In the shadow of Petco Park, Steve Garvey was greeted as a Padres hero who played alongside baseball legend Tony Gwynn and helped the team to its first World Series appearance.
In Los Angeles, voters lit up as they posed for photos with the former Dodgers star first baseman who anchored the team's legendary infield in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Few knew that Garvey, a Republican, was running for the U.S. Senate. But everyone remembered his steel forearms (“Hello Popeye,” one shouted) and his success on the diamond in two baseball-crazy cities.
“Is he a Republican?” Kenneth Allen, 56, asked a reporter as Garvey toured the San Diego homeless shelter where Allen works. “I'm a Democrat, but if he's the best person for the job, I'd think about it.”
Garvey's baseball fame is central to a Senate campaign that is considered a long shot at best in a state where Republican candidates running at the state level often receive a frosty reception from the electorate. left-leaning California. He hopes what propels him into the race is nostalgia for his playing days and a political message light on details but full of criticism about the declining quality of life in California and the scourge of illegal drugs flowing through the cities.
This enthusiasm from older fans followed the 75-year-old first-time politician as he toured Southern California last week on a listening tour about homelessness. Last fall, he joined a Senate race already dominated by prominent Democratic members of Congress: Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, Katie Porter of Irvine and Barbara Lee of Oakland.
“Once we pass primary school, I will begin a deeper dive into the [issues]Garvey said Thursday outside the San Diego homeless shelter.
“I haven't been in this for long, so you have to give me a little freedom here. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t moving full speed ahead on policy and coming up with ideas that will make a difference.”
Since entering the race, Garvey has offered a variety of views, including saying he supported closing the U.S.-Mexico border, but also taking decidedly more liberal positions on issues like gay marriage and abortion rights. , which he supports.
“The people of California have spoken. They have spoken out in favor of abortion and as an elected official it would be my responsibility to defend the voice of the people and I am committed to doing that,” Garvey told The Times on Thursday in Compton during a stop on his listening tour.
Since entering the race, Garvey quickly rose to become the field's top Republican, increasing his chances of finishing in the top two in the March primary and advancing to the November general election. In the last UC Berkeley Institute of Government Studies In the poll, co-sponsored by The Times, Garvey finished in third place with the support of 13% of likely voters. She was behind Porter and Schiff, who had 17% and 21% support, respectively.
Steve Garvey of the Dodgers kisses manager Tommy Lasorda's forehead in the Dodger Stadium locker room after the team beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 to win the National League pennant on October 7, 1978.
(Associated Press)
Garvey's support has nearly doubled since August, evidence that he could have enough momentum to solidify the Republican vote and attract some no-party-preference voters to do well in the March 5 primary.
That's partly why Porter and Schiff have stepped up criticism of Garvey's party affiliation and support for former President Trump. The first debate in the Senate race is this month and Democrats on stage are expected to go after the late-entering Republican candidate.
“The fact that Trump's MAGA loyalists voted for him in the presidential primary on the same day as our election could give Garvey the boost he needs,” a recent fundraising email from Schiff said.
Garvey told The Times that he voted for Trump twice, reasoning that he was the best choice on the ballot in 2016 and 2020. Trump did good things, he said, but he won't identify them. He previously said that he does not have an opinion on who is responsible for the violent pro-Trump insurrection at the US Capitol three years ago.
News cameras follow Dodgers great Steve Garvey during his visit to Skid Row in Los Angeles on Thursday. Garvey is campaigning to represent California in the United States Senate, a position previously held by the late Senator Dianne Feinstein.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
For Garvey to do well in the March primary, he needs the support of California Republicans loyal to the former president. But in doing so, he risks angering an even larger proportion of the electorate who despise Trump.
On Thursday he avoided the question of whether he would vote for Trump this fall or accept his endorsement, saying with a smile: “That's a hypothetical question. If he calls, I’ll let you know.”
