Adam Schiff, a hero to Democrats for leading Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, defeated Republican Steve Garvey on Tuesday to win a California U.S. Senate seat, the Associated Press projected.

The outcome of the race to replace Sen. Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., was never in doubt from the day Schiff won the Democratic primary. Butler was appointed last year after the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who had held the seat for 31 years; Butler did not run to remain the seat.

Schiff, 64, a veteran congressman from the Los Angeles area, was running in two elections Tuesday, once for the remaining few weeks of the Butler term and once for a full six-year term that begins in January. When sworn in, he will become the state’s junior senator, joining Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who has been in office since 2021.

Schiff began the race with far more campaign cash than Garvey, as well as a strong reputation among Democrats, who haven’t lost a statewide election in 18 years.

He ran a traditional Democratic campaign. Among his promises were to work to cut taxes for middle and lower-income earners, increase taxes on corporate profits, guarantee 12 weeks of paid family leave, and expand the child tax credit.

Garvey tried to position himself as untethered to any fixed ideology or political party.

“I never played for Democrats or Republicans or independents — I played for all of you,” he said in a video when he joined the race last year.

Garvey, 75, was hoping his star power as an all-star first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the 1970s and 1980s would win him support. He talked about “reigniting that relationship.”

He avoided being too publicly tied to the Republican Party. He didn’t appear with former President Donald Trump during Trump’s October visit to the state, and didn’t attend the national Republican convention.

Schiff wanted the politically untested Garvey as his opponent. Under California’s jungle primary system, the top two contenders, regardless of party, move on to the general election. Polls showed that Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, could run a close race with Schiff in November.

Fairshake, a SuperPAC supporting Schiff but without direct contact with him, ran ads blasting Porter, hoping to boost the Republican for second place while elbowing out Porter. The strategy worked.

Schiff became well known nationally for serving as lead prosecutor in the 2020 Trump impeachment. Schiff and Trump continued to battle throughout 2024; just last month, Trump referred to Schiff as “the enemy from within” during his rally in Coachella. In the Trump has suggested using the National Guard or the military to handle the these “radical left lunatics.”

Trump was still fuming over Schiff’s time on the House Intelligence Committee, which looked into the July 2019 call from Trump to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. On that call, Trump asked Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, who was regarded as a strong 2020 presidential candidate.