed Feinstein, and would instead appoint someone who committed not to run for a full term. Lee, the only black woman in the race, responded, "the idea that a Black woman should be appointed only as a caretaker to simply check a box is insulting to countless Black women across this country who have carried the Democratic Party to victory election after election." Lee faced backlash for her comments, with several advisors to Newsom leaving her super PAC. Newsom argued that the question of a Senate vacancy was "a hypothetical on top of a hypothetical," believing that Feinstein would not leave office before her term ended.

Feinstein died later that month, on September 29, 2023. Newsom was expected to quickly appoint a successor, as a crisis over a potential government shutdown necessitated a united Democratic front in the Senate. A special election for Feinstein's seat will also be held concurrently with the regular 2024 election. In addition to those already mentioned, possible successors speculated by media sources included PolicyLink founder Angela Glover Blackwell, former state assemblywoman Autumn Burke, EMILYs List director Laphonza Butler, State Controller Malia Cohen, California Supreme Court justice Leondra Kruger, Bay Area Rapid Transit Board of Directors president Lateefah Simon, and U.S. Representative Maxine Waters. Waters and California State Board of Education president Linda Darling-Hammond said they were not interested in the appointment. Congressional Black Caucus chair Steven Horsford sent a letter to Newsom on behalf of the caucus that urged him to appoint Lee.

On October 1, Newsom appointed Butler to the Senate, with no conditions about whether she may run in 2024. Butler formerly served as president of SEIU Local 2015, the largest union in California, and on the University of California Board of Regents. She is openly lesbian, making her California's first openly LGBTQ Senator and the first openly LGBTQ black woman to serve in Congress. Butler's appointment was controversial, with many pointing out that she was registered to vote in Maryland at the time. Butler responded that she lived in California for many years before moving to the D.C. metropolitan area in 2021; she pointed out that she still owned a home in Los Angeles and promised to re-register in California. Butler was also criticized for advising Uber as it lobbied against a 2019 California bill to classify rideshare drivers as employees. In response, she maintained that she personally supported the bill. At first, Butler left open the question of whether she would run for a full term, but on October 19, she said she would not join the 2024 race.

Later events in 2023

On October 10, 2023, Republicans gained a prominent candidate when former professional baseball player Steve Garvey entered the race. Garvey, who played for both the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres, was considered to have an advantage in name recognition. Two other Republican candidates, healthcare executive James Bradley and attorney Eric Early, both of whom had previously made several unsuccessful bids for office, also attracted some media attention and support in polls.

Schiff and Porter consistently led in polling throughout the race, with Lee and the Republicans far behind. Lee's poor polling numbers was attributed to a lack of name recognition outside her San Francisco Bay Area constituency, her lack of fundraising compared to Schiff and Porter, and the fact that Schiff and Porter had prior national fame while Lee was less well-known. In November 2023, Lee ruled out withdrawing from the race and insisted she still had a chance. Lee's campaign became much more willing to openly criticize her two main rivals, attempting to define Lee as the most progressive candidate in the race.

On November 18, 2023, the California Democratic Party held its endorsing convention for the Senate race. Lee received the most delegate votes, narrowly outpacing Schiff; however, neither candidate came close to reaching the 60% threshold necessary to win the endorsement. Rumors had circulated that Lee would drop out of the race and run for re-election to the House if she did not receive the party's endorsement, but her campaign reiterated after the convention that she intended on staying in the Senate race.

The 2023 Israel–Hamas war became a late issue in the race, with Lee initially being the only major candidate to call for a ceasefire. The California Democratic Party convention was disrupted by pro-Palestine protests calling for a ceasefire. Protestors entered the main convention arena and shouted, interrupting speeches by Schiff, Porter, and Lexi Reese. Some reportedly chanted the slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." While the protest was initially peaceful, it later escalated, with over 1,000 protestors entering the building. Police locked down the building and the rest of the scheduled events that day were cancelled. Porter would later call for a ceasefire the following month.

Final months of the primary

In the months after his announcement, Garvey steadily rose in polling, heightening Republicans' odds of getting a candidate through to the general election. Garvey largely avoided taking positions on political issues, spent no money on television ads, and did little in-person campaigning. In the new year, Schiff's campaign began airing television ads that contrasted his positions with Garvey's. Porter accused Schiff of trying to prevent her from reaching the general election by boosting Garvey; she alleged that the ads, which labeled Garvey as too conservative, were intended to enamor Garvey to Republican voters. Due to the nonpartisan blanket primary, it is a common tactic for front-running candidates to boost the second place candidate whom they feel they can defeat most easily; Schiff's campaign denied that this was his intention. Supporters of Schiff also independently purchased a similar anti-Garvey ad which ran on Fox News, despite Schiff previously calling for a boycott of the network. Porter later began airing similar ads against another Republican, Eric Early. These ads were seen as an effort to split the Republican vote and help Porter clinch the second general election spot, though Porter denied this.

Politico, FOX 11 Los Angeles, and USC Dornsife held a debate on January 22, 2024, which included Schiff, Porter, Lee, and Garvey. The debate largely consisted of the Democrats attacking Garvey for his past support of Trump and questioning Garvey's support of him in 2024, and the differing viewpoints of the four in the Israel-Hamas war. The stance of all candidates towards congressional earmarks, which Porter strongly opposes, also was a key topic.

Nexstar Media Group television stations aired a debate on February 12 featuring the same four candidates. Key highlights include the candidates being asked whether they would support certifying the election should a candidate of the other party win the presidency, rising crime, the minimum wage, corporate donations in political campaigns, and the federal role in housing.

KNBC and KVEA aired a debate in conjunction with Loyola Marymount University on February 20, which was broadcast on NBCUniversal-owned stations statewide and on KCRA, Sacramento's NBC affiliate. Topics included the minimum wage, the federal budget deficit, military spending, the Mexico–United States border crisis, climate change, extending the life of the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, and the proposed regulation of artificial intelligence.

Endorsements

Polling

Fundraising

Debates

Results

Aftermath

After her loss, Porter remarked that the election was "rigged by billionaires," referring to a $10 million independent ad campaign attacking her that was funded by cryptocurrency supporters. Porter's use of the word "rigged" was criticized, with some comparing her statement to Donald Trump's false claims of fraud in the 2020 election. Porter expressed regret for use of the word "rigged" and said that she meant to say that the election was "manipulated by dishonest means" which was a reference to the use of dark money in campaign financing, and not to mean that there was anything illegitimate about the vote counting.