PD Editorial: Dianne Feinstein caps a historic career

Dianne Feinstein, who announced this week that she will not seek a sixth full term in the U.S. Senate, is retiring as one of the most consequential political figures in California history.

Over the course of a trailblazing political career spanning seven decades, Feinstein has shattered one glass ceiling after another.

Feinstein was the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman mayor of San Francisco, the first woman nominated by a major party for California governor, the first woman senator from California, the first woman to serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the first woman to chair the Senate Rules and Intelligence committees.

Feinstein also is the longest serving senator from California and the longest serving woman senator from any state.

“She’s a legend — a legend in California, a legend in the Senate,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

Impressive as they are, Feinstein’s legacy extends far beyond her many “firsts.”

As mayor, she helped San Francisco heal after the 1978 assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk and later led a fundraising campaign that saved the city’s iconic cable cars.

As a freshman senator, she steered a landmark assault weapons ban through Congress. She was an early and ardent supporter of marriage equality and succeeded where predecessors failed in preserving millions of acres of California desert and creating Joshua Tree National Park. She also led an investigation that produced a 6,700-page report on torture and other excesses during the post-9/11 war on terrorism.

There were just two women in the Senate when Feinstein was elected in 1992. Today, there are 25. That isn’t close to parity, but it’s no longer novel for women to hold positions of power in Washington. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the president pro-tem, is third in line to the presidency.

In an era marked by sharp partisan differences, Feinstein works with fellow Democrats and Republicans, and she has long been the go-to senator for California’s agricultural and business communities. But her moderate leanings haven’t endeared her to progressives in her own party.

As a candidate for governor in 1990, she was booed by delegates at a California Democratic Party convention for supporting capital punishment (a stance she reversed during her Senate tenure). The state party endorsed Feinstein’s opponent in 2018, but she still won by landslide margins in both the primary and the general election.

However, at 89, she is one of the oldest members of the Senate, and questions about whether she is still fit for her job have become increasingly common during her fifth term. There have been whispers that she should step down, and Feinstein has relinquished some of her roles, but she says she will finish her term.

“It’s not ’til the end of next year, so don’t hold your breath,” she told reporters after announcing her plans on Tuesday.

Feinstein made the right choice in stepping aside, and her announcement clears the way for what surely will be one of the most contested Senate elections in 2024. Reps. Katie Porter of Irvine and Adam Schiff of Burbank already are running, Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland is expected to announce soon, with still others likely to follow.

But there will be other days to focus on the future. As the race heats up, attention will shift from Feinstein to her would-be successors. On this day, let the spotlight shine on a historic figure from the Golden State.

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