Dianne Feinstein, 89, Won’t Run Again for Senate in 2024

(Bloomberg) -- Dianne Feinstein of California, the US Senate’s longest-serving Democrat and its oldest member, said she won’t run for a seventh term in 2024.

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“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,” she said in a statement.

Her decision comes after several years of speculation about whether she would continue in office, and as other California lawmakers showed interest in running for her seat. Feinstein, 89, has yielded some key roles in the last few years.

Shortly after her announcement, she told reporters that she would make a decision on who to endorse “in a couple of months.”

“I don’t have anybody in mind right now,” she said.

She has the seniority to serve this session of Congress as the Senate’s president pro tempore, a job that is third in line for the presidency. But she passed on it and in January Senator Patty Murray of Washington rose to that prestigious post.

In 2020, she stepped aside as top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee after she was criticized by progressives over her handling of Amy Coney Barrett’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings just weeks before the presidential election. The San Francisco Chronicle reported last year that some colleagues were expressing concern about memory lapses and her ability to perform duties.

Feinstein gave a “teary” address to Democrats during a closed-door lunch on Tuesday and received a standing ovation, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

“She’s a legend,” he added.

Feinstein saw growing pressure to make her decision after Representative Katie Porter, a California Democrat, said on Jan. 10 that she would run for the seat. Porter quickly won the endorsement of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal grassroots group.

Fellow California Democrat Adam Schiff also announced a campaign for the Senate seat, while Barbara Lee announced privately to Congressional Black Caucus members her intention to run.

A San Francisco native, Feinstein served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1970-1978 and lost mayoral campaigns in 1971 and 1975. She was considering leaving politics when, in 1978, she became acting mayor after Mayor George Moscone was shot to death by a former supervisor. She went on to win two terms in the job and then lost a 1990 gubernatorial bid to Republican Pete Wilson.

She arrived in the Senate after winning a special election in 1992, dubbed “the year of the woman” with a record five female senators elected after a backlash over the handling of sexual harassment allegations against Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at his 1991 confirmation hearings.

She went on to chart a series of “firsts” for women: The first female senator from California, the first to serve on the Judiciary Committee, the first to chair the Rules and Intelligence committees, and the first to serve as ranking Democrat on Judiciary in 2017.

Legislatively, Feinstein is best known as the lead author of the 1994 assault weapons ban, which barred the manufacture of some semi-automatic firearms and large-capacity magazines. It expired in 2004 and new legislation she put forth in 2013 didn’t pass.

Her profile was also raised in the 2018 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

In July of that year, she received a letter from a California constituent, Christine Blasey Ford, alleging that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her when they were high school students in the 1980s. The letter’s existence was disclosed in September by the Intercept, an online publication, after Kavanaugh had testified at his confirmation hearings. Other Democrats demanded she forward it to the FBI, which she did. The allegations sparked a second round of confirmation hearings.

News of Feinstein’s announcement drew statements praising her tenure from her colleagues and officials all over the country.

President Joe Biden, said in a statement that “she led the fight to get the assault weapons ban passed. Like so many who have been touched by gun violence, that victory was personal for her.”

“I’ve served with more US senators than just about anyone,” Biden added. “I can honestly say that Dianne Feinstein is one of the very best.”

Feinstein’s last reelection in 2018 was one of her closest in years when she beat Democrat Kevin de Leon, 54% to 46%.

Only two current senators have served longer than she: Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

--With assistance from Akayla Gardner.

(Updates with Biden statement, starting in 18th paragraph.)

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