Schiff Beats Rivals In Fundraising For Senate Seat

Rep. Adam B. Schiff swamped his rivals in the financial race to replace retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein, raising $8.2 million in recent months, according to federal fundraising reports released, Seema Mehta reported for LA Times.

Photo Insert: Schiff’s windfall was fueled by his June censure by congressional Republicans over his role in investigating former GOP President Trump’s ties to Russia.

Schiff collected roughly double the combined total raised by his top Democratic opponents — Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee — in the same period.

Schiff’s windfall was fueled by his June censure by congressional Republicans over his role in investigating former GOP President Trump’s ties to Russia — a reprimand the Burbank Democrat repeatedly highlighted in his fundraising appeals.

"Schiff might as well have paid for this censure, in the sense that it has gotten him exactly what he wants, which is, 'I'm the person Republicans don't want to win, and that's for a reason,'" said Jessica Levinson, an election law professor at Loyola Law School.

"Even though he's such an eloquent and well-spoken lawyer, I don't know that he could have made the case for himself in the way Republicans did."

Schiff's haul far outpaced Porter, an Irvine Democrat who raised $3.1 million in the second quarter of 2023. But she led Schiff 19% to 16% in a poll of likely voters released last week by the Public Policy Institute of California. Lee had the support of 13%.

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