Adam Schiff’s Senate Campaign Takes Another Hit

Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff of California has formally filed his application to take over Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s vacant Senate seat.

Schiff officially entered the race on Monday night, announcing it on X, formerly Twitter, after earlier this year the House censured him for his claims that Trump and Russia conspired to win the 2016 election.

“It’s official – I just filed my paperwork and will be on the ballot to be California’s next United States Senator,” Schiff wrote. “92 days until the March 5th primary – see you on the campaign trail!”

Among his opponents in this crowded race are Republican attorney Eric Early as well as fellow House Democrats Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.

The financial support of Schiff’s base has increased thanks to his censure. The Democrat from California received more than $8 million in campaign contributions following his formal criticism by the lower chamber of Congress.

But there is another issue with Schiff: despite his desire to represent Californians in the Senate, he allegedly claimed Maryland as his primary residence for many years.

Schiff is under fire over claims that he has been claiming two primary residences in Maryland and California for more than ten years while taking advantage of homeowner tax breaks.

The controversies surrounding Schiff’s residential claims may cause problems for his January 2023 announcement of a U.S. Senate run.

For years, Schiff has been the owner of a large 3,420-square-foot house in Maryland. However, he has also claimed a homeowner’s tax exemption on a much smaller condo in Burbank, California, which is 650 square feet, and has designated it as his primary residence.

The congressman saved about $70 a year in property taxes as a result of this maneuver, which saved him $7,000 in total. Schiff did not request a comparable exemption for his property in Maryland.

Tax records reveal that 2017 was the only year Schiff paid property taxes in California using a personal check bearing his Maryland address, adding fuel to the controversy, according to CNN.

One insider told The New York Post that Schiff is “rarely at his California apartment,” which is a modest one-bedroom, one-bathroom residence.

“The revelation comes as Schiff faces stiff competition in the California Senate primary against fellow Democratic Reps. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee. Deed records reveal that Schiff designated his Maryland property as his primary residence in 2003 when he purchased it for $870,000,” the NY Post reported.

“In 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012, Schiff refinanced his mortgage and consistently indicated the Maryland property as his primary residence. Los Angeles County deed records for Schiff’s Burbank condo, purchased in 2009 for $298,000, raise eyebrows as they were notarized in Maryland. The records feature alterations that replaced ‘California’ and ‘Los Angeles’ with ‘Maryland’ and ‘Montgomery County,’ listing Schiff’s Maryland address as the return address. This inconsistency further fuels doubts about his true primary residence,” the outlet added.

In an interview with CNN, Schiff’s campaign spokesperson Marisol Samayoa insisted that the candidate’s primary residence is in Burbank, despite an increasing body of evidence indicating otherwise. Schiff resides in Maryland.

Samayoa emphasized that Schiff and his wife had moved to the Washington, DC, area to spend more time with their children while he performed his congressional duties, citing several news mentions as well as his book.

Samayoa further claimed that Schiff claimed that both of his Maryland and California addresses are year-round residences and listed them as primary residences for loan purposes to differentiate them from vacation properties.

Nevertheless, Schiff’s biography on the campaign website from 2010 to 2014, which stated he was raising his family in Burbank, omits any reference to his residence in Maryland.

The New York Post added:

However, in 2020, Schiff refinanced his mortgage, indicating that the Maryland house was his second home. Yet a social media post from 2021 and school publications and athletic records from the same year suggest that Schiff was still living at the Maryland home.

A telling family photo on Schiff’s website from 2021 matches the exterior of his Potomac home in Maryland. Additionally, a large number of social media posts from the previous year, some of which Schiff himself publicly shared, strongly suggest that he is still a Maryland resident.

On June 7, 2022, on the day of the Democratic primary in the Los Angeles mayor’s race, Schiff posted a photo on Twitter in front of his Maryland home, wearing an “I Voted” sticker. Despite this, his spokesperson insisted that Schiff was in Washington, DC, for House votes and had voted by mail.

Polling on California’s Senate race is also not reassuring for Schiff.

California Democrats couldn’t decide who to back in the state’s important US Senate race; none of the candidates got 60% of the votes of convention delegates.

With 40% and 41% of the vote, respectively, Democrat Reps. Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee got the most support from the convention to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) in 2024. Out of the 2322 delegates who voted on Saturday, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) got 16% of the votes. Another 2% chose not to back anyone in the race.

The candidates are running in California’s open top-two primary on March 5, which comes before the general election on November 5, the Washington Examiner reported.

A poll from earlier this month by the University of California, Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that Schiff was trailing Porter with 17% of likely voters in the state supporting her. This number hasn’t changed since the summer.

Schiff had 16%, down from 20% in August.

Steve Garvey, a Republican who announced his candidacy last month and used to play professional baseball, had 10%, while Lee only had 9%.