Michael Reagan: Steve Garvey and the miracle in California

A miracle occurred last week in California’s U.S. Senate primary race.

In a deep blue state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans 2-1, Steve Garvey, the former L.A. Dodger star, ran against three Democrats and came in a close second to Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff.

Garvey, a conservative Republican, finished behind Schiff in California’s crazy “jungle primary,” where voters are allowed to vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliation.

That means, in the general election this fall, Garvey gets to face off against Schiff, the heavy favorite to replace the late Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate.

The important question — for California and our broken and troubled country — is if the Republican Party has the guts and brains to give Garvey the money and support he’ll need to pull off a second, much more important miracle in November.

Garvey, 74, is the best statewide Republican prospect to come along in decades. He has never held public office, but it looks like he knows how to win a tough fight.

In the primary, the odds were stacked heavily against him in every way. He only entered the race in October, took out no TV ads, staged no major events and raised only $2 million compared with the $30 million Schiff blew on his campaign.

Though he has confessed to voting for Donald Trump twice, Garvey focused his primary campaign on sensible, down-the-middle fastball things such as quality-of-life issues, education and public safety.

Garvey’s chances of beating Schiff and getting in the U.S. Senate are slim.

But, as he said in his victory speech Tuesday night, it’s the first game of a double-header, and there still are a lot of innings to play.

Garvey’s win was great, but it scares the hell out of me to think what the people in charge of the Republican Party in Washington and California will do about it.

I’m afraid they’ll do what they normally do in California in an election year — immediately give up and ignore the state except when they come out here looking for donor money.

The GOP has people who work in the California Republican Party, the national committee and in the Senate who are supposed to help Republican candidates win Senate seats. That mainly means raising lots of money for people such as Garvey.

But the party won’t get behind candidates in California because they assume from the get-go it’s a lost cause. Of course, when you assume something’s already a lost cause, it usually becomes one.

It’s imperative for the country that the GOP regains control of the Senate in 2025. That means Republicans have to fight extra hard to win Senate elections Nov. 5, 2024.

In California, Republicans have a potential winner in Garvey. He and Schiff have wide name recognition in the state and across the U.S.

But Garvey made his fame the honest way — as an all-star first baseman.

Schiff is a bum with a bad political record in California. For 23 years, he’s done nothing in Congress, and he has been a star player for the party that has turned parts of the state into a third world country.

A good slogan that might work for Garvey against Schiff in the general election is “Make California Great Again.”

After finishing second in the California primary, Garvey said he felt like he did when he hit his famous walk-off home run for the San Diego Padres against the Cubs in the 1984 National League Championship Series.

If the Republican Party does the right thing and supports his Senate campaign, he might shock the country with another walk-off homer in November.

Michael Reagan, the son of President Ronald Reagan, is an author, speaker and president of the Reagan Legacy Foundation.