- Adam Schiff (D-CA) was elected California’s junior senator in 2024, winning the open seat created by Dianne Feinstein’s death. He brings over two decades of congressional national security experience to the Senate.
- As House Intelligence Committee Chairman from 2019 to 2023, Schiff led investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the Ukraine quid pro quo that triggered Trump’s first impeachment, and multiple other national security matters.
- He served as lead manager of Trump’s first Senate impeachment trial in 2020, delivering widely covered closing arguments that became one of the defining political moments of the Trump era and cemented his status as a leading Democratic communicator.
- Schiff now serves in the Senate Intelligence Committee and is building his Senate record on issues including healthcare, national security, tech regulation, and California-specific priorities. His next election is not until 2030.
Biography & Congressional Career
Adam Schiff was born on June 22, 1960, in Framingham, Massachusetts, and grew up partly in Arizona and California. He attended Stanford University for his undergraduate education and Harvard Law School, earning his JD in 1985. He worked as a federal prosecutor in the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, where he prosecuted a high-profile FBI counterintelligence case involving a Soviet spy in the 1980s. That prosecutorial background shaped his approach to national security oversight and intelligence committee work throughout his congressional career.
He served in the California State Senate before running successfully for the US House in 2000, defeating incumbent Republican Jim Rogan in a closely watched race. He represented the Burbank/Pasadena area of the Los Angeles basin for 12 terms. His assignment to the House Intelligence Committee gave him a platform on national security issues that became enormously amplified during the Trump era when the committee’s oversight role took on extraordinary political significance.
As Intelligence Committee Ranking Member and then Chairman, Schiff led the Russia investigation oversight, conducted the Ukraine inquiry that produced Trump’s first impeachment, and chaired numerous oversight hearings that put him in direct public conflict with Republicans who viewed the committee’s activities as partisan overreach. His role as lead impeachment manager in Trump’s first Senate trial — where he presented the House’s case that Trump had withheld Ukraine aid to pressure an investigation of the Bidens — made him one of the most recognizable Democratic faces in the country and a major target of conservative media attention.
In 2024, Schiff won the California Senate primary and general election to claim the seat that Dianne Feinstein had held for three decades before her death in 2023. The Senate race was a significant contest that Schiff won over fellow Democrat Katie Porter in a competitive primary before the general election. He brings his intelligence and national security expertise to the Senate, where he joins a body with significant influence over the 2026 midterm environment.
Key Policy Positions
National Security & Intelligence
Schiff’s defining expertise is national security and intelligence oversight. He has been one of the most consistent voices warning about Russian interference in American democracy, Chinese technology threats, and the importance of maintaining strong intelligence capabilities and alliances. He has supported Ukraine aid and NATO commitments, and has been critical of what he characterizes as Trump administration policies that undermine traditional alliances. His prosecutorial background gives him a systematic approach to security threats that distinguishes him from colleagues who came to the issue through other paths.
Democracy & Rule of Law
Schiff has made democratic accountability a central theme of his career. His impeachment manager role positioned him as one of the leading Democratic voices arguing that executive power must be subject to congressional oversight and judicial accountability. He has been a consistent advocate for voting rights legislation, campaign finance reform, and strengthening democratic institutions against what he characterizes as authoritarian threats from within the Republican Party under Trump’s influence. His book and public commentary have developed a systematic argument about the nature and danger of the threat to American democratic norms that he sees in the current political environment.
California Priorities
As a senator from the most populous state with the world’s fifth-largest economy, Schiff now represents constituency interests that extend well beyond his national security profile. California’s tech industry, entertainment economy, agricultural sector, and massive public infrastructure needs will be central to his Senate work. He has focused on technology regulation including AI safety, social media platform accountability, and intellectual property protection that directly affect California’s dominant industries. He has also engaged on healthcare access, housing costs, and the Democratic Party’s broader economic message.
California Senate Race 2024
Schiff’s 2024 Senate campaign was one of the most expensive and closely watched state-level races in the country. Under California’s top-two primary system, where all candidates compete together and the top two finishers advance to the general regardless of party, Schiff faced a competitive Democratic primary against Representative Katie Porter and others. Schiff won the primary with significant support from donors who saw him as the most electable and nationally prominent Democrat in the field.
In the general election, Schiff defeated Republican Steve Garvey, a former MLB player, by a comfortable margin in California’s reliably Democratic presidential-year environment. California has not elected a Republican to a statewide office since 2006, and the Senate seat was never seriously in doubt at the general election stage. Schiff begins his Senate career with a six-year term that does not expire until 2030, giving him a full cycle to establish himself in the institution and build his Senate record before facing voters.
His transition from the House to the Senate represents a significant upgrade in individual power: each senator has far more individual leverage and committee influence than House members, and California’s scale means that Schiff’s constituent base is larger than many senators’ combined. The Democratic Party’s path back to a Senate majority runs through states like California holding their seats reliably while flipping competitive ones.
