Barbara Lee Still Works for Me
So why is Adam Schiff speaking for Steve Garvey?
Barbara Lee will not be the next senator from the state of California. Sadly, it is not a surprise. The polling had her firmly in third place among the Democratic candidates who were running. She was behind Adam Schiff and Katie Porter. She was even behind Steve Garvey, the Republican candidate who was running. Steve Garvey is an ex-Major League Baseball player who is only qualified to be a senator if a working knowledge of the infield fly rule is key to legislation. (It is not.) If he was our senator, he would be to California what actual Senator Tommy Tuberville is to Alabama, better as a veep character than a real politician.
Barbara Lee has represented much of the East Bay of Northern California (including Oakland and Berkeley) since 1998. She has been a progressive since way before that was “cool,” and she has stayed a progressive way after it stopped being “cool.” She is (in)famous for coming out against the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq before there were even wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. She was the sole member of congress to vote against the joint resolution to authorize the United States government to use whatever military force it deemed fit in the wake of the September 11th attacks. It was brave, and it was also something I don’t associate with politicians. It was righteous. In the East Bay, her slogan “Barbara Lee speaks for me!” is said by young and old, Black, white brown, Asian, and Indigenous alike. And it has been that way since 1998.
Barbara Lee has been “woke” since at least the ‘60s. She is originally from Texas, but her East Bay bonafides are unquestionable. She graduated from Mills College in Oakland, a hotbed of the most lefty and lyrical thought imaginable. I say that as a compliment. She then graduated from University of California at Berkeley, a school that is the living symbol of what Fox News is afraid of when it demonizes liberal colleges. Back in the day, Barbara Lee was a volunteer for The Black Panther Party, and she worked for Shirley Chisholm’s presidential campaign. In more recent years, she has led the Congressional Black Caucus, and she was one of the founders of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. Since late last year, she has been calling for a permanent ceasefire in Palestine, and she is the only California senate candidate to do so. (Katie Porter has said “ceasefire” but with many caveats.) This is all to say that once again Barbara Lee is not afraid of being on the right side of history, even if that means being politically on an island.
Barbara Lee is so progressive that sometimes I even find her ahead of where I am on the left end of the spectrum. In February, she made national news by suggesting that the federal minimum wage should be fifty dollars an hour, and I even had a moment of “Slow down, Congresswoman! I’m an employer!” The point is that Barbara Lee regularly envisions a future that most of us can’t imagine, but should. Her viewpoints are an especially big deal being that she is a Black woman in The United States of America. It would be understandable if Barbara Lee was just satisfied to be a congressperson, not make any waves, and serve her time anonymously. You know, like all those white dudes in congress. But Barbara Lee dreams big and works hard.
But one thing Barbara Lee won’t be is the next senator from California. That will most likely be Adam Schiff. But not because he won in the marketplace of ideas, but because, in part, he and his people out spent the other candidates combined by 2 to 1. No real surprise there. He has access to money, because he is as Democratic establishment as it comes. He has made his name being an anti-Trump soundbite machine. But if you aren’t ready for your brain to explode then maybe don’t read the next few paragraphs.
Some of the millions of dollars raised to get Adam Schiff elected were spent on ads for Steve Garvey. Let me be clear. You didn’t read that wrong. Schiff’s people purposefully bought ads to raise Garvey’s profile so that it would galvanize the California Republicans to vote for Garvey. While there are enough Republicans in California to get Garvey into second place in the primary, there are nowhere near enough to get Garvey elected in November’s general election. And that is exactly what Schiff wanted. In California we have an open primary (or, as I learned from my dad yesterday, a jungle primary). In California's primary, you don’t vote according to your party affiliation. All the candidates just run against each other. Then the top two vote-getters run against each other in the general election in November.
Steve Garvey stands as much chance of winning the race in Democratic stronghold California as I do of becoming the next senator from Jupiter. You could clearly tell something was fishy about the ads because they call Garvey, a Republican, “too conservative” and they hit Garvey, again a REPUBLICAN, with the scandal of voting for Trump TWICE! *pearls fully clutched* These ads were not for California democrats. They were never voting for him even if he was one of those alleged “kinder, gentler Republicans.” These ads were clearly meant to be conservative catnip. This way Schiff could handpick an easy opponent and not have to sweat out actually being a good candidate. And it worked. Not exactly as inspiring as Barbara Lee’s story.
Among Schiff’s good qualities, sparkling charisma isn’t one of them. A one-on-one race against Katie Porter or Barbara Lee would have smoked that out. Lucky for Schiff, he doesn't have to worry about that anymore. But his path to victory has not gone unnoticed. Katie Porter called the race “rigged” before sorta, kinda walking it back. And as you can see in the clip I posted, even local California news pointed this out, while also highlighting that California Dems have done this before. The thing that makes this even more gross is that Garvey didn’t even believe in himself enough to buy one TV ad for himself. Schiff did the work Garvey wouldn’t do.
This election wasn’t rigged. It was American politics as usual. And that is the problem. Even in the bright blue state of California, machine politics rules the day. And instead of getting a senate race that could inspire women everywhere (whether it was Katie Porter or Barbara Lee) to run for office, we get the political version of heavyweight champion Joe Louis’s “Bum of The Month Club.” (To be fair Joe’s bums weren’t actually bums. Garvey on the other hand…) Instead of Schiff running against candidates who might pull him to the left (Katie Porter) or so far to the left that he’s on the right side of history (Barbara Lee), we have a coronation disguised as an election between two white guys with admittedly different politics and luckily different haircuts.
But Barbara Lee won’t be our next senator or even our congressperson much longer. Her term ends in January, and her seat will most certainly be filled by Lateefah Simon, who is a worthy successor and who Barbara Lee endorsed. Whatever Barbara Lee does next, she has earned some rest. But I know she would rather be working to make California and America live up to her dreams.
You’re With Me!
This week’s updates:
Death, Sex, & Money is back!
Photo by Alain McLaughlin I got to be a guest on a live recording of one of my favorite podcasts, Death, Sex, & Money, hosted by my friend, Anna Sale. Listen to the episode here. And check out Anna’s new Substack here:
March Office Hours: Our second edition of Office Hours will happen on Friday 3/29 from 11am - 12pm PST / 2pm - 3pm EST. Save the date! Thanks to everyone who joined the February gathering.
Let’s fund these Donors Choose projects that will help kids celebrate Women’s History Month. Ms. Ramirez wants to buy books for her 6th - 8th grade students to reference when they’re researching their women’s history presentations. She says: “I want my students to be able to research through books instead of the Internet. As technology grows, students are becoming less fond of books and more of technology. There is something special about reading physical books, and there is no better way to introduce physical books in class than with the introduction of amazing women in history.”
Teacher Rich is trying to get supplies to help his high school students learn about women in science. At Teacher Rich’s school and at Ms. Ramirez’s school, more than 50% of students are Black, Latino, and/or Native American, and more than 50% come from low-income households. And all donations to Teacher Rich’s project are currently being matched by another generous donor. Let’s goooooo.
I’m so sad to lose Barbara Lee’s representation and to not be able to vote for her again (at least in the short term). Her courage, strength, and integrity have always inspired me. Thank you for writing about her.
Thank you for reminding us how lucky we've been to have Rep. Lee in the U.S. House. It's a loss to principled politics not just for California but for all of the country. I was starting to think I was the only person bothered by Schiff's tactics. I have mostly appreciated his work as a House rep, but the fact that he was boosting Garvey in this way has truly disillusioned me.