Former baseball MVP Garvey joins California US Senate race, giving GOP dash of celebrity on ballot

LOS ANGELES – Former baseball MVP Steve Garvey joined the race Tuesday to be triumphant the overdue California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, giving Republicans a dash of celebrity high quality on the ballot in a closely Democratic state the place the GOP hasn’t received a Senate race in 35 years.

Garvey, 74, introduced his marketing campaign with a video lush with baseball imagery that recalled his occupation as a perennial All-Star who performed for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. It additionally signaled he would lean towards the political heart in a birthday celebration ruled via former President Donald Trump, the main GOP presidential candidate who may proportion the ballot with Garvey subsequent yr.

“I never played for Democrats or Republicans or independents. I played for all of you,” Garvey stated within the video, through which he additionally alluded to issues vexing the state from homelessness to crime. “It’s going to be a common sense campaign.”

In an interview, Garvey stated he voted for Trump up to now however had no longer settled on a pick out within the unfolding 2024 presidential contest. He didn’t solution without delay when requested if he regarded as himself phase of the Trump wing of the GOP. Trump misplaced California in landslides in 2016 and 2020, regardless that he had reinforce from thousands and thousands of Republican and conservative-leaning citizens within the state.

“I’m running the Steve Garvey campaign,” he stated. “We need to bring people together again.”

Garvey’s front right into a race provides Republicans a known title to many Californians, although he could also be unknown to thousands and thousands of more youthful citizens. He performed his closing primary league recreation in 1987 after an 18-year primary league occupation, and he used to be National League MVP in 1974.

Still, he’ll face the demanding situations of any first-time candidate: elevating thousands and thousands of bucks for TV promoting and construction a company to end up citizens in a box of applicants that already comprises Democratic U.S. Reps. Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee. The race might be additional difficult if Sen. Laphonza Butler, whom Gov. Gavin Newsom recently appointed to the seat following Feinstein’s demise, chooses to run.

He struck a sequence of acquainted Republican positions, together with calling for briefly final the border with Mexico, at a time when polls point out widespread frustration with President Joe Biden’s dealing with of immigration. He used to be vital of the state’s push to prohibit the sale of maximum new gas-powered vehicles via 2035, announcing “that’s not realistic.”

On abortion, a subject Democrats hope will provoke the birthday celebration’s base after the Supreme Court closing yr overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade determination, Garvey stated he does no longer reinforce a national abortion ban.

“The people of California have spoken … on abortion, and as their representative, I pledge to always uphold the voice of the people,” he stated. When requested if he supported abortion rights, he added, “The people have spoken, and I will pledge to uphold that.”

As a Republican, he inevitably begins as a longshot. Democrats cling each statewide place of work and dominate the legislative and congressional delegations. Republicans — who’re outnumbered about 2-to-1 via Democratic citizens within the state — have not received a statewide race for any place of work since 2006.

California runs a number one that sends the 2 applicants with probably the most votes to the overall election, regardless of political birthday celebration. In California’s closing two Senate races, GOP applicants carried out so poorly that handiest Democrats gave the impression on the November ballot. The closing Republican to win a Senate race within the state used to be in 1988.

However, given the massive quantity of applicants who will divide the vote within the March 5 number one, it’s conceivable Garvey may slip into the November normal election. He’d want to consolidate Republican and conservative citizens at the back of his candidacy, and he has festival from lawyer Eric Early, who prior to now has run unsuccessfully for state lawyer normal and Congress.

Garvey confirmed in June that he used to be taking into consideration getting into the Senate race, and his candidacy used to be broadly anticipated.

Garvey has flirted with the chance of getting into politics sooner than, together with after his retirement from baseball, when he teased a conceivable U.S. Senate run however by no means was a candidate.

In the interview, he stated he used to be motivated to run this time via the “quality of life stress” that has unfold all over the state, and added his marketing campaign could be anchored to decreasing crime, making improvements to schooling and dealing to lasso inflation and trim hovering gasoline costs.

He faulted long-running college closings throughout the pandemic for falling student test ratings.

For small children, the prolonged college shutdowns “not only obstructed their pathways to learning, but to social interaction,” he stated. “We’re behind in both of those areas.”

When Garvey showed in June he used to be taking into consideration the race, Early issued a observation announcing the previous baseball celebrity “has more personal baggage than Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner,” an obvious connection with Eighties intercourse scandals that sullied Garvey’s recognition as “Mr. Clean,” a moniker that referred to his buttoned-down symbol from his Dodger days. At the time he admitted to having two children with ladies he wasn’t married to.

Asked about that duration, Garvey stated, “I think our life is a journey. I think there are chapters. Sure, I’ve gone through a difficult time here and there. I’ve learned from it. And I think I’ve been stronger.”