3 strong candidates want to be California’s next U.S. senator. Here’s our endorsement | Opinion

California voters cannot go wrong in choosing any of the top three Democratic candidates hoping to replace the late U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Rep. Barbara Lee, 77, of Oakland, Rep. Katie Porter, 50, of Orange County and Rep. Adam Schiff, 63, of the San Gabriel Valley all have years of political experience, first in the California Legislature and then in the House of Representatives.

They’ve shown themselves to be smart, forward-thinking and politically courageous, and their decisions have generally reflected the views of a significant majority of Californians.

The same cannot be said of the front-running Republican candidate, former Los Angeles Dodgers star Steve Garvey. He retired from baseball in 1987 and is now launching a second career in politics.

Garvey, 75, has at least three strikes against him: He has no political experience, he has yet to articulate solid positions on major issues and, as far as electability goes, he is a Republican running in a deep blue state. Garvey also declined to meet with us and we don’t endorse candidates who won’t meet with us. Garvey could, however, pull enough votes to advance to the general election. That makes the March 5 primary even more crucial for the three top Democrats.

Our endorsement

This was an extremely close call; all three Democratic candidates have distinguished themselves as leaders not just in California, but also on the national stage.

Schiff became a standard-bearer for the Democratic Party during the first impeachment case against former President Donald Trump, who was accused of withholding aid to Ukraine unless the country’s newly elected president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, opened an investigation of Joe Biden. Schiff led the impeachment investigation in the House and served as lead prosecutor during the Senate trial — and was later censured by House Republicans for his role.

He’s committed to protecting democracy, and is equally impressive in his dedication to fighting climate change, which he calls the “biggest existential challenge of them all.”

Porter has a well-deserved reputation for looking out for consumers. Armed with her “whiteboard of justice,” she’s grilled Big Pharma over inflated drug prices; bank executives over the miserably low salaries paid to tellers; and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg over privacy. She even played a game of “Jeopardy” — renamed “JeoparDOD” — with Department of Defense officials to highlight waste during a congressional hearing.

A single mother of school-aged children, Porter has experienced the challenges facing single moms, with a lack of affordable childcare topping the list. And as the youngest of the candidates — she just turned 50 on Jan. 3 — Porter would also bring the perspective of younger generations to the Senate.

Ultimately, though, Barbara Lee stood out from the rest. Her independence, her perseverance in fighting for the underdog and her life experiences set her apart.

‘I’m compelled to speak out’

As an African-American woman, Lee has battled racism and discrimination. She’s lived through an abusive marriage, homelessness, and, as a single mother, she raised two children while attending college. She eventually earned a master’s degree in social work from UC Berkeley.

Those experiences have informed her politics, leading her to advocate for marginalized people who are not always a priority in the halls of Congress.

Consider her long history of protecting reproductive rights.

As a teenager, Lee had what she has described as a “back-alley” abortion in Mexico. The experience left a lasting impression; at a 2021 congressional committee hearing, Lee was among three congresswomen who spoke about their abortions.

“I’m sharing my story even though I truly believe it is personal and really nobody’s business — and certainly not the business of politicians. But I’m compelled to speak out because of the real risks of the clock being turned back to those days before Roe v. Wade,” she said then.

In the California Senate, she authored the state’s first Violence Against Women Act, SB 350, that allocated $11 million to crack down on crimes against women and to aid survivors.

She’s sponsored legislation in the House to improve access to mental health services for Medicare recipients; to increase COVID funding in medically under-served areas; and to provide tax credits for caregivers.

She’s strong on access to housing — she served on a housing subcommittee for 11 years — and she advocates for gun control measures. She’s also working on legislation to develop a Racial Healing and Transformation Commission to address the lasting harm that slavery and discrimination inflicted on Black Americans.

Lee is an idealist and a truth-teller; she’s often compared to Sen. Bernie Sanders — minus the curmudgeonliness. On a crucial topic to California — water — she was the only one of the three candidates who could answer a straightforward question: Does she support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to adapt the State Water Project in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta? (A project that would install new intakes in the northern Delta and a single tunnel to transport the supply to the California Aqueduct.) She said yes, an answer that may dismay some, but a better answer than none, which is basically what Schiff and Porter demurred to.

She’s also well-versed in the nuts and bolts of running a government; she serves on the House Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee.

The vote that brought Lee notoriety

Lee is probably best known for casting the lone vote against authorizing the use of force following the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers — a decision that, in retrospect, many believe to have been the right choice. (According to a 2022 Gallup poll, 50% of Americans believe it was a mistake to send troops to Afghanistan.)

It’s worth revisiting what Lee said when she cast that controversial vote: “Our country is in a state of mourning. Some of us must say let’s step back for a moment. Let’s just pause just for a minute and think through the implications of our actions today.”

Lee, the daughter of an Army lieutenant colonel, was not ruling out the use of force. She was advocating against rushing into military action without first examining the consequences.

She’s taken a similar stance on the war in Gaza. Rep. Lee was among the first members of Congress to call for a ceasefire — a position that many others, including Porter, have come around to as well. (Schiff does not support a permanent ceasefire.)

Following her 2001 vote against use of force, Lee received death threats, she was called a traitor, she received reams of hate mail — some of it racist — and an editorial in the Wall Street Journal predicted that “her latest departure from sanity” may be “too much” even in Berkeley.

Yet Barbara Lee persevered. She cruised to reelection 11 more times.

Her effort to win a Senate seat will not be so easy.

She trails far behind Schiff and Porter in fundraising, and has consistently come in third or fourth in opinion polls — though delegates to the California Democratic Convention ranked her first, one point ahead of Schiff.

Then there is the issue of age. At 77, she is the oldest candidate in a race where voters have been hypersensitive to the issue of age, in part due to Feinstein’s failing health — and her refusal to step down — toward the end of her time in office.

Yet Lee is at the top of her game.

After a career spent blazing trails for Black women, starting back in high school, when she fought to to be the first Black cheerleader on an all-white squad, she deserves a term in the Senate to solidify the gains she’s worked on throughout her service.

Lee has been described as the most progressive of the three candidates, which implies that she’s out of step even for liberal California.

That overlooks the fact that the three top Democratic candidates agree on most major issues; they’ve voted in sync 94% of the time, according to a San Francisco Chronicle analysis.

Barbara Lee is focused on issues affecting working people, poor people, homeless people, disenfranchised people. If that’s what it means to be a progressive, so be it.

Lee is the person we need in the U.S. Senate to counter far-right efforts to strip Americans of their rights.

McClatchy California opinion boards strongly endorse Rep. Barbara Lee for the U.S. Senate.

This story was originally published January 17, 2024 at 5:00 AM.