Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Russia Investigation Could Power Schiff To California Senate Run

California congressman Adam Schiff has emerged as a national political figure since the House Intelligence Committee – on which he’s the ranking Democrat – took up its investigation of ties between Russia and the Donald Trump campaign.

All the press conferences and cable appearances might add up to a promotion: longtime California Senator Dianne Feinstein may retire next year, and Schiff’s newfound exposure could help him succeed her in a state with more than 50 members of Congress and eight major media markets.

“There’s no question, as happens from time to time, the spotlight swung around and lit him up and he really rose to the occasion,” Democratic colleague Rep. Jim Himes told Politico. “What he wants to do with that, I do not know.”

Schiff has said that he hopes Feinstein will seek reelection, but that announcement hasn’t tapped down speculation about seeing him in the upper chamber – or even the White House.

“President Schiff?” Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political analyst at the University of Southern California, ruminated to Politico. “Who knows what the possibilities are — remember Donald Trump?”

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.