Clicking on BoyMeetsCongress.com leads to the campaign website for Ben Savage, the

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star of a 1990s network sitcom of the same name who is now running for Congress to represent part of Los Angeles County.

The baby-faced 42-year-old, a Democrat, is among a dozen candidates officially vying for the seat of Representative Adam

B.

Schiff, who hopes to replace outgoing U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. Rivals include a board member of the nation’s second-largest school district, state legislators, and a West Hollywood council

member woman

other

a former

Los Angeles

former

city ​​attorney

people who won elections and ruled.

Yet no one has been paying attention. Savage has a television interview on ‘Good Morning America’

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as well as articles in the New York Times, the Washington Post and CNN, though he finished seventh in his only previous run for public office

.

The candidacy of Savage, whose coming-of-age series Boy Meets World was especially popular among millennials, is the latest test of how much celebrity matters in American politics.

There’s a long history of famous people running for office, especially in California, with its concentration of actors, musicians, and others drawn to the home of showbiz.

While some have had success jumping from entertainment to politics, most notably former President Trump, former President Reagan, and former Governor of California. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s celebrity hardly guarantees a win. Reality TV star and former Olympian Caitlyn Jenner placed 13th in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall, and celebrity television doctor Mehmet Oz lost last year’s U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania.

“What a celebrity brings is brand awareness. They bring the ability to spark enthusiasm. They bring the ability to raise money,” said David Jackson, a political science professor at Ohio’s Bowling Green State University, who is the studied celebrity impact. on politics

.

“However, some of the downsides may be that since we live in a very fragmented entertainment culture, some people may be celebrities within one group but virtually unknown to other people.”

Other possible drawbacks include being considered lightweights by voters,

say political advisers

or refuse to do the work necessary to run a competitive campaign, convinced that their notoriety is enough to win.

said political advisers of both parties.

Savage states that his life experiences as an actor have been working since he was in grade school, studied political science at Stanford, did a brief internship on Capitol Hill, and lived for many years in 1930s California.

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including Burbank, Glendale and West Hollywood have prepared him to become an effective member of Congress.

I’ve worked for the union my entire career. I arranged jobs for other people. I understood very early on what a hard day’s work was, Savage said during an interview at a juice bar and vegetarian cafe in West Hollywood. I’ve worked on sets all my life and I’m not going home to dive into a Scrooge McDuck gold palace.

Political strategists say Savage’s celebrity could boost the multi-candidate field, due to name identification and fundraising potential. But they also argue that its value will quickly fade if it doesn’t capitalize on it, especially given the challenges of running for Congress in a hugely expensive media market like Los Angeles.

There is an advantage you have to be careful not to squander, said Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist and longtime

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r to

former Governor Arnold

Schwarzenegger.

Even with the action movie star, who was widely known, we had things to do [quickly] convincing people that this is a guy who’s a big businessman who can do big things, not the guy you see on the screen, Stutzman said. “I think Savage’s fame is only a small advantage and could quickly be eclipsed if he isn’t able to raise as much money as the other candidates.

In general, celebrity candidates have a mediocre track record.

Winners include musician Sonny Bono, who was mayor of Palm Springs before becoming a congressman; actor Clint Eastwood, who was mayor of Carmel; and actor Alan Autry, who ran Fresno for two terms.

Bob Dornan of Orange County was an actor before being elected to Congress in 1976. Sheila Kuehl, a child star best known for her role in the 1960s sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, was the first openly gay person elected to the legislature and later won a seat on the LA County Board of Supervisors.

In Minnesota, voters elected professional wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor and comedian Al Franken as US senator. Wisconsin voters sent MTV Real World star Sean Duffy to Congress. Actor Fred Thomas

P

son had numerous film and television roles before and after representing Tennessee in the U.S. Senate for nearly two decades.

But the list of celebrity candidates who lost is also long.

Actors Shirley Temple, George Takei, Antonio Sabato Jr., Gary Coleman and Kimberlin Brown searched in vain for an office in California. Sex and the City actress Cynthia Nixon’s bid for New York governor failed, as did “American Idol” runner-up Clay Aiken in North Carolina.

The rift between colleagues on the 1960s television show The Beverly Hillbillies seemed especially painful. When Nancy Kulp, who played a bank secretary on the show, was running for Congress in Pennsylvania in 1984, the actor who played millionaire Jed Clampett, Buddy

Ebsen

,

eps,

recorded a political ad for her rival. Kulp lost overwhelmingly.

Democratic strategist Garry South, a longtime adviser to Gov. Gray Davis, who

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Schwarzenegger, who was impeached in a 2003 recall, said an important question was whether a Hollywood star could handle the rigors of a political candidate, especially in the modern age.

There’s more to campaigning than hanging out with donors at cocktail parties. They can also spend hours knocking on doors, meeting with voters and navigating a political press corps very different from the entertainment media.

The real question I have about a celebrity candidate is:

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and they are really a candidate and endure all the slings and arrows that are aimed [their] way? South said. Depending on who you’re talking about, celebrities sometimes lead pretty gilded lives and aren’t equipped when a 27-year-old reporter hits them in the face.”

Wild, who

in vain

ran for the West Hollywood City Council

in 2022

argued last year that celebrity campaigning has its downsides. When

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ity

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Ouncil candidates debated police funding, Savage said his detractors published a photo of him from a TV comedy dressed as an FBI agent to suggest he is a fascist and a Nazi.

I find that offensive. In the Jewish American and lost people in the Holocaust. That needs to be toned down. That’s completely inappropriate, Savage said. I don’t have thin skin, but I say we should inspire people to do better.

Savage still resembles Cory Matthews, the main character in Boy Meets World and in a short-lived sequel, except for a few crow’s feet in the corner of his eye. And he has the seriousness of his character, at one point during an interview saying, Wow. So you’re like the political reporter, but you’re so nice. We expected something meaner.

Savage’s prospects in the crowded race are unclear. The primary one

almost almost

in a year from now voters will be able to choose from at least a dozen candidates. Several are people they’ve already seen on their ballots, like school board member Nick Melvoin, former City Atty. Mike Feuer, Senator Anthony Portantino and Member of Parliament Laura Friedman.

Current district congressman Schiff is running for senior office after more than two decades in the House, including his starring role in the impeachment proceedings against Trump.

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An important question for Savage is whether voters will see him as a serious presence in the halls of power or remember him as a teen in flannel on television.