Steve Garvey’s campaign says he’s ‘achieved fundraising parity’ with Adam Schiff. Is that true?

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Republican Steve Garvey’s Senate campaign boasts that it’s “achieved fundraising parity” with Democrat Adam Schiff.

“Garvey achieved fundraising parity with his career politician opponent, Adam Schiff, within five months of launching his campaign in October 2023,” the Garvey campaign says in press releases under the heading “About Steve Garvey.”

But Schiff has raised more than six times more than Garvey, and had three times as much cash on hand.

Garvey nearly achieved parity during the latest reporting period, raising $3.38 million between February 15 and March 31, the latest Federal Election Commission reporting cycle. Schiff raised $3.55 million.

But Schiff, a Los Angeles area congressman, who has been a House member since 2001, has raised a total of $35.1 million for his Senate campaign overall. Garvey, who has never run for public office and entered the Senate race in October, has raised a total of $5.5 million since his campaign began.

Garvey spokesman Matt Shupe told The Bee the campaign was “specifically referring to the last fundraising cycle,. We’re obviously not saying we’ve raised as much as he has (overall).”

Shupe said it was an important achievement to raise as much as Schiff in the latest reporting period, when voters and donors were more focused on the election. California held its primary on March 5.

In its press release, the Garvey campaign cites as its source for the parity claim an April CalMatters story published in the Desert Sun headlined “Garvey tries to catch up to Schiff in U.S. Senate money race.”

The article says accurately that each candidate “raised more than $3 million between Feb. 15 and March 31,” according to FEC reports.

But it also notes that Schiff had $4.8 million on hand, three times as much as Garvey.

Schiff’s campaign has also been able to tap other sourcees.

The Standing Strong Political Action Committee has spent more than $9 million in ads and other items to oppose Garvey. Schiff is not allowed to have contact with the SuperPAC. Strike Out Schiff, a SuperPAC opposing the Democrat, has reported no donations and no expenses so far.

Garvey, who has never previously sought public office, has been trailing Schiff in polls and is regarded as a longshot to win in heavily Democratic California. The May 23-June 2 survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California had Schiff up 25.

Who got more votes?

The Garvey press releases made another claim. They said the former baseball star has “earned more votes than any candidate in the United States other than President Joe Biden in any single election so far to date in the 2024 election cycle.”

Garvey received 2.45 million votes in the March 5 California primary election to fill the final two months of Sen. Laphonza Butler’s term. Butler, a Democrat, was appointed last year to fill the remaining term of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died in September 2022.

Schiff got 2.16 million votes in that contest. Former President Donald Trump received 1.96 million votes in the California primary, while Biden got 3.2 million.

But there were two primary elections in California on March 5. The other was to fill the full six year Senate term that begins in January.

Schiff received 2.3 million votes in that contest, edging Garvey by about 3,400 votes.

In both elections, Schiff had serious competition from fellow Democrats. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Orange County, received 1.1 million votes in the full term election and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, got 717,926.