Dianne Feinstein, the oldest member of the US Senate and California’s longest-serving senator will retire when her term ends at the end of 2024.
Feinstein made her announcement on Tuesday through her official Twitter account and website. Most expected Feinstein to retire after her term, but she previously stated that an announcement would not be coming until spring.
However, that has not stopped California Democrats from vying for her seat. Two Representatives from California - Katie Porter and Adam Schiff - have already announced their campaigns for Feinstein's seat. Fellow Golden State Reps. Barbara Lee and Ro Khanna are both said to be tossing their respective hats into the ring in the coming months.
“I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends,” Feinstein said in her statement.
“I campaigned in 2018 on several priorities for California and the nation: preventing and combating wildfires, mitigating the effects of record-setting drought, responding to the homelessness crisis, and ensuring all Americans have access to affordable, high-quality health care. Congress has enacted legislation on all of these topics over the past several years, but more needs to be done – and I will continue these efforts.”
Last year, there were 54 wildfires in California. The state also has the nation’s largest homeless population (third largest per 100,000 residents) and 3.2 million California residents lack comprehensive health care.
Despite her long tenure, she has fallen out of favor with California voters more recently. A 2021 poll by Berkeley IGS found that only 30% of California voters approved of the job she was doing.
In recent years, Feinstein’s mental acuity had been questioned by Democrats and Republicans alike. Reports from the New Yorker, San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times, and others quoted Democratic sources that questioned the senator’s memory and mental functions. The Feinstein campaign continued to insist she was not suffering from mental decline, but the cracks started to show.
Feinstein was the expected front-runner for presidential pro tempore, the ceremonial head of the Senate and third in line to the presidency, but she decided against campaigning for the position after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declined to say if he had confidence in her ability to do her job.
“God bless her,” Garry South, a Democratic strategist, told Politico. “But the most pathetic part of politics is when somebody doesn’t know when it’s time to leave.”
The pressure seemed to mount on Feinstein when Democratic officials started endorsing potential replacements for her. Last week, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) endorsed Schiff if Feinstein steps down, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) endorsed Porter without preconditions.
Feinstein was elected in 1992 after serving as San Francisco’s first female mayor. Her campaign ran during the “year of women,” after the Anita Hill testimony showcased a lack of female representation in Congress.
Hill was testifying that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas sexually harassed her. The all-male panel, including then-Senator Joe Biden, demeaned and dismissed her claims. The next year, Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were elected the first female senators from California.
As a senator, Feinstein received praise for authoring the nationwide assault weapons ban that stood in place for 10 years before the Bush administration allowed the restriction to lapse. She was also instrumental in releasing documents that detailed CIA torture techniques used during the “war on terror.”
But the left wing of the democratic party has seen her in a less favorable light in recent years. An avowed centrist, Feinstein was criticized for being against the removal of the filibuster, which has been used by Republicans to consistently block the Democrats and Biden’s agenda.
Feinstein also seemed less than engaged during the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. After the hearing, Feinstein said it had been “one of the best set of hearings that I’ve participated in.” The comments ran counter to the Democratic Party’s narrative that the hearings were a sham, rushed to finish before the 2020 presidential election that occurred days later.
Climate activists have also frequently targeted Feinstein. Last year, a group of climate activists dropped wildfire ashes on the front porch of Pelosi and Feinstein. In 2019, Feinstein took significant heat for her dismissive attitude towards a group of schoolchildren who were asking her to support the Green New Deal. “I’ve been doing this for 30 years, I know what I’m doing,” she told the schoolchildren, adding “you didn’t vote for me,” when the school-aged advocates reminded her that she works for voters.