Pro-Palestinian protesters shouted down Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California during Schiff’s victory speech on Tuesday after he advanced to the Senate election in November.
As Schiff was celebrating, the chant of “ceasefire now” began to emerge from the crowd.
Schiff tried a few halting words but was unable to continue over the chanting that drowned him out.
“We are so lucky, so lucky to live in a democracy where we all have the right to protest. We are so lucky to live in that kind of democracy that we want to make sure that we keep this kind of democracy,” Schiff said at one point.
Although some protesters were removed, others were scattered through the crowd, making it impossible for Schiff to continue at times.
Even as Schiff tried to wrap up the speech by acknowledging the protesters, the chanting continued.
CBS described Schiff as “clearly shaken” by the protest.
As of Wednesday morning, Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey were at the top of the pack to advance to the Senate special general election, with 33.2 percent and 32.4 percent of the votes respectively after 47.6 percent of the votes were tallied, according to The Washington Post.
Will Adam Schiff be elected to the Senate?
Democratic Rep. Katie Porter was in third, while Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee was in fourth.
The primary was also determining who would serve the final weeks of the unexpired term of the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
In that contest, the Post reported Garvey was leading Schiff 34.6 percent to 30.8 percent with 48.3 percent of the votes tallied at the time this article was written.
Adam Green, a progressive who supported Porter, issued a statement attacking Schiff, according to NBC.
“Adam Schiff put his own selfishness above democracy by lifting up Republican Steve Garvey, who will now turn out Trump voters in key House races that could determine control of Congress,” Green said, referring to an ad blitz in which Schiff targeted Garvey, a tactic that increased Garvey’s recognition among voters.
“Katie Porter faced a barrage of negative ads from billionaires and special interests, as Adam Schiff spent millions to prop up a pro-Trump Republican,” he said.
Garvey used a baseball analogy to describe the day.
“Keep in mind this is the first game of a doubleheader,” he said. “So keep the evening of Nov. 5 open.”
