‘Tireless breaker of glass ceilings’: Feinstein blazed trail for Sonoma County women in politics

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who forged many firsts as a woman in her more than half-century in politics, was an inspiration to many current and former elected officials who say they owe part of their success to a person they call an icon, a trailblazer and a role model.

Hours after Feinstein’s death at her home in Washington early Friday, local leaders reflected on her career as a political pioneer, which included being the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, that city’s first female mayor, and one of two of the state’s first women elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992.

“I think back with great fondness and respect and admiration for who she was and what’s she’s done,” Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin said, her voice breaking with emotion. “She has, to the very end, been a lioness in her personal life and her public life.”

Gorin said Friday that Feinstein’s career and example paved the way for many others who looked up to her. Feinstein, she said, set “the stage for the ascension of women elected into office, both locally and certainly nationally.”

Valerie Brown, who had served as a Sonoma city councilwoman and later the city’s mayor, was herself part of the 1992 political wave that swept women into elected office.

“In ’92, I ran for the (state) Legislature and I ran with both Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer because it was the Year of the Woman,” Brown said. “More women got elected during that cycle than at any other time.”

Brown, who would go on to serve in the state Assembly and as a Sonoma County supervisor, said Feinstein always “supported and admired” other women who chose public service as a career, and she knew of the difficulties women would face in their pursuit.

"She understood what that meant,“ Brown said. ”She understood what it meant to operate in a world of men, and she was very, very supportive.“

Like many others who followed the U.S. senator’s career, Brown first heard the name Dianne Feinstein after the assassinations of Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone of San Francisco in November 1978. Brown, who at the time was running an education center in Sonoma Valley, said she was horrified by the news.

The role Feinstein played in helping to stabilize the San Francisco community and its political landscape was an inspiration, Brown said.

“It was awful, but she just rose up and did what she had to do,” she said.

Former Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch, who retired at the end of her term in 2022, met Feinstein during a fundraising luncheon for the senator about 25 years ago and recalled her “energy and charisma.”

Ravitch grew up in the Bay Area watching Feinstein’s career, including her leadership in the wake of the 1978 assassinations.

“I remember what happened,” Ravitch said. “How she stepped forward and led that city in a time of terrible crisis, she’s been a beacon. She really has.”

Noreen Evans, a local attorney and former state senator, was a college student living in the East Bay during that time. She said there weren’t a lot of female role models in politics, so it was impressive to see Feinstein take charge during the crisis.

“I just remember being so impressed with this woman who had encountered this life-threatening situation, and how well she handled it and how beautifully she brought the entire community together and led everybody out of that horrible situation into a much more stable period of time,” Evan said.

Evans, who also served on the Santa Rosa City Council, said Feinstein’s accomplishments are a testament to the role women can play in politics. That wasn’t always clear to some, she said.

She recalled that during her run for Sonoma County supervisor in 2000 she was asked by a reporter why it mattered that she was running as a woman, why it mattered that women be elected to public office.

The question puzzled her.

“I was honestly so shocked by that question, I had no answer,” Evans said. In retrospect, she said, “Dianne Feinstein is the answer.”

Former Sonoma County Supervisor Shirlee Zane said Feinstein’s bouts with tragedy fed her sense of compassion, something she witnessed firsthand during the aftermath of the North Bay wildfires in 2017. On Oct. 14, less than a week after the fires killed 24 people in the county and leveled thousands of homes, Feinstein, along with a host of federal and state officials, visited Santa Rosa for a news conference and town hall to address the disaster.

As the elected officials headed to a gym at Santa Rosa High School following the news conference, Feinstein walked up to Zane and asked her how she was doing. Many of her constituents had lost homes in the fires.

“She put her arm around me because I started to cry,” Zane said. “I had to hold it all together for everybody. It had been at least a week and it was crazy, nonstop. It was an apocalyptic night, frankly. Dianne, in her compassion, reached out to me.”

Zane said Feinstein kept her arm around her and didn’t let go as they walked into the gym. “I'll never forget that,” she said. “That's what I needed, I needed somebody like her, an authority figure who understands these disasters — she went through them herself — to put her arm around me to say, ‘Hey, I'm here for you.’”

Feinstein in that emotional visit also reached out to Gorin, a former Santa Rosa mayor who lost her home in the fires.

Gorin recalled how Feinstein gave her a “warm hug” and “whispered words of encouragement.” Gorin couldn’t remember exactly what Feinstein said but still feels the impact her words had.

“Her words of encouragement and her brief hug just spoke volumes to me,” Gorin said.

The Tubbs Fire destroyed 4,600 homes in Sonoma County, and the Nuns Fire and others brought that destruction to over 5,300 homes. Those wildfires were but a few of many to devastate California communities in recent years. Feinstein’s advocacy for those California communities provided reassurance as a leader and survivor of tragedy, Gorin said.

“She knew that her importance in the Senate would carry the weight, and she could be effective in advocating for California and the enormous losses in the state,” Gorin said.

It was Feinstein’s path to the Senate that first started leaving an impression on Zane, who graduated from Chino High School in Southern California in 1978.

Feinstein and Carol Moseley Braun, who also was elected to the Senate in 1992 and the first Black woman senator, made history in 1993 when they were appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Two years earlier, the all-male committee confirmed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court despite credible accusations of sexual harassment made by Anita Hill.

The contentious hearings and Thomas’ confirmation are believed to have played a pivotal role in women’s political successes the following year. Zane ponders what could have been had Feinstein and other women been on the Senate committee that confirmed Thomas.

“We would have very different outcomes on the Supreme Court that have vastly touched the lives of every woman,” Zane said.

Gorin said she takes inspiration from Feinstein, Vice President Kamala Harris and “many, many others,” and recognizes the obstacles they had to overcome.

“If they could do and are doing important things, maybe I and other women can move into those footsteps,” Gorin said.

Throughout the day Friday, local elected officials put out statements about Feinstein’s importance and influence on their careers.

Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools Amie Carter recognized Feinstein’s “trailblazing career” and her leadership on gun control.

“Senator Feinstein’s devotion to civil rights and gun control should serve as a guiding light for those who follow her,” Carter said in a written statement.

Supervisor Lynda Hopkins described Feinstein as a “tireless breaker of glass ceilings.”

“Her tenacity, her intellect, I think it really showed our state what a smart, dedicated woman can do,” Hopkins said.

In 2017, Hopkins, Zane and Gorin made up the first female majority on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.

Hopkins observed that there is a “weight” that comes with being the “first woman,” one that can be tiring.

“It takes people to cross those boundaries to normalize strong female leadership for the people after them,” Hopkins said. “And I think that really was a role she has played.”

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @pressreno.

You can reach Staff Writer Emma Murphy at 707-521-5228 or emma.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MurphReports.