Voters in California have elected some of the most influential female lawmakers in history, but the streak for women in the Golden State could soon end.
At least one woman has represented the state in the Senate for the past 30 years, a remarkable accomplishment in a place where men account for 97% of the members who have served there for more than 200 years.
So, what’s changed? Women, it seems.
Heavy hitters such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and former Sen. Barbara Boxer have thrown their political weight this year behind Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), icing out Reps. Katie Porter (D-CA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA) for the competitive Senate seat opened up by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein. More than half of the women in California’s congressional delegation are also backing Schiff, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday.
Schiff is leading the field by 4 percentage points, according to a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll in January. Another poll released this week from Emerson College showed Schiff widening the gap and being up by double digits among female voters.
Schiff’s many pushbacks against former President Donald Trump have helped him gain support among women, as has his abortion rights record.
“It’s not just about representation,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA) said. “People have watched him defend the institution and defend democracy against Donald Trump.”
Rose Kapolczynski, who ran Boxer’s successful 1992 Senate campaign, said she was organizing a fundraiser for an abortion rights super PAC and was surprised that organizers wanted to hear what Schiff had to say.
“The fact that Adam Schiff was the first choice of these progressive activists in West LA and he sold out the room and got standing ovations showed me that his fight against Trump was changing how people perceived him, particularly women,” Kapolczynski said.
Schiff is also sitting atop a massive $35 million war chest for his Senate campaign, more than twice as large as any other Senate candidate in the nation. During the final quarter of 2023, Schiff’s campaign announced it had raised $6.3 million. In fact, his cash pile is so large now that Schiff has invested it and put the interest into his political accounts. Taken together, it may mean that for the first time in three decades, California may not have a woman representing it in the Senate.
As for Porter, she is facing some backlash from women who feel betrayed after spending so much time and money on retaining her Orange County congressional seat. With her not on the ballot, the district could easily flip back to Republican hands in November. In 2018, Porter pulled off an improbable win in what was long considered a GOP stronghold, edging out Republican incumbent Mimi Walters to become the first Democrat to hold office there.
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Unlike Schiff, Porter and Lee have used gender in their campaign pitches, claiming it is essential to have a woman in one of California’s two Senate seats.
Lee has also been fundraising off her race, asking for money so she can “become just the third black woman elected to the Senate and build a progressive future for all of us.”
