Last month, House Republicans successfully censured Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff for saying true things about traitor weasel Donald Trump. This was their second attempt after epically face-planting when they tried to tack on a fine of one million dollars!$16 million. The censure resolution, which came from attention-seeking freshman Rep. NAME REDACTED, is mostly ceremonial, but it did give Schiff the chance to read the cowardly, Trump-humping Republicans — so, all of them —for filth.
The Republicans’ petty move had the expected result: People still don’t know who Rep. NAME REDACTED is or care that much, and Schiff’s national profile has elevated even more, which is convenient considering he’s currently running for the US Senate.
Schiff is competing against Rep. Katie Porter and Rep. Barbara Lee to replace Dianne Feinstein, who announced her retirement earlier this year. Porter is especially formidable — she flipped a Republican-held seat in Orange County in 2018 and she’s a prodigious fundraiser. However, Schiff enjoys a significant cash advantage over both Porter and Lee.
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Back in April, political analyst and professor Dan Schnur said, “Schiff is in a better position than expected. Porter ended up coming shorter than expectations — she’s going to have to demonstrate that she has more fundraising depth than it appears right now. And Lee’s going to have to find another way of doing it other than lots of money, but we knew that from beginning. Schiff has a very strong advantage but it’s not prohibitive. He’s clearly the front-runner, but he shouldn’t be taking anything for granted.”
That was April. Now, maybe Schiff can start taking his lead for granted a little. He raised more than $8.1 million in the year’s second quarter, with more than $29.5 million cash on hand (though I hope he uses a bank). It’s fair to point out that Porter spent a lot of money defending her seat in a tough election, whereas Schiff’s seat is solidly Democratic, so he banked more money for this race. But fairness alone won’t win you jack. The cash gap was a known issue and Porter hasn’t been able to catch up with Schiff. She’s not yet released her own second quarter totals, which is usually not encouraging. Lee has raised less than $2 million over the past two quarters.
Politico reports that Schiff had more than 144,000 unique donors over the quarter from all 50 states and all of California’s 58 counties. They contributed more than 233,000 donations. A whopping 98 percent of contributions were from supporters giving $200 or less, and the average contribution was $34. Our boy isn’t taking PAC money, and he probably doesn’t need it as his nationwide network isn’t close to meeting their individual maximums.
The numbers are all the more startling considering California is a deep blue state and the race to succeed retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein will almost certainly have no bearing on which party holds control of the Senate in 2024.
Oh, Politico, you’re adorable! Kamala Harris was the junior senator from California for less than one term and she’s currently vice president. Schiff and Porter probably have political ambitions beyond just keeping Feinstein’s seat in the Democratic column, and even if they don’t, Feinstein herself has demonstrated that this Senate seat is almost like a sinecure. Once elected, you’re there for life. The only real competition is this primary, and Schiff is pulling well ahead, thanks in part to his idiot House Republican colleagues.
Here’s why I might crib that line from Star Wars about how “If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine,” but they didn’t really strike him down. It’s all a big swing and a miss.
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