Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has failed to secure the endorsement of the California Democratic Party in her race to be re-elected to the U.S. Senate.
Kevin de Leon, a state senator who is offering a more liberal alternative against Feinstein in her campaign for a fifth full term, won the formal approval of the party on Saturday when he received 65 percent of the votes cast by its executive board comprised of officials and activists, according to the Los Angeles Times. Feinstein only earned 7 percent of the vote.
Feinstein appeared to expect the snub, imploring the 360 board members ahead of the vote to not endorse either candidate, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
De Leon will benefit from financial and structural support from the state party, but it is unclear how much that will sway the wider, less liberal Democratic base in California.
In a crowded field of more than 30 candidates, Feinstein clinched 44 percent of the vote in California’s June 5 primary election in comparison to De Leon’s second-place finish with 12 percent, after Feinstein was denied an endorsement by the state party before that contest.
California has a top-two candidate election system, which means aspiring elected officials from the same party can compete against each other in the general if they garner the most votes in the primary.
