Former Dodgers star and Republican Steve Garvey enters US Senate race
After nearly two decades of statewide Republican candidates being rejected by California's left-leaning electorate, former Dodger All-Star Steve Garvey hopes to drag the GOP back toward political relevance.
Garvey announced Tuesday that he is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Dianne Feinstein, a gambit by a political newcomer banking on his baseball fame and affable demeanor to overcome the long odds Republicans face in this solidly Democratic state. At the very least, Garvey offers GOP voters a dash of celebrity excitement and his candidacy may raise the stakes for the top-shelf Democratic candidates.
Though he hasn't stepped on a baseball field as a player for more than three decades, Garvey may possess enough star appeal to consolidate California's GOP vote and lure enough admiring baseball fans to wind up on the November ballot. If so, only one of the three formidable Democrats currently in the running may survive past the March primary and emerge as the heavy favorite in the face-off against Garvey.
Garvey, 74, for months about a potential bid because of growing concerns about dysfunction in the nation's capital, and he said he decided to make it official after "a Giants fan came up to me and said, 'Garvey, I hate the Dodgers, but I'll vote for you.'"
