No other issue has divided the top three Democratic candidates in the California Senate race as much as the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Rep. Adam Schiff and Rep. Barbara Lee represent opposite ends of their party on the war, with Schiff largely supporting Israel’s response while Lee has called for an immediate cease-fire since the day after the Oct. 7 attack.
Rep. Katie Porter has sought a middle-of-the-road approach, calling for a “bilateral cease-fire,” in effect demanding an end to the violence with conditions attached.
Divisions between the three representatives — one of whom is expected to win the Senate seat in deep-blue California — mirror intraparty rifts among Democrats nationwide over the Biden administration’s response to the war.
A recent poll from the Public Policy Institute of California found more than 90 percent of Californians have heard at least some news about the conflict, and protests have disrupted major political events around the state. Mark Baldassare, a veteran pollster at PPIC, said voters are showing unusually high interest in the candidates’ stances on the international issue.
“It’s a foreign policy issue that’s front and center in terms of the job description,” he said.
Former Los Angeles Dodgers star Steve Garvey, a Republican, is polling in the top three. After a Thursday meeting with Bay Area Jewish leaders, he said he stood with Israel, and does not support a cease-fire.
Garvey, Schiff, Porter and Lee will defend their positions during their first California Senate debate from 6 p.m. to........