California Senate candidates Schiff, Porter, Lee and Garvey clash in heated debate

LOS ANGELES -- Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, Barbara Lee and former Dodgers star Steve Garvey clashed in a heated debate Monday as they vie to fill the seat once held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The debate held at the University of Southern California touched on a wide range of topics, including abortion, green energy and violence in the Middle East.

The Israel-Hamas war brought the most disagreement between the candidates.

Lee urged for a permanent cease-fire in the conflict.

"The only way Israel is going to be secure is through a permanent cease-fire," Lee said. "The only way that is going to happen is with a political and diplomatic solution."

Porter said cease-fire is not a "magic word - you can't say it and make it so."

"But we have to push, as the United States, as a world leader for us to get to a cease-fire and to avoid another forever war," Porter said.

Schiff defended his position of not calling for a cease-fire. He said Israel has a right to defend itself and that Hamas can't be left to govern Gaza.

"I don't know how you can ask any nation to cease-fire when their people are being held by a terrorist organization," Schiff said.

Garvey said he wants to give Israel "the opportunity to fulfill their sovereignty, to fight back."

Garvey, the lone Republican in the debate, repeatedly came under fire for his previous support of former President Donald Trump. He refused to say if he will vote for Trump again if he is the Republican presidential nominee.

The growing issue of homelessness was another topic of division in terms of solving the problem.

"This is predominantly a problem of not enough housing. It's a supply problem, and we need to build hundreds of thousands of units of new housing," Schiff said. "We can do that if we incentivize through tax credits, the building of affordable housing."

California voters will determine the top two candidates in the March 5 primary. Regardless of party, those two will face off in the November election.