LOS ANGELES — You’d have to return a technology — to 1988 — to seek out the remaining time a Republican candidate gained a U.S. Senate race in closely Democratic California. This time, the birthday celebration may get an MVP at the poll.
Baseball legend Steve Garvey, who performed for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, is assembly with electorate and senior GOP officers as he weighs a possible 2024 Senate bid in a race that already has a number of outstanding Democratic contenders in the sphere. He gave the impression at a up to date fundraiser for Republican Rep. Michelle Steel in Orange County, the place he signed baseballs and mentioned his doable candidacy.
“He is seriously considering entering the race,” mentioned veteran advisor Andy Gharakhani, who’s advising Garvey.
The 74-year-old Garvey had an 18-year main league profession. He was once National League MVP in 1974 and retired from baseball in 1987.
Garvey has flirted with the potential for getting into politics ahead of, together with after his retirement from baseball, when he teased a imaginable U.S. Senate run however by no means was a candidate.
“I have been approached to run for office and am exploring that. No announcement is imminent,” Garvey said in a statement released by a Dodgers team spokesperson.
Garvey’s candidacy would reorder a growing field that already includes Democratic Reps. Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee. The seat is held by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has announced she is not seeking another term.
Still, even with his celebrity sparkle, Garvey would enter the race as an underdog. Democrats hold every statewide office and dominate the legislative and congressional delegations. Republicans — who are outnumbered about 2-to-1 by Democratic voters in the state — have struggled for years to find candidates for top offices.
In the state’s last two U.S. Senate races, GOP candidates performed so poorly in the primary elections that only Democrats advanced to the November ballot. Garvey’s candidacy could give the GOP a chance to make the November election, potentially lifting party turnout and also helping down-ballot GOP candidates.
In recent election cycles, California Republicans have targeted criticism at the state’s Democratic-dominated government, faulting the rival party for notoriously high taxes, a homeless crisis, rising crime rates in cities and housing prices that are out of reach for many working-class families.
Republican attorney Eric Early — an unsuccessful candidate for state attorney general in 2022 and 2018 and for Congress in 2020 — entered the Senate contest in April. He has said he will campaign for the votes of “forgotten” Californians and towards what he known as “far-left” ideology creeping into govt.
“I think Steve Garvey would be one of the most interesting and dynamic candidates for a statewide office Republicans have had in decades,” said Republican National Committeeman Shawn Steel, who is married to the congresswoman.
“He’s good on the stump … and he reminds me of a Reagan-esque approach,” Steel added, referring to former Republican President Ronald Reagan, another Californian.
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AP Writer Beth Harris contributed.
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