As divisions flared at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday, Democratic activists in California issued a surprising rebuke of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a longtime fixture of both their state and their party.
After serving for a decade as the mayor of San Francisco, Feinstein was elected to the Senate in 1992, where she’s remained for more than a quarter of a century. But on Saturday, activists gathered for the state party’s annual convention did not vote to endorse Feinstein, even offering more support to her primary opponent, state Sen. Kevin de Leon.
Though he’s trailing in statewide polls, delegates on Saturday awarded 54 percent of their votes to de Leon. Feinstein earned only 37 percent. Neither candidate received enough ballots to secure the party’s endorsement, but convention attendees still managed to send a message.
De Leon is running to Feinstein’s Left, casting her as an establishment Democrat who’s out of touch with the party’s base. Per the Los Angeles Times’ report on the convention:
De León tried to appeal to the newly energized liberal faction by contrasting Feinstein’s record — including votes for the Iraq War and warrantless wiretapping by the federal government — with his support for a $15-an-hour minimum wage and single-payer healthcare. He also highlighted controversial comments Feinstein made last year calling for “patience” with Trump and expressing the hope that he could become “a good president.”
Anti-establishment sentiments in both parties helped boost President Trump into the White House. Republicans elected him, and will continue grappling with the impacts, but boiling tensions could signal that Democrats are poised to nominate someone from the far Left come 2020. And that’s just at the presidential level, let alone what may happen in state and local races where progressives in the base exert outsize control. Feinstein will almost certainly be fine. But it would be a mistake to ignore why party delegates favored the primary opponent of a popular senator who has served more than 25 years by a 17-point margin — and at a time when Democrats insist they’re united under the banner of resisting Trump.
