Inside the battle for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat

In the wake of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s death, the race to replace her seat has come down to three Democratic Representatives and two Republicans, one of them a former baseball star — with voters deciding which pair of candidates will proceed to the November ballot on Tuesday.

This race comes after Senator Laphonza Butler, who took over Ms Feinstein’s seat, decided against running for the full term. The state’s Senate primary race, set to happen on Super Tuesday, will determine which two candidates will advance to the November election. Voters will see all candidates on the same ballot, regardless of party.

The candidates include Democrats Katie Porter, Adam Schiff, and Barbara Lee, all currently serving in Congress, and Republican Steve Garvey, a former major league baseball player. Businessman and attorney Eric Early is also standing as a Republican.

Despite Ms Porter’s previous victory in flipping a GOP-held Orange County seat and her infamous “whiteboard of justice” that earned her viral fame, polls currently have her Democratic challenger Representative Adam Schiff as the winner of Tuesday’s vote.

A poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found that 24 per cent of likely primary voters support Mr Schiff, while 19 per cent said they supported Ms Porter. Mr Garvey secured 18 per cent of likely voters in the poll.

Meanwhile, Ms Lee got 10 per cent of the vote, while Mr Early had just 4 per cent.

Throughout his Senate campaign, Mr Schiff has used campaign ads to paint this race as a battle between him and Mr Garvey, whom Mr Schiff has attempted to paint as too conservative for the state. Mr Garvey has quite shallow pockets compared to his other candidates and has yet to run a single TV advertisement, CNN reports.

Mr Schiff’s strategy is perceived to have increased Mr Garvey’s popularity — a benefit for him if voters eliminate Ms Porter from November’s ballot this week.

“The only thing that most voters knew about Steve Garvey on New Year’s Day was that he used to play for the Dodgers and the Padres,” Dan Schnur, a political communications professor, told CNN. “He hasn’t had the money to fill in those blanks, so Schiff and his allies are doing it for him.”

Before Mr Schiff’s Senate bid, he was best known for leading the prosecution in the first of former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trials. Ever since, Mr Schiff has made his anti-Trump stance clear — at a Judiciary Committee hearing last year, Mr Schiff accused House Republicans of setting the stage for a “dictatorship” under Mr Trump.

The California Representative has since been the target of Mr Trump’s ire, with the former president dubbing him “pencil neck” in 2019. Last year, Mr Schiff was also the target of a censure by House Republicans, who said he abused the trust put in him by voters “by saying there was evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.”

California’s Senate Primary will be decided on Super Tuesday, when voters in 15 states and one territory will vote in the Presidential primaries.

Even as primary elections continue, it is becoming increasingly clear Mr Trump will be the Republican nominee. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley remains as the sole Republican challenging him, but she has only secured one primary victory so far: Washington, DC.