Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) targeted Steve Garvey, the lone Republican on stage during California’s first Senate debate, for deflecting questions about his support for former President Donald Trump. 

Garvey, a former Major League Baseball player for the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, was pressed by all three House Democrats in the race about the 2024 presidential election. Porter used Garvey’s baseball career against him in grilling the Republican candidate on whom he would cast his ballot for in a rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden.

“Once a Dodger, always a Dodger,” Porter said. “This is not the minor leagues. Who will you vote for?”

Garvey voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 but did not provide a definitive answer on whether he would vote for the former president in November, telling the audience, “I will look at the two opponents, I will determine what they did, and at that time I will make my choice.”

Porter’s biggest Democratic competition, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), joined in on the baseball references, telling Garvey, “I’m sorry, that was a total swing and a miss — that was a total whiff of an answer.”

Schiff, who managed the first Trump impeachment trial, consistently has led in the polls since launching his Senate bid last January. Porter is struggling to gain ground, even with the state’s base of progressive voters, while Garvey has ranked second in multiple polls. 

Despite launching his campaign in October 2023, several months after his Democratic opponents, Garvey moved into second place with 19% of likely voters in a Politico/Morning Consult poll released in December. Schiff was the clear front-runner at 28%, followed by Porter at 17% and Rep. Barbara Lee at 14%.

Recent polling from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, shows Schiff as the clear favorite among likely voters, with 21%, while Porter trails behind at 17%. Garvey has 13%, and Lee ranked fourth with 9%.

Porter must cement her second-place spot over Garvey before the March 5 primary, after which only the top two vote-getters will move on to the general election in November, regardless of political party.