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October 21, 2024 6 mins
Adam Bennett Schiff is an American lawyer, author, politician, statesman, and former intelligence chairman serving as the U.S. representative for California's 30th congressional district. A member of the Democratic Party, Schiff was a member of the California State Senate from 1996 to 2000.
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:05):
I'm O Kelly, and this is Meet the Candidates. I'm
joined right now by Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff, who is
vying to be California's next US Senator. Congressman, is good
to see you again. Well, it's great to be with you.
I think of this landscape, this California landscape, and beyond.
You're not just a candidate, You're also a surrogate for candidates,
Democratic candidates, both in the state and out of the state.

(00:28):
How does that impact what you do?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well? I have tried to throw the course of my
Senate campaign to pay particular attention to those parts of
California where there are also competitive house races. A lot
of people think that because California is such a blue
state in presidential years, we don't really matter. But in
one respect we matter a great deal, and that is
there are more competitive house races in California than any

(00:50):
other state, six or seven of them, and California will
be decisive in determining which party controls the House of Representatives.
So I've been pretty much hopscotching each of the competitive
House districts.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
California has always been, I'll say, a big deal. It's
big on the national scene for reasons that you've expressed
in other reasons. But you know, California, I think better
than most you've served. You were in the state center,
and I think back in nineteen ninety six, you became
a member of the House in two thousand and one.
How has California the state changed in the intervening years.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
It has really developed in so many ways. We have
seen this incredible explosion of the tech sector in California,
one innovation after another. You know, originally it was innovations
like social media and streaming technologies. Now it's with artificial intelligence.
But we've always been a tech leader and that has

(01:44):
just grown and proliferated. But we've also been an entertainment
industry leader, and that continues. It is under great challenge
and stress right now. Sadly, we have seen part of
that industry leave for other states or other country. We
can't be complacent about it at all. We have to
continue to make California hospitable for the industry if we

(02:06):
want to keep that industry here. But we, I think
have grown enormously as a state and face the same
challenges other states do. In many of our big cities,
and particularly post pandemic after that once in a century calamity. Hopefully,
cities are struggling to bounce back, but they are, they will,

(02:26):
and one of the jobs that I look forward to
doing is working with our great cities to bring them back.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
What is an election night for you? There's election night
when you're running for a state Senate. There's an election
night when you're running for Congress. Now you're running for Senate.
What is election night going to be for you? You know,
that's a really interesting question. I was just talking to
my wife about that. In two thousand and when I
ran for Congress, it was during the Bush versus Gore election,

(02:52):
and I remember going to my victory party and celebrating
because I had one. It looked like Gore had won.
I went home to go change. I came back to
the victory party and it looked like Bush had one.
So in the intervening hour or so, the presidency had
flipped from one likely outcome to another. And it was

(03:13):
kind of a schizophrenic evening in that I was ecstatic
I'd beaten a Republican incumbent for the House.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
I was going to be a new member of Congress.
That was very exciting. On the other hand, Mike kendidate
for president, had lost and we were headed to kind
of an uncertain place as a country, And I wonder
what this election night is going to look like. I'm
optimistic about my race. I don't take it for granted
at all. I'm campaigning harder than my opponent have from
the very beginning. But the top of the ticket is

(03:42):
going to be very close, and no one is going
to be able to tell you before election night who's
going to win that race. And so will it be
for me an occasion where it's sort of an unmitigated celebration,
or will it be a very mixed outcome and raise
again profound questions about where we're headed as.

Speaker 1 (03:59):
A Let me ask you this, as a Stanford man,
what do you think of the PAC twelve as we
now see it and now know it? It's a shell
of itself. I look at USC and UCLA playing in
the Big ten doesn't quite feel the same. What about you?

Speaker 2 (04:16):
It doesn't feel the same. And I'm sure there were
a lot of drivers of this change in college football.
I don't know what's left here. So you know, it's
interesting to watch Stanford play these teams. They haven't played before.
But it's kind of sad too. I kind of grew

(04:36):
up with the Pac ten and we've come a long
way since.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Then, let me leave you also with this. You're a
budding screen writer. If you had the autonomy and you
had the money, the budget, what would be your screenplay
or the movie that you put together right about now?

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Well, I would love to write a spy thriller. I
think that would be a lot of fun. But it's
funny you mentioned the screenwriting. A few years ago, the
La Times did a profile of me and they framed
it by saying, you know, at one point he wrote screenplays,
and then if he wrote They ended the article by saying,
if he wrote a screenplay about what he's witnessed in
the last several years, it would be more improbable than fiction.

(05:17):
And somehow that story, that profile made its way to
Donald Trump, because after that he referred to me for
a while as a failed screenwriter. And the first time
he did, I remember telling my staff, he doesn't realize
what a great favor he's doing me. Half of my
constituents are failed screenwriters. They're going to think he's just
like us, exactly, all.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Right, last question, if you had your druthers, big picture.
Do you want them to say, one day, And I
know this is an unfair and impolitic question, former President
Adam Schiff or Supreme Court.

Speaker 2 (05:51):
Justice Jeez, I would be thrilled if they said a
senator who served his state very well. Well, I would
be delighted.

Speaker 1 (06:02):
With that good answer. You know something a little about this.
I'm O killy and this is Meet the Candidates

Speaker 2 (06:10):
Mhm
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