Former Los Angeles Dodger

S

icon Steve Garvey is considering running for the open U.S. Senate seat in California as a Republican, a move that would immediately rock the 2024 race, according to several GOP state party insiders and operatives who asked for anonymity to discuss the former All-Stars

Major League Baseball players

plan.

The 74-year-old has never held elected office

has

has met with GOP donors and leaders across the state as he weighs a bid and is expected to make a decision within the next month.

Republican strategist Andy Gharakhani, who advises Garvey, confirmed that the Palm Desert native is considering a campaign.

He is contacted by leaders from all over the state. They’re recruiting him to run from both sides, Republican and Democrat, and he’s seriously considering it, said Gharakhani, executive director of the Los Angeles chapter of New Majority, an influential corporate donor group. We should make a decision here in the coming weeks.

Garvey did not respond to requests for comment.

When Garvey runs, he will focus on quality-of-life issues such as the cost of living and public safety in California, Gharakhani said.

California has a rare open Senate seat as longtime Senator Dianne Feinstein, 89, who is battling serious health issues, has announced she will not seek another term in 2024. Twenty candidates had run for her seat by the end of March, according to the Federal Elections Commission.

The three most prominent Democrats, each of whom has raised at least seven figures, are Representatives. Adam

B.

Schiff of Burbank, Katie Porter of Irvine, and Barbara Lee of Oakland. Los Angeles attorney Eric Early, who unsuccessfully ran for California Attorney General in 2022 and 2018, is the most prominent Republican to run for office.

Given the Democrats’ overwhelming voter registration advantage in the state, any Republican seeking to succeed Feinstein faces an extremely tough challenge. No GOP candidate has won a statewide office in California since 2006.

Garvey reportedly told potential supporters that he is

consciously knowing

of his chances, but believes it is important that the party has a prominent name at the top of the ballot, according to several people who have spoken to him.

Due to the state’s “jungle primary” system, Garvey’s participation in the race would be noteworthy. The two candidates receiving the most votes in the March primary will advance to the November 2024 general election regardless of party.

Normally, having multiple Republicans on the ballot would reduce the party’s chances of making it to the general election. But this calculus could be overturned because of Garvey’s celebrity and name recognition in two of the state’s largest cities. The first baseman played for the

Los Angeles

Dodgers from 1969 to 1982 and for the San Diego Padres from 1983 to 1987. In addition to a

1981

World Series win, Garvey was a 10-time National League All-Star and won four Gold Glove awards.

Garvey was a sports legend a generation ago, but that’s who shapes the electorate, said GOP strategist Rob Stutzman, a former adviser to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who describes Garvey as my childhood hero but is not involved in his endeavours. And he was huge in two markets. He was a hero to the Padres in both Los Angeles and San Diego. He has done a lot of advertising over the years. He’s a very well-known former athlete in California, and assuming a strong and competent candidacy, I think he definitely would have a chance to consolidate the Republican vote in the primary.

A Garvey candidacy would excite long-suffering California Republicans, even if his chances of success would be slim, Stutzman added.

It’s very hard for any Republican to win statewide, and that’s probably even more true for a U.S. Senate race, Stutzman said. However, he could potentially be a wild card candidate who could really change the dynamic in a way we haven’t seen in over a decade. It’s hard to predict victory, but it could certainly be a real boost to the party.

Early, who lost to Schiff in a 2020 congressional game, said he wasn’t worried.

All I know about Steve Garvey is that he was a baseball player 40 years ago and he has more baggage than the Pacific Surf Liner, Early said.

One of the controversies in Garvey’s past is fathering two children with different women shortly before marrying a third.

Also be up early

Garvey’s

strength in a recent UC Berkley poll co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. Of the voters likely to run in the primary, Early has an 18% support, nearly all Republicans. Porter follows closely at 17%, followed by Schiff at 14% and Lee at 9%.

Our campaign is solely focused on beating the three extremists I am up against, he said, adding, no matter who comes into the race, we will beat him and get into the top two.

Garvey’s age could also be a problem. It’s unclear if voters concerned about the abilities of an 80-year-old senator would want to replace her with a 70-year-old.

Garvey has been flirting with candidacy for decades. In 1981, he told Playboy magazine that he had been approached to run for the Senate because he could make this society a better place for all of us to live in and that one day he might consider running for the White House.

Seven years later, Garvey attended the Republican National Convention in New Orleans, raising money for future President George HW Bush, and spoke of his political aspirations.

Precedents have been set, he told the San Diego Union-Tribune, adding that he might think about a nationwide run in 1990 or 1992. We’ve had an actor in the White House. Why not a first baseman?

Garvey has spent much of the past few years unsuccessfully trying to secure a spot in the baseball Hall of Fame, commentating on the sport and promoting the game in Ireland. But he has recently shown a renewed interest in politics, including through meetings with California political donors and leaders.

In mid-May, Garvey attended a California GOP donor appreciation event for supporters who contributed at least $45,500 at the Omni Rancho Las Palmas Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage.

His potential candidacy was openly discussed at the event, said a prominent Republican who attended the event, which was hosted by the state’s GOP legislative leaders and the leader of the state party. He attended the receptions, played golf, communicated with those present. He was very engaging.”

On Tuesday, Garvey headlined a fundraiser for Representative Michelle Steel at the Pacific Club in Newport Beach, signing baseballs.

Garvey will also headline the Orange County Republican Party’s Flag Day salute on June 14.

Jon Fleischman, a longtime conservative Republican activist and Dodger

S

fan, loved the idea of ​​San Francisco Giants

fans supporting the former first baseman.

You know, the Republicans in the Bay Area are desperate if they’re willing to vote for a former Golden Glove Dodger to serve in the US Senate, he chuckled.