Rep. Adam B. Schiff is a darling of the Democratic Party, a fighter and political veteran accustomed to the spotlight on Sunday talk shows and on the House floor.
In the Senate, the Burbank Democrat will carry a new title: freshman.
Schiff easily won the Nov. 5 election for the California Senate and will be sworn in next month to serve out the remainder of late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s term. He begins a six-year term in the Senate in January, the same month his most powerful opponent, President-elect Donald Trump, returns to the White House.
Trump’s election puts Schiff in a unique position as a freshman senator. President Trump has spent his second term variously describing himself as a “liar,” “traitor,” “weirdo,” “evil,” and “pencil head,” and went after political opponents, including Schiff, who he calls one of the country’s “enemies.” I vowed to spend it on From the inside. ”
In his first new job since 2001, Schiff will tackle fundamental issues such as committee assignments and office space, and work to build relationships to pass legislation that benefits California. He will have to do so while grappling with the expectations that come with national recognition as a vocal critic of Trump.
“When he first walks into the Senate chamber, Republican senators are going to look around and say, ‘Here we are,'” said Jim Manley, a former senior adviser to the late Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. said. “They’re going to try to judge him because all they’ve read and heard in recent years is the soon-to-be president demonizing this guy.”
Mr. Schiff declined to be interviewed for this article, but recently told Times columnist Mark Z. Balabak that he would focus on lowering the cost of living for working and middle-class families. He wants to curb rising food, housing and child care costs and build more housing to address the state’s twin crises of rising housing costs and homelessness.
“Those are, in part, the same issues that Republicans campaigned on and President Trump campaigned on,” Schiff said. “If they are serious, they will find willing allies.”
Despite his conciliatory tone, Schiff also promised to stand firm against the president-elect’s threats against Californians. In his election night victory speech, the senator-elect said he was “determined to fight the big fight to protect our freedoms and democracy.”
Schiff’s election will give California two male senators for the first time since the early 1990s, but neither has much seniority. He was appointed to the Senate in 2021 and will succeed Alex Padilla, whose term expires in 2022.
Former California Sen. Barbara Boxer said that even though Republicans will have a majority in the Senate next year, Schiff will still have a lot of power.
Republicans controlled the Senate for most of Boxer’s 24-year tenure, including several terms in which he held 55 of the 100 seats. He said from experience that Democrats shouldn’t expect to control the debate around legislation, but that they can get their point across by “staying up all night on the floor,” holding press conferences, and speaking from experts. He said there are other ways, such as inviting people to participate. To their caucus.
She said personal relationships and bipartisanship are more important in the Senate than in the House. She quoted an old saying. “The House is the hot tea and the Senate is the saucer where things cool down.”
“I think there are some hardcore MAGA senators who aren’t happy about Adam Schiff coming on board, but he’s a smart, thoughtful, reasonable guy,” Boxer said. “The Senate is a very personal institution. There’s a lot more work going on across the aisle than meets the eye. It’s all built on relationships, trust, and confidence.”
Democratic Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, who is retiring after 18 years in the Senate, said Schiff’s tone makes him a stereotype as an opponent of Trump, even if he remains on his list of enemies. He said it would help him overcome.
“The president-elect has a long list, and that list changes every day and changes by the minute,” Cardin said. “There is absolutely no preclude the senator from working with Adam Schiff.”
Schiff also worked to strengthen ties with Senate Democrats ahead of the election. He donated $1 million from his campaign fund to support Senate candidates across the country. There are also eight Democratic Senate candidates, including incumbent Sens. Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, and incoming Sens. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan and Ruben Gallego of Arizona. He conducted election campaigns with others and won close races in battleground states.
How Schiff uses his voice will depend, in part, on the committee’s mandate. Freshman senators are usually chosen last, but Schiff may have a slight advantage given his decades of experience, national standing and dedication to the party, and he could be given a chance to serve until the end of Feinstein’s term. , because they have a little more seniority than their fellow freshmen. The term begins in January.
