A California political juggernaut appears to be on her way to an unceremonious exit.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) has represented the Golden State in Washington, D.C., for 30 years and was revered as untouchable. She and Barbara Boxer became the first women to represent California in the Senate when they were elected in 1992. But time has not been kind to Feinstein, who, though she hasn’t announced her retirement, has watched her party turn up the heat as they push her out the door.
DEMOCRATS NOT WAITING FOR FEINSTEIN IN CALIFORNIA SENATE RACE
“God bless her,” Garry South, a Democratic strategist in California told Politico. “But the most pathetic part of politics is when somebody doesn’t know when it’s time to leave.”
Attacks on Feinstein aren’t new. The last time she was up for reelection, the California Democratic Party wouldn’t endorse her. It didn’t matter, as the popular Democrat won almost 3 million votes in the primary and went on to beat Democratic challenger Kevin de Leon by roughly 1 million votes.
Feinstein has been a reliable Democratic vote in the Senate, voting to convict then-President Donald Trump in both of his impeachment trials, and supported President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction and American Rescue Plan Acts.
In 2019, she was portrayed as a staunch anti-torture, anti-bush hero in The Report.
But her liberal track record hasn’t been enough to stem the tide pulling the Democratic Party, and California in particular, to the left.
Feinstein is the oldest member of the Senate at 89, and the longest-serving member. But ambitious Democrats can smell the blood in the political waters and are keen to take advantage of the opportunity.
“She’s still the state’s senior senator,” one longtime Democratic strategist in California told the outlet. “And they’re dancing on her [political] grave.”
The up-and-coming liberal star Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) opened the contest for Feinstein’s still-occupied seat days after the calendar flipped to January, saying the state needed a “warrior in the Senate.”
Weeks later, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) followed suit. Schiff found himself weakened in the House after Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) removed him from his post atop the prestigious House Intelligence Committee, but it was rumored he had been considering making the jump before he collided with the new Republican majority.
If Feinstein is considering running again, she will struggle to fight off two energetic, motivated candidates. Not only does Feinstein have her age counting against her — Schiff is 62 and Porter is 49 — but her job approval rating has been in decline.
A Berkeley IGS Poll from roughly a year ago marked Feinstein’s job approval rating at 30% — an all-time low for her. In October, another poll showed she had rebounded with voters, but was still struggling to make most of them happy, clocking in with a 41% approval rating.
At the same time her star is falling with voters, she’s also struggling to get them to open up their checkbooks.
Feinstein has less than $10,000 in its war chest, and raised a meager $600 in the last three months.
Her challengers, on the other hand, are barnstorming, as Schiff has $21 million in his coffers and Porter is sitting on roughly $7.4 million.
Some of the money Feinstein is raising appears to be coming in might be incidental, too.
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William Betts, a Carlsbad, California, told Politico that some payments he made to Feinstein were “automatic payments” and that he would prefer “a younger candidate.”
“My preference is that she retires.”
