Meet California's newest Senator Adam Schiff | CPT PPP Coverage

SAN DIEGO — In a one-on-one interview Friday with California’s incoming U.S. Senator Adam Schiff,  he said he “will be a Senator for all California.”

The long-time Congressman, who defeated Republican opponent and former Padres player Steve Garvey, will be taking over the Senate seat that the late Dianne Feinstein had held for more than three decades.

“I’m looking forward to the challenge,” Schiff said. “I’m ready to hit the ground running.”

For Schiff, a Democrat, that challenge will likely be increased with Donald Trump in the White House and the Senate controlled by Republicans.  

“There should be lots of common ground and I will be looking for it,” Schiff told CBS 8. “I will be seeking out my Republican colleagues, building relationships with them the way Dianne Feinstein did so I can deliver for California.” 

Schiff made a name for himself by leading the first impeachment trial against Trump.   

“A lot will depend on what kind of president Donald Trump intends to be,” Schiff added, “If he is serious about trying to tackle high prices and improve the quality of life for working people, he’ll find a willing partner in me. If on the other hand it’s sort of a ‘retribution tour’ against California and other blue states, he’ll find a vigorous opponent in me. But I’m hoping for the former, because life is short: there are serious challenges facing the state and country.”

Those challenges range from climate change and immigration to the child care crisis.

 One of Schiff’s top priorities is providing more affordable housing.   

“We’re never going to solve homelessness, for example,  if we’re not building a lot more housing,” he added. “We can spend billions on moving people off the street, but if we don’t have a lot more housing that’s affordable, new people are simply going to take their place on the street.” 

Another urgent, and local priority for Schiff: addressing the ongoing South Bay sewage crisis.  

“It never should have been allowed to get to this place,” Schiff said. “We  need to get that plant in Mexico fully operational, we need to get the plant in the U.S. fully operational  and expand the capacity for treatment so we never have this problem again.” 

Schiff said he also plans to fight to restore reproductive freedoms on the federal level, after the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision in 2022.

“They also essentially put the other rights and freedoms on the chopping block,” he added, such as the right to same-sex marriage and interracial marriage. 

Schiff said a long-term goal of his is to reform the U.S. Supreme Court. 

“I think life tenure has resulted in a kind of arrogance and detachment from the concerns of average Americans,” he told CBS 8. “It is now the least representative body in the country.”

He is considering calling for an enforceable code of ethics for the Supreme Court, as well term limits for Supreme Court justices of possibly 18 years.

“Justices would rotate back on to the Court of Appeals or the District Court,” he added. “They’re still going to be on the court for life, just not on a particular court for life.”

Schiff said whatever the next several years hold, the country is resilient.

“I’m going to focus on the things that I can get done, not the things I can’t,” he said, “and focus on how I can deliver for the Golden State and for the whole country.”