California Sen. Dianne Feinstein dies at 90. What other senators have died in office?

Dianne Feinstein, the senior senator from California, died following months of poor health. She was 90.

Feinstein, a Democrat and the oldest sitting senator, died on Sept. 28 at her residence in Washington, D.C., according to a statement from her office.

“Her passing is a great loss for so many, from those who loved and cared for her to the people of California that she dedicated her life to serving,” the statement said.

Feinstein was a “force of nature” who served as the first female mayor of San Francisco, the first female senator from California and the longest serving female senator, according to her Senate biography. She was an outspoken advocate for gun reform, LGBT rights and combating climate change.

How often do senators die in office?

In the Senate, dying with one’s boots on is not so unusual.

In fact, since the founding of the republic, 302 members of the “greatest deliberative body on Earth” have passed away during their terms.

The first senator to die in office was William Grayson of Virginia. Grayson, one of the few senators to vote against the Constitution, served for just over one year before dying in 1790.

Over the following two centuries, hundreds of other members of the upper chamber died in office. In fact, it was not uncommon for multiple senators to die each year.

In 1945, five sitting senators died, including California Senator Hiram Johnson, who died on the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.

In recent years, however, deaths in office have become less frequent. Since 2000, only eight senators have died in the middle of their terms, and all but one died of health complications.

Paul Coverdell from Georgia died in 2000 as a result of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone died in a plane crash while on the campaign trail in 2002. All eight people onboard, including Wellstone’s wife and daughter, as well as campaign staffers, died, according to ABC News.

Craig Thomas from Wyoming died of leukemia in 2007, and Ted Kennedy — brother of President John F. Kennedy who spent nearly a half century in the Senate — died of a brain tumor in 2009. The following year, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who served in the Senate for 51 years, died midterm.

Hawaii Senator Daniel Inouye, the first Japanese-American elected to Congress, died of respiratory complications in 2012, according to the New York Times.

Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, the Senate’s last World War II veteran, died in 2013 of viral pneumonia, according to CNN.

The last senator to die in office before Feinstein was John McCain of Arizona in 2018. He served as a U.S. Navy pilot during the Vietnam War and was held prisoner for six years. McCain was the Republican nominee for president in 2008. He died of a brain tumor.

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