Garvey and Schiff go after each other in U.S. Senate face-off

California’s three U.S. Senate debates before the March primary were mostly staid affairs. Not Tuesday’s often spicy face-off between Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank and Republican Steve Garvey — their first and only one-on-one debate scheduled before the Nov. 5 election.

As CalMatters politics reporter Yue Stella Yu explains, they clashed over abortion, guns, immigration and other issues. And they didn’t shy from some name-calling, either. 

Schiff on Garvey: “Californians aren’t looking for some MAGA Mini-Me in a baseball uniform.” 

Schiff said that former President Donald Trump would be a dictator if he’s reelected, and that because Garvey has voted for Trump, he would never take his “oath of office seriously as I do.” Schiff also criticized Garvey for supporting the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of federal abortion protections.

In return, Garvey bashed Schiff for not getting more done in two decades in Congress (besides leading the first impeachment of Trump), blamed him for “Schifflation” and predicted that if Schiff is elected, it will be the most “toxic” Senate ever.

Garvey on Schiff: “In 24 years you’ve only been known for one thing — and that’s been impeaching somebody else. That’s unconscionable.” 

Though Schiff is polling way ahead of Garvey and no Republican has won statewide in California since 2006, the former Los Angeles Dodgers star is making a concerted effort to woo Latino voters and outraised Schiff between April and June (while being in hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt).

Read more on the debate in Stella’s story.

In other campaign news:

Gavin Newsom hosted Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, for a fundraiser Tuesday at the governor’s home in Sacramento. The state Republican Party sought to tie the event to Newsom’s special session on gas prices as another “cash grab.” 

Trump is bringing his presidential campaign back to California this weekend — a rally Saturday night in Coachella. The last time he was here, in September, Trump railed against the state and Vice President Kamala Harris — and made some questionable claims.

As a Jan. 19 deadline for a potential nationwide ban looms, the popular social media platform TikTok is facing another legal battle: California is joining 12 states and the District of Columbia in suing the company, accusing it of harming young children and deceiving the public about its dangers.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in a statement: “TikTok must be held accountable for the harms it created in taking away the time — and childhoods — of American children.” 

The lawsuits, announced Tuesday, allege that TikTok uses a number of manipulative tactics to keep young users addicted to its content, including autoplaying videos, infinite scroll and fake notifications that trick users into opening its app. TikTok’s data harvesting and beauty filter — which promote “unrealistic beauty standards” that can lead to body image issues, according to Bonta — were also called out.

The states’ complaints will not be consolidated into a single case, since each relies on the different consumer protection laws of each state, reports NPR. One of TikTok’s global headquarters is in Los Angeles and according to California’s lawsuit, “16 million people and 890,000 businesses in California actively use TikTok” as of March 2024. Bonta alleges TikTok violated California’s laws regulating unfair competition and false advertisement. 

A TikTok spokesperson said the claims are “inaccurate and misleading,” and that the app has safety features for underage users, including screentime limits.

In September Gov. Newsom signed two laws to curb social media use among youths: One authorizes schools to ban the use of social media and the other prohibits social media sites from sending notifications during school hours and late at night.

When major companies move their headquarters or employees out of California, news headlines and some politicians often label such moves as further evidence of a “mass business exodus.” But as CalMatters economy reporter Levi Sumagaysay explains, corporate exits aren’t exactly a “snub” to California.

It’s true that the state budget relies on taxing California corporations and the income of their employees. Corporate departures, or threats to leave, can also shake the confidence of consumers and businesses. And they can influence state policy: Recently, opponents argued against bills that would have regulated artificial technology and enacted a wealth tax, saying they would drive businesses out of California.

But some companies that moved their headquarters out of state also kept most workers in California, or even added more. The tech company Oracle, for example, announced in 2020 that it would relocate its headquarters from Redwood City to Austin, Texas. But as of this past spring, Oracle tripled its number of California office workers.

Moving a headquarters also does not necessarily mean a company stops paying California’s corporate income taxes, since it must still pay on revenue from in-state sales.

Learn more about what corporate exits mean for California in Levi’s story.

A state audit found that only 1 in 5 community college students transfer to a four-year university. CalMatters community college reporter Adam Echelman and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on Adam’s story on the barriers students face as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.