Two 2024 United States Senate elections in California were held on November 5, 2024, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the state of California. There were two ballot items for the same Class 1 seat: a special election to fill the seat for the final month of the 118th United States Congress (ending on January 3, 2025), and a regular general election for a full term that began on January 3, 2025, in the 119th United States Congress. This was the second time in a row that both a regular and special election for the U.S. Senate occurred simultaneously in California, following the 2022 elections. Two Democratic U.S. representatives, Katie Porter of Irvine and Adam Schiff of Burbank, entered the race for the 119th Congress before February 14, 2023, when fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein announced that she would retire at the end of her term. A third, Barbara Lee of Oakland, announced her campaign on February 21, 2023. Feinstein died in office on September 29, 2023. On October 1, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler to fill Feinstein's term until a special election could be held in November 2024 to fill the last month of Feinstein's term. On October 19, 2023, Butler announced that she would not seek election to finish the final month of Feinstein's term, nor for a full Senate term in the 119th Congress. Primary elections took place on March 5, 2024, during Super Tuesday. California uses a nonpartisan blanket primary election, in which all candidates regardless of party affiliation appear on the same primary ballot and the two highest-placing candidates advance to the general election; however, primary special election winners can win outright if they win more than 50% of the vote in the first round. Schiff, along with Republican former baseball player Steve Garvey, advanced to the general election in both the special and regular elections. As no Republican has won a Senate election in California since 1988, Schiff was considered a heavy favorite, and easily won both the regular and special general elections with more than 58% of the vote. Schiff became the first male U.S. senator from this seat since John Seymour left office in 1992 and California one of several states to have a younger senior senator (Alex Padilla) and an older junior senator (Schiff). Schiff's popular vote total of 9 million in the regular election broke the record previously held by Feinstein in 2012 for the highest vote total ever received by a U.S. Senate candidate in American history, as well as the highest vote total ever received by a candidate for any office in any state outside of the presidency. With over 41% of the vote in the general election, Garvey had the best performance of any Republican candidate for this seat since 1994. Garvey managed to win Orange County, which voted for Kamala Harris in the concurrent presidential election. He also flipped three counties compared to the 2022 Senate election: Lake, Imperial, and San Joaquin counties. With over 6.3 million votes in the regular election, Garvey set the record for the most votes ever received by a Republican candidate in California for any election, as Donald Trump was the runner up with 200,000 fewer votes in the concurrent presidential election. == Background == California is considered to be a safe blue state at the federal and state levels, with Joe Biden winning the state by a margin of 29.16% in the 2020 presidential election. Democrats currently hold a large majority in California's U.S. House delegation, all statewide offices (including both U.S. Senate seats), and supermajorities in both of California's state legislative chambers. Prior to the 2024 election, senator Dianne Feinstein had served in Congress since being elected in a 1992 special election, defeating Republican appointee John Seymour. During her career, she was re-elected five times, winning in 1994, 2000, 2006, 2012, and most recently in 2018, where she defeated fellow Democrat Kevin de León with 54.2% of the vote. At the time of her death, Feinstein was the most senior Democrat in the Senate, and is the longest serving U.S. senator in California's history. == Candidates == === Democratic Party === ==== Advanced to general ==== Adam Schiff, U.S. representative for California's 30th congressional district (2001–2024) ==== Eliminated in primary ==== Sepi Gilani, UC San Diego professor and surgeon Harmesh Kumar, psychologist and perennial candidate Barbara Lee, U.S. representative for California's 12th congressional district (1998–2025) (endorsed Schiff in general election) Christina Pascucci, former KTLA news anchor David Peterson, tech professional and perennial candidate Douglas Pierce, cold case investigator and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2018 and 2022 Katie Porter, U.S. representative for California's 47th congressional district (2019–2025) (endorsed Schiff in general election) Perry Pound, investment firm CEO Raji Rab, commercial pilot and