CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 1923, OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“SENATE FIELD CLARIFIED BY KHANNA,
PORTER”
It’s
still very early in this year of political positioning for some key California
politicians, but already the field is clarifying for the upcoming contest to
replace longtime Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 89.
Feinstein
has not formally indicated she won’t seek a sixth full term next year, which
would see her sworn in at age 91, but that is the presumption among her fellow
pols.
Right
now, the presumed race for her seat figures to devolve down to two Democrats in
California’s “top two” system, given that no Republican yet appears to have any
credibility in the race.
The new
clarity arose first in an interview the other day with Ro Khanna, a four-term
Democrat who now represents the Silicon Valley congressional district centered
on San Jose, and days later, with Orange County Rep. Katie Porter’s
announcement that she will definitely run.
Without
explicitly pulling out, Khanna allowed that “Being the congressman for Silicon
Valley is just as important a job as being senator from California. My district
has the most powerful and influential constituency in the country. I’m very
happy with what I am doing now.”
He also
predicted that fellow House members Adam Schiff of Burbank and Barbara Lee of
Oakland will make the race.
Perhaps
Khanna was somewhat dissuaded from running by a private poll he recently saw
that gave Schiff the early lead in this presumed contest, with support from 40
percent of likely voters. Khanna and Porter were tied for second at 20 percent
each, while Lee attracted 10 percent.
The poll
did not include Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has reportedly promised both President
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris he will not run against either in 2024,
despite many rumors pegging him as a presidential hopeful.
“If he
ran, Newsom would win the Senate race,” Khanna said. But he expressed doubts
Newsom would be happy in the Senate, relegated to back-bench status with no
seniority after six years of exercising strong executive power.
Yet,
Newsom, reveling now in a role as a leader among national Democrats, will need a perch after 2026 on which to
await the 2028 presidential vote if he really doesn’t run next year, and the
Senate would position him well, with plenty of time and flexibility to campaign
around the country.
So he
might opt for the Senate, in which case Schiff, Lee and Porter might have to
re-think their ambitions.
Meanwhile,
Khanna has acted in recent months more like a potential presidential candidate
than someone seeking the Senate.
He’s
traveled much of the country, pushing the cause of bringing American
manufacturing jobs back from places like China and Mexico. He’s reached across
the aisle to co-sponsor a bill promoting such moves with Florida Republican
Sen. Marco Rubio. That led the national political news service Politico to
speculate about Khanna as a future presidential hopeful. Khanna did not object
to this, even volunteering to provide a reporter with links to that article and
another he wrote for Foreign Affairs.
“I’ve been
going to factory towns for years now,” he said. “We cannot let China take the
lead from us in productivity.”
So for
now, the race to take Feinstein’s place has at least a little more clarity than
it did a few weeks ago, with Newsom still able to control it if he chooses,
after drawing about 61 percent of the vote in three straight statewide
elections (2018, 2022 and the 2021 recall drive against him).
Schiff,
with prominence gained in leading two impeachments of ex-President Donald
Trump, is today’s clear early leader, not counting Newsom. Porter, a prolific
fund-raiser who has gotten elected three times from an Orange County district
without a Democratic voter registration majority, might pose a significant
challenge. But Lee, whose main claim to fame is her long-ago vote against going
to war in Iraq, seems a distant third at the moment, despite some public
sentiment that one of California’s Senate seats ought to go to a Black woman.
Now they
all know they won’t have to contend with Khanna, a favorite among Bernie
Sanders-style Democrats. Still, none of the remaining three is likely to defeat
Newsom, if he enters this race.
-30-
Elias is author of the current book “The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most
Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government's Campaign to Squelch It,” now
available in an updated third edition. His email address is tdelias@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment