Being a Trump foe is still gold for Democratic candidates

It’s been a political truism for years: There is perhaps no greater currency in the Democratic Party than being a high-profile enemy of former President Donald Trump.

House Republicans proved that again by targeting Rep. Adam Schiff for censure.

The effort failed, though even if it succeeded the move still would have burnished the Burbank Democrat’s credentials as a leading Trump antagonist — which can only boost his chances to succeed U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in next year’s election.

The censure bid almost certainly will benefit Schiff ’s campaign bank account. Schiff ’s fundraising surged during the Trump years when he investigated the president as head of the House Intelligence Committee and served as an impeachment manager during Trump’s first impeachment.

Over the past month, more than a dozen “Schiff for Senate” fundraising pitches mentioned the censure push, according to Politico, which noted one email was sent 10 minutes before the vote on Wednesday, saying that “with this GOP majority, this vote could actually pass.”

The censure resolution by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-fla., criticized Schiff for his comments and investigation of Russia and Trump’s 2016 campaign. The censure called for fining Schiff $16 million, which Luna said was half the cost of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Russia connection.

Mueller’s investigation did not establish coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia, though the probe chronicled contacts between Russians and campaign officials.

A subsequent investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee, then controlled by Republicans, determined Trump family members and campaign advisers worked with people

tied to the Kremlin — including an intelligence officer — to defeat Hillary Clinton in 2016.

The move to censure Schiff was defeated rather easily on a 225-196 vote, with 20 Republicans joining Democrats to vote against it. Reps. Darrell Issa of Bonsall and George Santos of New York were the only two Republicans to vote “present,” along with five Democrats.

Luna said she will reintroduce her resolution but plans to remove the $16 million fine. Under the failed measure, the fine would have been assessed if the House Ethics Committee determined Schiff had “lied, made

misrepresentations and abused sensitive information.”

Republicans who otherwise said they would favor censure balked at voting for it because of the fine, with some contending it was unconstitutional.

Schiff seemed to relish the moment.

“Today’s partisan and failed attempt to censure me is a badge of honor that I will wear proudly,” Schiff tweeted after the vote. “MAGA Republicans are going after me because I dared to hold Donald Trump accountable. These efforts to intimidate me will not succeed. I will always defend our democracy.”

It remains to be seen how long this reverberates in the hotly contested Senate race. There’s a small handful of major contenders, and the field appears to be growing.

Schiff already was leading in fundraising. Campaign finance reports for the first quarter ending in March showed Schiff with

$24.7 million cash on hand, and Rep. Katie Porter, Dirvine, with $9.5 million. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-oakland, had $1.1 million in the bank.

Schiff not only outraised Porter, but he had a relatively easy re-election last year and was able to carry over a substantial sum to the Senate campaign. Porter is also a prolific fundraiser but had to spend heavily in a difficult re-election bid.

Meanwhile, former Google executive Lexi Reese, a Democrat, recently filed paperwork to run, has assembled a team of political veterans and apparently has the financial resources to compete.

Of the leading Democrats in the race, Schiff is far more disliked by Republicans, according to a poll conducted in late May by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies. The candidates’ favorable and unfavorable ratings among Democrats are fairly close. But among Republicans, 72 percent of those surveyed

rated Schiff unfavorably, compared with 41 percent for Porter and 39 percent for Lee.

In overall support, the lone Republican listed in the survey, attorney Eric Early, was at the top with 18 percent. That’s not a surprise, given the split among Porter (17 percent), Schiff (14 percent) and Lee (9 percent). Nearly a third of voters were undecided.

Despite these results, Early — or any Republican for that matter — is given virtually no chance of winning the election in heavily Democratic California. The seat is open because Feinstein, who will be 90 next week and is dealing with health problems, announced she will not run for re-election.

As always, Trump presents a dilemma for Democrats. Opposition to Trump may be the greatest energizer and unifier for Democrats, perhaps outside of abortion rights.

Democrats generally

loathe him and don’t want him to be president, but at the same time he has benefited them politically. He was largely the reason Democrats won the House in 2018 and Senate in 2020, when his re-election bid was thwarted by Joe Biden.

He raises the profile of individual Democrats by attacking them, which in no small way encourages some Democrats to go out of their way to poke him.

But it works both ways. The more Trump is attacked, investigated or indicted, the more his support strengthens and his campaign account grows. On Wednesday, Trump’s campaign said it had raised $7 million in the six days after his indictment on federal charges of mishandling classified documents.

That all bolsters his standing right now as, far and away, the leading Republican presidential candidate. Many Republicans fear, and Democrats hope, he would doom the GOP’S

chances if he is the party’s nominee next year. Experts say he could run even as a convicted felon.

Whatever his status, few are ruling out the possibility that Trump could return to the White House.

Regardless, he almost certainly will be on California’s March primary ballot with the Senate candidates and will be an unavoidable focus of the election.

There’s a symbiotic relationship going on here that carries some risk for Democrats.

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