California Senate race: Adam Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey advance to November election

Adam Schiff, the centrist Democratic congressman, is poised to be the next US senator from California after securing enough votes to advance to the November election. He will face off with Republican Steve Garvey, a former professional baseball player, who also performed well in the nonpartisan primary on Tuesday.

Schiff, a pro-Israel Democrat, was quickly called a winner by the Associated Press, and Garvey secured his spot in the general election about an hour after polls closed.

The two progressive Democratic candidates were trailing far behind, with the Orange county congresswoman Katie Porter in third place and the Bay Area congresswoman Barbara Lee in the fourth spot. The rankings could continue to change as more votes are counted, but the AP said Schiff and Garvey were certain to advance.

Garvey stands little chance of winning in the general election; the last time a Republican won a statewide seat in California was in 2006. Facing off in the runoff with an inexperienced Republican candidate in a majority-Democratic state would likely see Schiff cruise to victory in November.

The primary broke records as the most expensive senate race in California. Schiff’s campaign is widely seen as having engineered Garvey’s strong primary performance by spending millions of dollars to air ads attacking Garvey, the former first baseman for the LA Dodgers and an inexperienced Republican candidate, thus elevating his name recognition among Republican voters in a way the Garvey campaign itself was not able to afford.

Schiff’s strategy appeared to be effective at boxing out his two Democratic progressive competitors. Neither Porter nor Lee are expected to return to Congress next year, after choosing to compete in the Senate race rather