In an early showdown in the race for outgoing U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Representative Adam

B.

Schiff has a notable financial advantage over Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, according to federal campaign documents released Saturday.

While Schiff was widely expected to be a

N

because he had a relatively easy re-election campaign last year, he also raised millions of dollars more than Porter, who is also known as a prodigious fundraiser.

“Schiff is in a better position than expected. Porter ended up coming in shorter than expected, she will have to demonstrate that she has more depth in fundraising than it seems right now. And Lee will have to find another way to do it, except a lot of money, but we knew that from the start,” said Dan Schnur, a professor of politics at UC Berkeley, USC, and Pepperdine University. “Schiff has a very strong advantage, but it’s not prohibitively expensive. He’s clearly the front runner, but he shouldn’t take anything for granted.”

It’s early, the primaries are almost a year away and the general election isn’t until November

by

2024

Schiff, Porter and Lee are the most prominent Democrats among the 18 candidates running for the seat so far. Attorney Eric Early is the

best

known as a Republican, but he entered the race last week, so he doesn’t have to file fundraising disclosures until July.

While Schiff and Porter both raised millions of dollars in the first three months of the year, Schiff ended the first quarter of 2023 with

$24.7

million cash on hand while Porter had

$9.5

million, according to fundraising revelations posted Saturday on the Federal Election Commission website.

The two members of Congress are among the body’s most effective fundraisers, with Porter rankings

No. 2 number two

in the last election cycle,

only

behind

only

now House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

And

ship

ranked arrangement

fourth, according to federal election data.

But Porter, a former UC Irvine law professor, had a tight reelection contest in her Orange County district last year and spent a lot of money narrowly winning reelection. Schiff’s district, which includes Burbank, Glendale and West Hollywood, is strongly Democratic, allowing him to sail for re-election and bank millions of dollars more than Porter. Federal election law allows both to transfer funds raised for their House elections to their newly formed Senate campaigns.

Ship hoisted

$6.5

million and spent

$2.8

million in the first three months of 2023, as Porter raised

$4.5

million and spent

$2.5

million, according to federal election data.

The gap between the amount they were able to push through to their Senate campaigns was widely expected. Their fundraising didn’t differ, however, said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego.

“Katie Porter had to show she was able to keep up,” he said. “She had to make up ground and the fact that he’s moving forward is an important signal.”

Both greatly outclassed Lee, who never had to raise large sums of money while running for re-election in her heavily Democratic congressional district in Oakland. Lee raised

$1.1

million spent

$101,000

and had

$1.2

million cash on hand by March 31, election reports show.

The open question is the influence of Super PACs that are not officially affiliated with any candidate and can collect unlimited amounts from donors. Each of the Senate candidates is supported by such a committee; no one has filed financial disclosures with the

Federal Election Commission FEC

yet.