Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-CA) appears to be reconsidering his anti-Trump brand after voters handed the president-elect a sweeping victory last month.
As a Democratic California representative during President-elect Donald Trump’s first term in office, Schiff quickly emerged as one of the Republican leader’s most ardent foes, even leading an impeachment inquiry against him in the House.
Schiff went on this year to become a fervent supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris’s effort to keep Trump from gaining a second term in the White House.
“Kamala Harris is running a terrific campaign. And Donald Trump seems increasingly detached from reality,” Schiff said in a late October Facebook post.
But, with voters, including a record number of Californians, ultimately backing Trump because of his message on issues such as inflation, political strategists say Schiff is adapting to a new reality.
The California Democrat is certainly no Trump fan these days, but he’s increasing his focus on working-class voters, many of whom appeared to feel abandoned by the Democratic Party and streamed to the president-elect’s side on Nov. 5.
“The issue of the last election — which we [Democrats] didn’t satisfactorily answer, which we’re going to need to answer as a country — is if you’re working hard in America, can you still earn a good living?” Schiff told the Los Angeles Times. “For too many people, that’s not the case.”
Kevin Spillane, a veteran GOP strategist in California, told the outlet that Schiff’s “change in tone is simply acknowledging political reality.”
“He’s a smart and pragmatic politician,” Spillane said.
Trump improved his 2020 performance by 6 percentage points this election cycle to win voters making under $50,000, per CNN exit polls. President Joe Biden won the demographic by 9 points four years ago. Harris lost it by 2 points this month.
Trump made even larger gains among people making less than $100,000 a year. Biden won the voting block by 56% to 43% in 2020. Trump beat out Harris this year to win voters by a 4-point margin.
Republicans said that Trump had “completely re-made the Republican Party to be the party of the working class.”
Many Democratic affiliates, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), echoed the sentiment.
“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party, which has abandoned working-class people, would find that the working class has abandoned them,” the senator said following the election. “While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”
Affordability, inflation, housing, and other economic issues were top of mind for many working-class voters when they chose Trump at the polls.
In California, Trump gained 4 percentage points over his 2020 performance. In union households across the Golden State, he grew support by 9 percentage points, per NBC exit polls.
“When people see the quality of their life start to slip below that of their parents, they’re receptive to any demagogue who comes along promising they alone can fix it,” Schiff reflected. “And so we need to figure this out — how to make the economy work for people.”
Schiff is far from the only California Democrat reworking how they approach voters in the wake of Trump’s victory.
The state’s Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas acknowledged Monday that California residents are “deeply anxious” about the affordability crisis in the state.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has signaled a renewed focus on litigating the incoming Trump administration to keep Republican policies from touching the Golden State, Rivas sounded focused on an alternative vision.
“Our task this session is clear,” he told lawmakers. “We must chart a new path forward and renew the California Dream by focusing on affordability.”
His words come as California is ranked as the least affordable state in the country and the worst in terms of opportunity.
Even Newsom is seemingly trying to rebrand his “Trump-proof” agenda in recent days in favor of saying he wants to set up California “for success, regardless of who is in the White House.”
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In a statement over the weekend, Newsom continued to say he would push back against Trump “when there is overreach” but also promised to “work with the incoming administration.”
Noting “California is a tent pole of the country — from the economy to innovation,” Newsom said. “We want President Trump to succeed in serving all Americans.”
