Baseball's Steve Garvey Advances to November

Republican Steve Garvey and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff emerged from a crowded field of contenders in California to advance to a November election to fill the Senate seat held for three decades by the late Dianne Feinstein, the AP reports. The former baseball MVP who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres will face off with the congressman who gained national attention as a leading antagonist to former President Donald Trump during Trump's years in the White House. It's a rare opportunity for the GOP to compete in a marquee statewide race in this Democratic stronghold,

California puts all candidates, regardless of party, on the same primary ballot and the two who get the most votes advance to the general election. Garvey finished ahead of two prominent progressives, Reps. Barbara Lee and Katie Porter. Democrats are expected to hold the Senate seat in November—a Republican hasn't won a Senate race in California since 1988. Still, the campaign nonetheless represents a new era in California politics, which was long dominated by Feinstein and a handful of other veteran politicians.

Garvey's candidacy, buoyed by name recognition among older voters in particular, threw an unexpected twist into the race. Garvey is hoping to follow a pathway cut by other famous athletes-turned-politicians that includes former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a one-time bodybuilder and actor who became the last Republican to hold the state's top job. (More Dianne Feinstein stories.)