Star rises in impeachment drama
Schiff’s work draws Trump’s ire and colleagues’ praise
WASHINGTON — The effort to impeach President Donald Trump still has months to run, but already has produced at least one clear winner: Rep. Adam Schiff has emerged from two weeks of public hearings as a rising star among Democrats, one with enhanced power to aid his House colleagues even as he bedevils the president.
With no special counsel involved in investigating Trump’s actions toward Ukraine, Schiff, a federal prosecutor before he won his Burbank, Calif.-based congressional seat, has taken the role of lead inquisitor and public face of the probe. He’s the Kenneth Starr of the Trump impeachment — or to use the comparison he would prefer, the Leon Jaworski, special prosecutor during Watergate.
Republicans from Trump on down accuse him of unfairness and bias. Schiff ’s fellow Democrats, however, have heaped praise on the way he kept Republicans at bay and maintained control during the impeachment hearings while generating enough news to keep the inquiry — and his name — in headlines for weeks on end.
“Most members of Congress from Los Angeles have a very low profile,” said Democratic strategist Rose Kapolczynski, noting the dozens of lawmakers who compete for attention in Southern California. “That all changed in the Trump era for Adam Schiff.”
Even before the hearings got underway, Schiff had emerged as one of the Democrats’ leading figures. He’s the top House Democratic fundraiser this year — bringing in $4.4 million through the third quarter, according to federal filings.
Schiff’s haul bested even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and powerhouse freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
Schiff hasn’t had a serious election challenge since his first race in 2000, giving him latitude to spread that money widely. So far, he’s given to 44 vulnerable freshmen. Pelosi also tasked him with leading the fundraising for the “frontliners,” the freshman members who face the most electoral risk next year.
Schiff has helped those members even more with his management of the probe into whether Trump tried to strong-arm Ukrainian officials into helping him battle his domestic political rivals.
When the inquiry began, many Democrats feared — and a lot of Republicans hoped — it would follow the path of the Republican effort in 1998 to remove President Bill Clinton based on Starr’s charge that he lied about sexual contact with a White House intern. A majority of the public rejected that effort, and it became increasingly unpopular as it wore on, harming the GOP.
That hasn’t happened this time. Polls show the impeachment inquiry has changed few minds — the country remains closely divided on whether to remove Trump from office.
But Democrats have emerged more unified and have suffered no backlash, vindicating the decision by Pelosi, with whom Schiff is close, to give him and the Intelligence Committee the lead role.
Pelosi and Schiff share a similarly cautious approach that has sometimes frustrated colleagues on the party’s left but has won praise from Democrats in more conservative districts whose jobs would be on the line if the inquiry were viewed as overly partisan.
Schiff has long aspired to higher office, but has been stymied by the difficulty of using a position in the House as a springboard in a state as big as California. In 2015, when he eyed running for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Barbara Boxer, a USC-Dornsife Los Angeles Times poll found only 19% of California voters recognized his name.
By contrast YouGov polling this year found him with 63% name recognition nationwide, putting him on par with former Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.
Now a Senate vacancy might not be his only route.
His role in the hearings has built a case among House colleagues that he could one day succeed Pelosi as speaker.
“Certainly if he wanted to throw his hat into the ring, I think he’d have a great deal of support,” said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif. “He’s obviously become a mega fundraiser and is known around the country.”
Several other Democrats have made overtures for the job, not expected to open up until after the 2020 election. House Democrats, keen on diversity, might balk at electing a white male — and another Californian — as Pelosi’s successor. But the impeachment process has improved his prospects.
“I have personally seen and heard nothing but praise for him from the Democratic establishment,” said Margaret Taylor, a Brookings Institution scholar who previously worked for Senate Democrats.
Schiff, himself, is tightlipped about any such speculation. In an interview shortly after last week’s hearings ended, he said he hasn’t thought beyond the investigation.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I’ve literally been saying to myself every day: ‘I just need to get through the day.’ ”
Democratic praise for Schiff is matched by his dramatically lowered stock among Republicans, who once considered him relatively bipartisan.
Trump and Republicans such as Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York have used their opposition to Schiff as a rallying cry for their own fundraising.
Still, Schiff has embraced the enmity from Trump, who dubbed him “Little Pencil-Neck Adam Schiff.”
His campaign website has taken to selling pencils as a fundraising gimmick.
The inscription offers a promise: “This pencil neck won’t break.”