“I'm a moderate conservative,” he said. “I never went out into the field for Democrats, Republicans or independents. “I went out on the field for all the fans and I’m running for all the people, and my opponents can’t say that.”
Stanford University public policy professor Lanhee Chen, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for comptroller in 2022, said Garvey starts with an advantage that many Republican candidates lack: People know Garvey and have fond memories of him. he. Should he make it to the runoff, which Chen says is possible, he will face the monumental challenge of overcoming Democrats' enormous advantage in voter registration.
In the general election, Garvey, who has said he wants to serve only one term, would hope to consolidate his hold on Republicans and eliminate a small margin of Democrats and no-party-preference voters by appealing to moderates (and in particular, voters Latinos). They might be drawn to their Catholic faith and focus on economic issues.
Chen said that in a general election he would have to confront some of the questions about Trump head-on. The recent Berkeley poll indicated that 34% of likely voters have a favorable opinion of Trump, compared to 63% who have an unfavorable opinion, and of those, 58% have a very unfavorable opinion of the Republican presidential front-runner.
“Every Republican candidate, regardless of where they fall on the spectrum of these issues, has to address them, which is part of the reason Trump is such a unique challenge for the Republican Party in a place like California,” Chen said. .
Democratic political consultant Bill Carrick says Garvey's rise is a reflection of the weak field of Republican candidates. The state has a long history of such candidates, he said, pointing to the election of Hollywood action star Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California in 2003, when Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was removed from office.
Steve Garvey, center, visits Los Angeles' Skid Row on Thursday, accompanied by executives from the Downtown Business Improvement District.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
In that election, Carrick said that Los Angeles voters in particular didn't see Schwarzenegger just as a movie star. They saw someone who had been doing charity work in the community and who voters knew on a very human level.
Garvey, who lives in the Coachella Valley, has flirted with politics for decades after his successful baseball career, which included a World Series title and 10 National League All-Star selections ending in the late 1990s. 1980.
“Republicans don't have a farm system now, so no one is moving up in the ranks,” Carrick said, pointing to small Republican minorities in the state Legislature.
“That leaves it open for people, like Garvey, who have their own ability to participate.”
Still, a general election in which 47% of the electorate are registered Democrats, 24% are Republicans and 22% have no party preference will be an uphill battle, Carrick said.
While on the campaign trail last week, Garvey toured a shelter in downtown San Diego before visiting Los Angeles' Skid Row along with Downtown Industrial Business Improvement District Director Estela Lopez and a business owner local called Sergio Moreno. He took photos with five uniformed Los Angeles police officers and told them that when he was elected, he would make sure the people “you arrest don't get back on the streets before you finish the paperwork.”
After explaining the challenges of owning property near Skid Row, Moreno told Garvey about the joy he experienced receiving a ball signed by him at an event at the JCPenney at Glendale Galleria in the mid-1990s. 1970.
Dodgers and Padres great Steve Garvey, right, visits with Ruben Ramirez Jr., owner and operator of Ruben's Bakery and Mexican Food in Compton, on Thursday.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
Garvey heard a similar message when he arrived at his final stop on the tour: Ruben's Bakery and Mexican Food in Compton.
The interior of the business was essentially destroyed after a mob of more than 100 people robbed the bakery during an illegal street takeover this month.
But on Thursday, the 48-year-old establishment reopened and Rubén Ramírez Sr., 83, and his wife, Alicia, 76, were behind the counter in Dodger gear.
Both recalled watching games as a family and the joy Garvey brought to his family, including Rubén Ramírez Jr., who now runs the store.
“All my life I wanted to meet him,” Alicia said in Spanish, a Dodgers scarf around her neck. “He is such a handsome man.”
She grabbed a ball he had signed for her and took a photo to send to her family. Ramirez Jr. said his family was not political and just works hard. They had little interest in talking politics, he said.
Neither does Garvey. He simply smiled and shook their hands.
