Ahead of California's March 5 Senate primary, Democratic Rep. Katie Porter is running digital ads designed to help attorney Eric Early peel conservative votes away from former Major League Baseball player Steve Garvey, a fellow Republican.
"MAGA Republican Eric Early proudly stands with Donald Trump," declares a Porter ad on Facebook, "while Steve Garvey refuses to tell us who he supports. Garvey claimed he might even vote for Joe Biden." Under California's top-two system, all candidates run together on a single primary ballot, with the two highest voter-getters advancing to November.
Porter's effort comes several weeks after the front-runner, Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, launched his own ad campaign to boost Garvey and deny Porter a place in the general election. However, while Schiff and an allied super PAC have spent millions on television commercials ostensibly attacking Garvey as "too conservative for California," Porter's attempt to elevate Early does not yet appear to have hit the airwaves.
Porter had reacted harshly to Schiff's intervention on Garvey's behalf, blasting it as "deeply cynical." Now, though, her team argues that her response is different.
"Adam Schiff and his super PAC allies are spending millions on a deliberate campaign to deceive California voters, portraying the Senate race as exclusively a choice between Schiff and Steve Garvey," her campaign said in a statement over the weekend. "Well, democracy is about honesty and choices, so we are doing what we can to set the record straight about Republican Trump-worshiper Eric Early and dodging waffler Steve Garvey."
Recent polling has shown Early in the low single digits, while Porter and Garvey have been neck-and-neck for the second spot and the well-funded Schiff far out in front. Porter, however, does not need Early to perform well in his own right but rather pull support from Garvey so that she can finish in second and face off against Schiff in November.
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