perennial candidate John Rose, office manager and political children's book author ==== Withdrew ==== Denard Ingram, psychologist and social worker Lexi Reese, investor and former Google executive ==== Declined ==== Rob Bonta, 34th attorney general of California (2021–present) (endorsed Lee and Porter) London Breed, 45th mayor of San Francisco (2018–2025) (endorsed Lee, ran for re-election) Laphonza Butler, incumbent U.S. senator (2023–2024) Ro Khanna, U.S. representative for California's 17th congressional district (2017–present) (endorsed Lee, ran for re-election) Eleni Kounalakis, 50th lieutenant governor of California (2019–present) (running for governor in 2026) Fiona Ma, California State Treasurer (2019–present) (endorsed Lee, running for lieutenant governor in 2026) Holly Mitchell, Los Angeles County supervisor (2020–2021, 2025-present) (ran for re-election) Gavin Newsom, 40th governor of California (2019–present) Libby Schaaf, 50th mayor of Oakland (2015–2023) (endorsed Lee) Eric Swalwell, U.S. representative for California's 14th congressional district (2013–present) and candidate for president in 2020 (ran for re-election) Oprah Winfrey, talk show host and media proprietor === Republican Party === ==== Advanced to general ==== Steve Garvey, former professional baseball player for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres ==== Eliminated in primary ==== Sharletta Bassett, farmer James Bradley, healthcare executive and perennial candidate Eric Early, attorney and perennial candidate Denice Gary-Pandol, former educator Sarah Sun Liew, businesswoman, candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022, and candidate for California's 33rd congressional district in 2020 Jim Macauley, sales associate and candidate for California's 20th congressional district in 2022 Jonathan Reiss, multimedia consultant and candidate for California's 25th congressional district in 2022 Stefan Simchowitz, art dealer Martin Veprauskas, retired defense contractor ==== Write-in candidates ==== Danny Fabricant, retired sliding door repairman and convicted felon Carlos Guillermo Tapia, realtor and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022 ==== Declined ==== Lanhee Chen, Stanford University professor and runner-up for California State Controller in 2022 Larry Elder, radio host, former candidate for president in 2024, and candidate for Governor of California in the 2021 recall election Kevin Faulconer, 38th mayor of San Diego (2014–2020) and candidate for Governor of California in the 2021 recall election (ran for San Diego County Board of Supervisors) === Libertarian Party === ==== Eliminated in primary ==== Gail Lightfoot, former chair of the California Libertarian Party and perennial candidate === American Independent Party === ==== Eliminated in primary ==== Forrest Jones, service business owner === No party preference === ==== Eliminated in primary ==== Laura Garza, railroad worker and perennial candidate Don Grundmann, chair of the California Constitution Party and perennial candidate Mark Ruzon, California chair for the American Solidarity Party and write-in candidate for U.S. Senate in 2022 Major Singh, software engineer, candidate for California's 14th congressional district in 2022, and candidate for governor in 2021 ==== Write-in candidates ==== Michael Dilger, social media marketing professional John Dowell ==== Declined ==== Dwayne Johnson, actor and businessman Arnold Schwarzenegger, 38th governor of California (2003–2011) == Primary elections == === Campaign === ==== Schiff, Porter, and Lee declare ==== Media sources speculated for years that Dianne Feinstein might choose not to seek reelection in 2024 or resign before the end of her term, owing to her age, reports that her cognitive state was declining, and her decision not to take the position of Senate president pro tempore in the 118th Congress, third in line for the presidency, even though she would customarily have been offered the role as the most senior member of the majority caucus. There was also speculation that Feinstein might face opposition within the Democratic Party as she did in 2018, when she was challenged by fellow Democrat Kevin de León and defeated him by an unexpectedly narrow margin. In December 2022, Feinstein confirmed that she would not resign before the end of her term. In January 2023, with the question of Feinstein's reelection decision still open, U.S. Representative Katie Porter announced that she would run for the Senate. She confirmed that she would stay in the race even if Feinstein chose to run for another term. Porter was first elected in 2018, unseating incumbent Mimi Walters. She later gained national fame for her progressive politics, and frequently went viral online for her pointed questioning of corporate executives in congressional hearings, often while using a whiteboard. Porter's coastal, Orange County-based district is considered highly competitive, and all of her elections have been close. Two weeks