U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) speaks at a press conference on committee assignments for the 118th U.S. Congress, on the U.S. Capitol Constructing on January 25, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
Rep. Adam Schiff, who led an impeachment effort against former President Donald Trump, is running for Senate in 2024 for the seat currently held by fellow California Democrat Dianne Feinstein.
“I’ll the U.S. Senate to fight for working people, not the wealthy or corporations who don’t need yet one more voice in Congress,” Schiff said in a press release Thursday unveiling his Senate bid.
Schiff’s announcement played up his role as a top antagonist of Trump’s, portraying the previous president’s political movement as a significant threat to the country.
“I wish I could say the specter of MAGA extremists is over. It isn’t. Today’s Republican Party is gutting the center class, threatening our democracy,” Schiff said in a video accompanying his announcement.
“They don’t seem to be going to stop. We’ve to stop them. That is why I’m running for the U.S. Senate. The struggle is not over. Not for me, not for them, not for our country,” he said.
The 62-year-old Schiff announced his candidacy despite Feinstein, the 89-year-old incumbent, not yet saying whether she’s going to run again.
Schiff isn’t the one Democratic colleague who isn’t waiting on her decision. Democratic Rep. Katie Porter announced Jan. 10 that she’s going to campaign for Feinstein’s seat. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has already endorsed Porter.
Schiff has represented his Burbank-area district in Congress since 2001 and served as chairman of the celebrated House Intelligence Committee from 2019 until Republicans won majority control of the chamber following the November midterms.
On Tuesday, newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., blocked Schiff and one other California Democrat, Rep. Eric Swalwell, from serving on the Intelligence committee within the 118th Congress.
Porter’s campaign didn’t immediately reply to CNBC’s request for comment on Schiff’s announcement. A spokesman for Feinstein’s office declined to comment.
Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., tapped Schiff to function lead impeachment manager for Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial in early 2020. Trump had been impeached within the House on articles of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, each of which stemmed from the then-president’s efforts to have Ukraine announce investigations into his political rivals.
“You possibly can’t trust this president to do the best thing, not for one minute. Not for one election. Not for the sake of our country. He is not going to change, and you recognize it,” Schiff said of Trump in his impassioned closing plea for impeachment.
The Senate acquitted Trump — a move it will repeat a yr later, after Trump was impeached a second time on charges of inciting the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
Schiff called his work within the trial “the most important job of my life” in his announcement video Thursday.
In what’s more likely to change into a crowded and expensive race for a Senate seat within the nation’s most populous state, Schiff vowed not to just accept “a cent” in donations from corporate political motion committees. On Jan. 19, Schiff and other Democrats introduced a constitutional amendment to reverse a Supreme Court precedent that enables for unlimited corporate spending in political campaigns.
