Garvey Wins the Second 2024 California U.S. Senate Debate

Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), Congresswoman Katie Porter (D-CA), Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) and former Major League Baseball Star Steve Garvey (R) met on the stage for a debate for the second time in the U.S. Senate race on Monday, at the KRON 4 News Studio in San Francisco.

Going into the debate, polls showed that Schiff still had a commanding lead in the race with around 26% of the vote; Garvey and Porter deadlocked at 15% each; and Lee trailed distantly at 4th with 7% of the vote. These figures also meant different strategies going in. For Schiff, it was to maintain his momentum heading into the final weeks of the campaign, and maybe take a few light shots at Garvey and Porter. Porter, meanwhile, needed some big moments of the night, especially against Schiff and Garvey. Garvey, while also needing a few big moments, had the task of proving himself following a sub-par performance in the first debate. And for Lee, she needed a last-ditch breakout moment to stay even remotely competitive.

Crime and homelessness were expected to be the hottest topics of the night. However, as it turned out, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, and the question of age in the election was the searing issue.

Trump, Biden and Age

Garvey, who had a rough first debate over whether or not he would support Trump in 2024, proved that he had learned to make it into a non-issue and simply said that he would make that decision privately, ending the attacks on him that night on that issue and likely derailing planned quips by Porter and Schiff.

“I think it’s personal. I’ll make that decision when the time comes,” said Garvey. “And I hope this puts to an end the constant badgering and the use of the former president’s name as an attack against me.”

Porter, Schiff, and Lee, meanwhile, were adamant that Trump should not be on the 2024 ballot. Porter specifically noted during the debate that “Donald Trump engaged in an insurrection and should not be on the ballot.” Schiff added that Trump was the greatest threat to Democracy. Garvey fired back at Schiff over that comment however, saying that the deconstruction of the constitution, removing the filibuster, and packing the Supreme Court were far bigger threats to Democracy.

These comments led straight into a discussion about age, with recent polls showing that 59% of Americans were concerned about the age of both Trump and Biden, and that 86% of Americans felt that Biden was too old to complete another term, especially with a recent Special Counsel report specifically pointing out the age issue.

On Monday night, Porter specifically supported age limits, saying that “I do think age limits are a conversation for all elected officials. Californians are wondering about this, and it’s a conversation we ought to be open to. I do think generally that age limits are a conversation for all elected officials that we ought to be having. I think we need a mix of people who’ve had years of experience and people like me, who’ve only been in Congress for five years. But I think we have to have that conversation.”

Schiff and Porter quarreled over this issue, with Schiff finally saying that he thought Biden was doing fine and that “some people are unfit for office at any age,” taking a clear shot at Trump. Meanwhile, Porter had a major slip up, saying that Schiff voted against applying the limit to members of Congress the same week he voted for age limits on U.S. Supreme Court justices, when in fact he had only voted for Supreme Court term limits, something which Schiff jumped on immediately.

Garvey and Lee, the oldest candidates in the race, took more middle of the road views, with both saying that voters should make the decision on age, not a law.

“Absolutely, it’s time we let the people of California make that decision,” added Garvey “When you’re talking about this president, we’re saddened when we look at him and the state he’s in now.”

“This is a democracy, people have a right to vote for who they want to vote for,” Lee said. “Voters should be able to vote for whoever they think is going to deliver for them.”

However, Lee’s response was then soured when she then backtracked on an earlier promise to just serve one term if elected.

Minimum Wage

Another surprising topic was the idea of minimum wage. Lee made some of the biggest headlines of the night by saying there should be a $50 minimum wage, not even backing down when moderators gave her several chances to. While Schiff and Porter were generally for raising it to at least $20, Lee argued that, since the Bay Area had such a high cost of living, $50 was needed.

“Just do the math,” said Lee. “Of course we have national minimum wages that we need to raise to a living wage. We’re talking about $20, $25, fine.”

However, when asked how $50 would be sustainable for small businesses, she didn’t have an answer.

When it came to a federal minimum wage, Schiff supported raising it to at least $20 an hour, with Garvey saying that $7.25 was enough.

“Mr. Garvey, you can say the minimum wage is fine where it is, but you want to know why people are living on the street? It’s because we are paying the poverty wages,” said Schiff.

However, Garvey then countered saying, “The federal minimum wage was where it is and should be. Instead of a Big Mac for $9, it’s going to be $15.” Garvey then added that the blame of low wages were of career politicians like the three Democratic candidates, retorting that “These are three career politicians who have failed the people. You keep talking about ‘It should be higher.’ Why haven’t you done something about it?”

