On Friday night, Steve Garvey, the former Major League Baseball star and current Republican candidate for Senate in California, was at Dodger Stadium cheering on the home team as it faced off against the New York Yankees in this first game of the World Series.
His Democratic opponent, Representative Adam Schiff, the lead investigator in Donald J. Trump’s first impeachment, caught the tail end of the game — and the history-making walk-off grand slam that put the Dodgers over the top — from a bar in the Phoenix airport.
He had spent the day campaigning in Arizona for Vice President Kamala Harris and Representative Ruben Gallego, the Democratic nominee for the Senate, and was waiting for a flight to Las Vegas. On Saturday morning, he was still gleeful about the win.
“I’m a Dodger fan and I hate the Yankees. Last night was a grand slam in every sense of the word,” Mr. Schiff said, firing up volunteers at the Nevada State A.F.L.-C.I.O. headquarters before they headed out to knock on doors. “And I’m here to make sure that we have a grand slam in Nevada.”
In a state as deeply blue as California, Mr. Schiff has built up a sizable lead against Mr. Garvey, a first-time candidate who hoped nostalgia for his days as a Dodgers first baseman and frustrations with the economy, homelessness and immigration would translate to support. That has not materialized, allowing Mr. Schiff to leverage his fame as a chief Trump antagonist — and a considerable campaign war chest — on behalf of a number of potential Senate colleagues far from where he’s actually on the ballot.
Along with making stops for Senator Jacky Rosen in Nevada and attending events in Arizona with Mr. Gallego, Mr. Schiff has traveled to New Mexico for Senator Martin Heinrich, to Pennsylvania for Senator Bob Casey and to Ohio for Senator Sherrod Brown.
