While giving his speech after coming in first in California’s U.S. Senate Primary, Democratic Candidate Adam Schiff was disrupted by protesters chanting in favor of Palestine and calling for a cease fire.
During the speech, Schiff’s aides were seen trying to persuade him to leave the stage. The congressional Representative expressed backing for the protestors, saying, “We are fortunate to live in a democracy where we all have the right to protest. We want to make sure we keep this kind of democracy.”
You can watch a video capturing part of the moment below:
Schiff has supported the Biden administration’s request for a halt to fighting, linked to the release of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas.
As of 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Schiff, who Represents California’s 30th district in the House of Representatives, came in first. And in second place was Republican Steve Garvey, whom Schiff heavily promoted as his primary opponent in an attempt to reduce support for his two Democratic primary opponents, Orange County Rep. Katie Porter and Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee.
Due to California’s open primary system, the top two vote getters from the primary will move on to the general election in November. However, as of this writing only 40% of the vote has been counted. Schiff has 33.1% of that count, while Garvey has 31.9%. And as always in California, election night returns are by no means a definitive indicator of the actual electoral outcomes, thanks to the state’s extensive mail-in voting system.
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Mail-in ballots can start to be opened and processed up to 29 days before election day, but election officials are prohibited from revealing the results until the polls close.
Yet, when the polls close, those totals only include the ballots that officials have received. Mail-in ballots are valid as long as they’re postmarked by election day at the latest, and received no later than 7 days after. Additionally, many of those ballots are not sent in until election day. The results are not fully certified until 30 days after the election.
The result is what is commonly known as the “red mirage” phenomenon, in which conservative candidates — whose voters are far more likely to cast their votes on election day — seem to be leading or showing greater than anticipated strength, only for the apparent advantage to vanish as the full vote is counted.
A good example of this is the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election, in which conservative Democrat Rick Caruso — previously a lifelong Republican — appeared to lead progressive Democrat Karen Bass when polls closed on election night. A week later, Bass had carved out a commanding 54% lead and was declared the winner.
In other words, if the general election ends up being a context between Schiff and Garvey, the seat will almost certainly be Schiff’s in January.