Crime and Homelessness

While all the candidates denounced high crime and said it was a problem, it was Schiff and Garvey who went at it once again. When touting his experience as a Congressman and working in the U.S. Attorney’s office, he took a shot at Garvey when he said “I’ve been prosecuting criminals since back when Mr. Garvey was playing baseball.”

However, Garvey reaffirmed his hard stance on crime and once again pointed out that he wasn’t a career politician and would come into office with a fresh perspective.

“There’s never been more crime on the streets of California than today. And my opponents here, career politicians, it’s been on their watch. They are responsible,” added Garvey.

Homelessness was also discussed, but did not grow too heated. All three Democrats wanted more affordable housing tax credits. Porter explained her idea for longer term rental deals at a fixed cost, with Schiff and Lee wanting a more homelessness-focused housing plan. Schiff also took another crack at Garvey, saying that he wouldn’t support anything beyond poverty wages.

Garvey, meanwhile, while also calling for a solution to the crisis, said that the state had wasted billions and that a federal audit was needed to find out what California did with federal housing funds that were supposed to help benefit the homeless.

Other issues

Rounding off the debate were a myriad of several other issues and questions. The question over the Israel-Hamas War was particularly divisive. Schiff backed Israel 100% on Monday, maintaining his line of support as he had since the war began.

“Israel has the right to defend itself and Hamas wanted this kind of response,” Schiff said. “Hamas is threatening to attack them over and over and over again, no nation could endure that. At the same time, the President is right to continue pressing Israel to try to avoid civilian casualties to try to minimize the loss of civilian life.”

Meanwhile, Porter called for Hamas being removed for power, but with the U.S. and Israel helping foot the bill in rebuilding Gaza.

Garvey took the strongest stance, saying that a two-state solution isn’t possible with Hamas.

Overall, the second debate was generally milder than the first debate when it came to the candidates locking horns, but it was clear who did well and who didn’t.

Let’s start with Schiff. Schiff skated by easily, going in when he needed to and only really getting passionate when it came to issues like the minimum wage and Israel. He did a pretty good job, but was notably taken aback by Garvey using the career politician lines on him. He had no real response to those. But generally, he had really prepared answers and was really only thrown off by Garvey, as even Porter failed to get him off track.

Speaking of Porter, her night didn’t go so well. Her false attack on Schiff over his voting record on age limits fell flat. She kept trying to incite both Garvey and Schiff into quarreling. However, Schiff was too seasoned to fall into any of those traps, and Garvey learned fast from last time, especially when he shut down her attacks on his voting for Trump. She obviously had a lot to say on that, but only if Garvey said things he had said before. He changed tactics and she ended up looking uncomfortable up there as a result. She even messed up a really easy question. Every candidate was asked what their favorite movie was at one point. Garvey said “The Natural,” Lee said “The Color Purple,”  and Schiff said “The Big Lebowski.” For Porter, she just said “Star Wars,” seemingly not realizing that there are many of them. It’s hard to mess up a question like that, yet Porter did.

Lee was on homefield advantage in the Bay Area as the only Bay Area politician left in the race, and she didn’t do too well. Every other question, like the first debate, she mentioned her tough background to get where she is today. While it works sparingly, it doesn’t work when applied to most questions. She needed a big moment of the night, and she put all her chips on the $50 minimum wage question. But she fumbled that. And when asked a simple question about that $50 being applied to small businesses and how they could afford it, her response was a deer in the headlights look. Not a great night.

Garvey had the best night. While his performance in the first debate wasn’t great, he got over the first debate jitters in San Francisco. After all three went after him on Trump and how he voted in the first debate, he got around it this time. Even more impressive was his new strategy that has been tried and true by candidates coming in from non-political fields – being the outsider. He pressed on it hard during the debate, and threw off the otherwise playing-it-cool Schiff by going after him on being a career politician. Garvey found his angle and weeks of debate coaching obviously helped. He shouldn’t press as hard as he did on this in the third debate, but it is now firmly in his arsenal now.

A KTLA poll after the debate also produced a rarity: A Republican winning a debate against three seasoned Democrats. For Garvey and Republicans, this is a really good sign. For the other three candidates and Democrats, they just realized they underestimated Garvey from his first performance.

Who do you think won tonight's #CASenDebate? Adam Schiff, Steve Garvey, Katie Porter or Barbara Lee?

— KTLA (@KTLA) February 13, 2024

Schiff won the first debate, Garvey won the second. With the third debate coming to Hollywood next week and early mail-in voting in full swing, the strategies are the same. Schiff needs to maintain, Garvey needs to keep pushing forward, Porter needs to get momentum again, and Lee is pretty much out now.