Steve Garvey, a 75-year-old former baseball star, will seek to surprise California Republicans.
The former Dodger athlete has advanced in the Super Tuesday primary to the November 5 special election.
It will then be that the seat of the legendary Dianne Feinstein, who died last September and who had been in office since 1992, will be chosen. Congressman Adam Schiff, who became a central figure in the first impeachment process against Donald Trump, will be the rival to beat in the contest.
Schiff surpassed one million votes this Tuesday night (34%) while Garvey registered 933,000 (30%) with 39% of the vote counted.
They were very close primaries on the Democratic side.
Schiff was facing two fellow congresswomen, progressives Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, who won 17% and 9%, respectively.
In California, all candidates compete within the same process and the two most voted candidates of the night advance, regardless of whether they are from the same party.
This style of election leads Democrats to try new strategies to reduce a campaign where they expose themselves to friendly fire.
For this reason, Schiff's campaign invested about $10 million in advertising against Steve Garvey in recent weeks.
In his ads, the congressman linked the Los Angeles Dodgers star to Donald Trump and right-wing policies.
Thus rose the public profile of Garvey, who entered the race in October, the last of all.
With the publicity, he also hinted that Garvey was the rival to beat in the liberal stronghold.
Congresswoman Porter, who became popular for her didactic interventions in the House of Representatives, accuses her benchmate of having adopted that strategy to avoid competing with her in November.
Laphonza Butler, a union activist, was appointed last fall by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the vacancy left by Feinstein.
Butler announced that she would not run in the election, leaving Schiff, Porter and Lee clear in the close race.
Polls indicate it will be an easy campaign for Schiff, a former prosecutor who has been representing the city of Burbank, north of Los Angeles, for years.
Polls indicate that he has 53% compared to Garvey's 38%.
California has 22 million registered voters.
43% are registered as Democrats compared to 24% as Republicans.
Californians have not elected a local conservative party federal office since 2006.
Garvey celebrated the results at an event in the city of Palm Desert, east of Los Angeles.
“This was the first of a double game,” the new politician told the press.
“The second game could be tremendous... I'm sure it will be very exciting for all of you.
Now there will be competition,” added the candidate.
Biden and Trump win comfortably
California, the biggest prize of the night, has been awarded quickly and without surprises.
It took less than 15 minutes after the closing of the schools for the television stations and the AP agency to declare Joe Biden and Donald Trump winners in the primaries.
After the State, only Alaska's results remain for the close of the day.
California is sending 424 Democratic delegates to the party's convention, which will be held in Chicago in August.
The State does not divide the delegates among the candidates.
The winner-takes-all principle prevails.
Biden is 679 away from reaching the magic number of 1,968 to secure the nomination.
On the Republican side, Trump is approaching his third presidential nomination thanks to the 169 delegates at stake.
Projections indicate that the former president can secure the candidacy of his party on March 12, when the States of Georgia, Washington and Mississippi hold their primaries.
Follow all the information on the elections in the United States in
our weekly newsletter
.