Adam Schiff wins race for U.S. Senate seat previously held by Dianne Feinstein
Donald Trump has treated Schiff as a major nemesis since the Jewish Democrat led impeachment proceedings against him

Rep. Adam Schiff talks to the media after voting at McCambridge Recreation Center in Burbank in the race for U.S. Senate that he ultimately won, Nov. 5, 2024. (Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
(JTA) — California voters did what was widely expected and elected Rep. Adam Schiff, a Jewish Democrat, in the senate race to replace the late Dianne Feinstein, another Jewish Democrat, who died while in office last year after serving in the role for more than 30 years.
Schiff, who currently represents parts of greater Los Angeles in the U.S. House of Representatives, defeated Steve Garvey, a former star baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who had hoped to beat the odds and become the first Republican to be elected to a statewide office in California in 18 years.
Schiff’s victory elevates a lawmaker who largely fits the typical mold of a Jewish Democrat with his pro-Israel politics and an endorsement from the political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Considered a hawk on national security issues, he made his name the same way Feinstein did — serving on a congressional intelligence committee.
The person appointed to serve out Feinstein’s term, Sen. Laphonza Butler, did not run herself.
Schiff became one of the most prominent politicians in the country by confronting Donald Trump during the former president’s impeachments, over which Schiff helped preside, and by formally investigating the attempted overthrow of the 2020 election by a pro-Trump mob on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump in turn has treated Schiff as a major nemesis, including by coining for him a nickname which strikes many as antisemitic: “Shifty Schiff.” Trump used the moniker as recently as Monday while vilifying him at a rally in Pittsburgh for his own presidential campaign.
“Adam Shifty Schiff is one of the truly unattractive people,” Trump said. “I call him, ‘watermelon head.’ He’s got the largest head and the smallest neck. He’s not a stupid person but he’s an evil kind of person. He’s likely going to be a senator, unfortunately. This scum is going to be a senator.”
Previously, Trump has called Schiff an “enemy from within” and threatened to jail him once in power. He has made similar threats against other members of the congressional committee that investigated the Jan. 6 riots.
With Schiff’s victory, California will be represented by two men in the Senate, the other being Alex Padilla, after many years in which the state counted at least one woman senator.
Because Schiff was so heavily favored to win, the Los Angeles Times described the race as “sleepy, bordering on dull.” Schiff spent considerable time stumping for the presidential candidacy of Kamala Harris and raised significant funds for Democrats in various battleground races.
Garvey, who ran a largely low-key campaign, traveled to Israel over the summer to signal his stance on an issue that has assumed increased prominence as a result of the ongoing war initiated on Oct. 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas attacked Israel.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Culture I have seen the future of America — in a pastrami sandwich in Queens
-
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
-
Opinion Gaza and Trump have left the Jewish community at war with itself — and me with a bad case of alienation
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.