When the top four candidates for California’s U.S. Senate race took the debate stage Monday night, the three Democrats and moderators had the same question for Republican candidate Steve Garvey: Who will he vote for in this year’s presidential election?

It was a question that Garvey, a former Los Angeles Dodger, has seemingly tried to evade on the campaign trail, including during the debate.

“When the time comes, I’ll do exactly what I should do: I’ll look at the two opponents, I will determine what they did and at that time, I will make my choice,” Garvey said before arguing that the U.S. was safer under former President Donald Trump than President Joe Biden.

Garvey’s refusal to say outright whether he’d back the man who is most likely to lead his party’s ticket again this year garnered rebukes from his Democratic competitors, Reps. Adam Schiff, Barbara Lee and Katie Porter.

But could that strategy — avoiding aligning himself with an increasingly polarizing figure in American politics — be a smart one, especially given California’s unique primary system?

In most primary elections in California, including a U.S. Senate race, the top two vote-getters in the March 5 election advance to the general, regardless of party affiliation.

“Garvey’s obviously decided that it’s worth the gamble to potentially alienate Trump voters here in order to reach a broader base of voters,” said Dan Schnur, a former campaign consultant who teaches about political messaging at UC Berkeley and USC.

“There certainly aren’t enough Trump supporters in California to elect a senator; what’s less clear is whether or not there’s enough of them to get a Senate candidate in the runoff. Garvey’s obviously decided there aren’t enough to get him through the primary so he’s trying to keep his distance.”

Annette Eliot, a Trump supporter and president of the Huntington Harbour Republican Women Federated, was less concerned by Garvey’s avoidance of the question on the debate stage because she saw it as the three Democrats ganging up on him.

“You have to appeal to all voters,” Eliot said. “You know how Trump evokes emotion — either overwhelmingly for him or overwhelmingly no way, I will not vote for him. … I think (Garvey) was being pressured, and he wasn’t going to take the bait.”

She took his debate message as: “I’m running as a Republican for Senate for all the people, for the people who want to vote for Trump and who don’t want to vote for Trump.”

And as long as Garvey continues to just keep his distance but not outright criticize Trump, said Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist who served in the Schwarzenegger administration, he should be fine with Republican primary voters. Those voters are more likely to rally behind Garvey the more Democrats and the media castigate him for not taking a position, he said.

“Show me another (Republican) Senate candidate who has taken as bold a position, not promising to vote for Trump if he’s the nominee,” Stutzman said. “It’s an extraordinary credit to him.”

Still, as Schnur points out, keeping distance from Trump — notorious for outright demanding loyalty — is risky.

Garvey not clearly campaigning on his support for Trump could open up the door for another Republican candidate to take up that mantle, but it’s unlikely that another candidate could get enough public attention, especially this close to the primary, to pull that off.