California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving woman in the US Senate and a vocal advocate for gun control measures, died Thursday night. She was 90.
Her death brings to an end a messy, long-running chapter of national politics centered on her age and health as stories and concerns spread over the last year about her perceived mental decline. The longtime Democratic senator announced in February of this year that she would not be running for another Senate term after frustrating members of her party, constituents, and the press for remaining quiet about that decision for most of 2022 and the first weeks of 2023.
She would have faced a primary challenge had she not announced her decision to retire at the end of her term. A host of moderate and progressive candidates had already begun to float their electoral challenges and gather support while Feinstein was peppered with questions about her future. Two of those challengers, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), even launched their campaigns before Feinstein went public with her retirement news. A third, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), announced her bid after Feinstein’s decision.
Those three still have five months before California’s primary day, when voters will decide which two candidates move on to a likely Democrat-versus-Democrat general election contest. But for now, there’s an opening in the Senate that California Gov. Gavin Newsom will need to fill — and he will face intense pressure over his decision.
Feinstein had planned to step away from the Senate
Underlying a lot of Democratic frustration in California and in the Senate were the many issues Feinstein’s deteriorating health and advanced age caused for normal Senate operations — excluding how those contributed to the idea of American gerontocracy.
After announcing that she would be retiring at the end of her current term, Feinstein left the capital for the Bay Area to recover from health complications due to a case of…
Read the full article here