Republican Steve Garvey brings US Senate campaign to Bay Area: Here's where he stands in new poll

PLEASANTON, Calif. (KGO) -- A new poll shows the race for the senate seat once held by Dianne Feinstein is tightening.

Republican candidate and former baseball star Steve Garvey is now in second place.

In the California primary race, the two candidates with the most votes go on to the November election regardless of their party.

The poll released Thursday by Emerson College shows where the four front runners stand.

Twenty-five percent of respondents said they would vote for Adam Schiff, putting him in the lead.

In second place is Garvey with 18%.

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Democratic candidates Katie Porter and Barbara Lee came in 3rd and 4th place with 13 and 8%, respectively.

Garvey met with members of the Bay Area Jewish community Thursday at the Chabad of the Tri-Valley to talk about the impacts of the Israel-Hamas War.

He reacted to that poll following the round table discussion.

"We had a good poll come out today," Garvey said Thursday, "Not bad for a guy three-and-a-half months into this journey."

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ABC7 News insider Phil Matier says voter uneasiness could be a factor into why Garvey is polling so high. It could also be the topics Garvey has brought up at his campaign stops.

"There's a lot of things (from) Democrats we're not hearing a lot about, things like Gaza, we're not hearing a lot about the border and other sort of hot button issues between those three Democrats," Matier said, "You throw a Republican into the debate, that could change."

Garvey brought up many of those topics following the Pleasanton stop, saying the Senate seat is ready for Republican to fill it.

"We basically have one voice in California," Garvey said, "It's time that there's another voice."

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Leaders at the Chabad of the Tri-Valley were fast to point out that they're not endorsing anyone but say a willingness from candidates of either side to listen goes a long way.

"This is actually the first candidate who's reached out to us," Rabbi Raleigh Resnick said, "If any other candidate would like to reach out to us, we are here and we welcome their commitment."

Despite the high polling numbers, Garvey's work to make the final two in the general election is far from over.

"When people look at Garvey's numbers and say, 'This is a surge', well, you have to also remember that about 27% of the voters in California are registered Republicans," Matier said, "So he should be getting up to 25%, so he needs to do some work. If he gets up to 20 to 25%, there's a good chance that he is going to be in the runoff."

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