The three Democrats trying to replace outgoing Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) all tried to make their case to California's liberal base on Sunday night.
Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), and Katie Porter (D-CA) each made their case for the most labor-progressive candidate, highlighting the importance of union support in the 2024 race during an event inside the Sheraton Grand Ballroom in Sacramento.
CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS PESTER NEWSOM WITH REQUESTS TO REPLACE MISSING SENATOR
The three contenders took questions from California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Lorena Gonzalez. Gonzalez moderated the forum for an audience representing the federation's 1,200 members, who are part of around 2 million workers in the public and private sectors.
“We have three candidates who have stellar records for organized labor,” Gonzalez said. “It’s an embarrassment of riches, quite frankly.”
Porter, a progressive Democrat elected to Congress in 2018 and who won her reelection bid for a newly redrawn Orange County district in November, has long supported labor unions and openly speaks out against corporate abuse.
“One thing Washington is full of is buzzwords,” Porter said when the conversation transitioned to how green energy affects workers. “So I want to push back a little bit on this idea of a just transition and have some plain talk about what that means. It’s not enough to talk about a just transition. You have to make sure you build it into each and every one of our tax dollars that we spend,” Porter said.
Schiff currently represents California's 30th Congressional District, serving his 12th term in the House of Representatives. Schiff has received support from various unions and protested with members of the Los Angeles Unified School District union in March.
“You’ve got thousands and thousands of parents who suddenly have to figure out what to do with their kid and they’re asking why are you supporting the strike,” Schiff said. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”
Lee was first elected to Congress in 1998 in a special election and now serves California’s 12th District, centered in Oakland. The congresswoman has stood in picket lines many times, from joining union members of San Jose and other Bay Area locations in a fight for a $15 national minimum wage in 2017 to supporting the Oakland teachers' strike last Thursday, speaking to the crowd directly.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Lee recollected a time in the 1970s when she stood with dockworkers from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in protest of the racially segregated government, apartheid.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has faced pressure to select a replacement for Feinstein amid her recent health concerns, promising two years ago to select a black woman to replace the senator if she resigned. However, Newsom has not made any comments regarding the names of potential replacements.