Leaders of both major parties still need to negotiate how many senators from their caucuses will serve on each committee and decide on the leadership role of senior senators. Only then will the vacant seats be given to new students.
Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York did not respond to questions about what role Schiff might play in the Senate, but he said he would be a “great addition” to the caucus. ”, he said.
President Trump’s Cabinet picks could be made without Democratic support, as the Senate can approve or block the president’s senior appointments with a simple majority vote.
However, President Trump has already indicated that he intends to try to pass the bill in the Senate. He wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Sunday that the incoming Senate Republican majority leader “must agree” to give the Senate the power to make key appointments unilaterally during the session. Ta. Without that authority, “we will not be able to get people confirmed in a timely manner,” Trump wrote.
Schiff disputed that idea, writing in X that Trump’s attorney general nominee, MAGA believer and former congressman Matt Gaetz, “must be rejected” in the Senate.
Minority parties often look beyond committees to the court of public opinion to get their message across.
When Republicans took control of all three branches of government in the early 2000s, Boxer began holding weekly press conferences to talk about President George W. Bush’s actions that posed environmental risks, Boxer’s fourth in the Senate said. Rose Kapolczynski, who was in charge of the entire election campaign, recalls:
Mr. Boxer’s staff began compiling dossiers on tape listing the government’s problematic environmental actions. By the end, Kapolczynski said, Boxer had unfurled a 32-foot scroll for the camera and Democrats had a to-do list on environmental issues when they took back the Senate in 2008. Ta.
Boxer said Schiff will know he still has a lot of power even in the minority party.
A September University of California, Berkeley poll co-sponsored by the LA Times found that if Mr. Trump were reelected, nearly six in 10 California voters wanted Mr. Schiff to “protect California’s interests and protect existing They indicated that they would like to prioritize “opposing federal laws that undermine state laws and policies.” ”
Half of likely California voters said Schiff should focus on passing bipartisan legislation. Just under half said their priority should be to “confront the president and challenge his executive orders.”
Mr. Schiff’s controversial relationship with Mr. Trump, and Mr. Trump’s disdain for Mr. Schiff, stems directly from Mr. Schiff’s blaming of Republicans before and during his first term in the House.
Schiff, a former federal prosecutor, helped lead the House investigation into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia before and after the 2016 election. During that time, top Trump campaign officials met with a Russian billionaire at Trump Tower, the Trump campaign manager shared internal polling data with another Russian billionaire, and Trump himself has criticized Russia for the Democratic Party. He called for the emails of his presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, to be hacked.
House Republicans ultimately condemned Schiff, who publicly said there was “substantial” and “convincing” evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III found that Russia interfered on behalf of the Trump campaign, and the campaign welcomed its assistance, but did not recommend that the Justice Department indict any Americans. Schiff maintains there was evidence of collusion even if no criminal charges were filed.
Mr. Schiff was involved in a trial in which the House of Representatives voted to impeach Mr. Trump for asking Ukrainian authorities to investigate Joe Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, while withholding military aid from Ukraine. was the chief person in charge.
The Burbank Democrat also criticized Trump for his role in inciting the Capitol riot that attempted to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory on January 6, 2021, leading to Trump’s second impeachment. He also cooperated with the investigation.
After being impeached by both houses of Congress, the Senate acquitted President Trump, but President Trump has not forgotten about the investigation, calling it a “witch hunt” and calling it an immoral man who is bent on removing Schiff from the White House. He is portrayed as a Democratic Party agent.
Schiff told the Times in September, when he still expected Vice President Kamala Harris to win the presidential election, that he would be at “increased personal risk” if Trump returned to power.
He said that since the recent Supreme Court ruling giving sitting presidents sweeping immunity for acts committed in their official capacities, President Trump has “unchained his political opponents more than ever before. “They will be more threatening than ever before,” he said.
“But I am determined to do my job,” Schiff said.
Times staff writer Noah Bierman contributed to this report.
