Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., fresh off a re-election win at age 85, has already filed paperwork to allow her to raise funds ahead of a potential tilt at another term in 2024 when she’ll be 91.
Feinstein, who will be a fifth-term incumbent in the next Congress, applied to change her campaign committee’s name to “Feinstein for Senate 2024,” according to documents lodged with the Federal Election Committee on Monday. Spokespeople for her Senate office and her campaign did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment.
It is not unusual for lawmakers to set up campaign committees shortly after an election or re-election victory. Although not an official announcement launching a 2024 bid, the so-called “statement of organization” means the California Democrat can seek donations during the next six years for a campaign seeking a sixth term. It also lets her collect contributions for political activities that cannot be funded by the federal government: for example, certain constituent outreach efforts.
Feinstein is the oldest sitting senator in Congress, three months ahead of her Senate Judiciary Committee colleague, Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. If Feinstein runs a successful campaign in 2024 and stays for the duration of her term, she will be 97 at the end of her tenure. She won’t, however, be the oldest senator ever to serve. That distinction is held by the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., who was 100 years old when he retired from office in 2003. He died later that year.
But Feinstein is the longest-serving active female senator, having first been elected in 1992. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., has the record for longest-serving senator ever, sitting in the upper chamber for more than 51 years from 1959 until his death in 2010.
Earlier this month, Feinstein prevailed over Democratic challenger Kevin de Leon, a more liberal state senator, in the 2018 midterm cycle, earning 54.5 percent of the vote to his 45.5 percent in California’s top-two candidate system.
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