Steve Garvey, All-Star for the Dodgers and Padres, explores Senate Run in California
Steve Garvey, a perennial baseball All-Star in the 1970s and 1980s for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres, said Friday that as a Republican he was considering a candidate for the United States Senate in California.
He would give the GOP a celebrity in the high-profile race to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 89, a Democrat, the senior member of the chamber and due to retire at the end of her term. She has recently struggled with health issues that have led some fellow Democrats to ask her to retire early.
In heavily Democratic California, the race has attracted lukewarm interest from Republicans. Only lesser-known candidates applied.
California hasn’t elected a Republican to the Senate since 1988, and a host of prominent Democrats are waiting in the wings, including Representatives Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.
Mr Garvey, 74, one of baseball’s most prolific players before steroids tainted the sport’s record books, said in an interview he expected to make a decision in the coming weeks. He noted how difficult it is to set up a campaign.
“You can imagine it’s like getting an expansion franchise,” he said, using a sports analogy. “It’s a daunting task in California.”
Mr. Garvey would be a gamble, but his participation in the race could disrupt the primaries. Under the state system, the first and second place winners advance to the general election regardless of party membership.
Democrats are so dominant in the state that they are widely expected to win both slots and generally compete against each other. Having a Republican candidate with some name recognition can make that more difficult.
By being in the public eye, Mr. Garvey has sometimes attracted unwanted attention. Although he developed a reputation for avoiding vices and flirting as a player, he admitted shortly after leaving the game that he had fathered children with two different women shortly before marrying a third.
When asked on Friday how he felt about the brilliance of his candidacy, Mr. Garvey that it wouldn’t discourage him.
“I’ve probably had pretty good spring training for the last 50 years,” he said.