She later became the first woman elected mayor of San Francisco. 27, 1978, Feinstein, then-president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, became acting mayor following the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and city Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first gay elected official in California. Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images fileīefore her election to the Senate in 1992, tragedy helped fuel her rapid rise in San Francisco and California politics. Feinstein leaves the Senate Chamber following a vote at the Capitol on Feb. He previously told NBC News he wouldn't choose any of the 2024 candidates to avoid tipping the scales. Newsom is expected to appoint a temporary successor to fill Feinstein's seat. Gavin Newsom, for example, that she wanted Alex Padilla, then California’s secretary of state, to fill Kamala Harris’ seat in the Senate after Harris was elected vice president, a request that Newsom fulfilled. Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee are running for Feinstein's seat.įeinstein was hugely influential in state and national politics, and her support held great weight. “I remain committed to do what I said I would when I was re-elected in 2018: fight for Californians,” she said then.ĭemocratic Reps. Last April, Feinstein pushed back against a news report in the San Francisco Chronicle citing multiple anonymous colleagues expressing worries that she was mentally unfit to serve. John Duricka / AP fileįeinstein faced some pressure to resign in recent years to make way for younger lawmakers. Barbara Mikulski, Dianne Feinstein and Patty Murray after a meeting on Capitol Hill in 1993 to discuss health care issues. From left, first lady Hilary Rodham Clinton and Sens. The move prompted swift calls for Feinstein’s ouster as the ranking member of the panel, and she ultimately did step down.įeinstein preferred following Senate traditions than changing them, though she voiced openness in 2021 to potentially altering filibuster rules if Democrats were unable to pass key parts of their legislative agenda, including voting rights reforms, gun control and a reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. Those tensions with progressives built to a head during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett in October 2020 when Feinstein hugged Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and thanked him for how he had conducted the hearing. She parted from them on a number of issues, including opposing single-payer, government-run health care and the ambitious Green New Deal climate proposal, which she argued was politically and fiscally unfeasible. She’s made history in so many ways, and our country will benefit from her legacy for generations.”Ī centrist Democrat, she was known for trying to find common ground with Republicans, sometimes drawing criticism from her party’s liberal members. “Dianne made her mark on everything from national security to the environment to protecting civil liberties. Serving in the Senate together for more than 15 years, I had a front row seat to what Dianne was able to accomplish,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.

“In San Francisco, she showed enormous poise and courage in the wake of tragedy, and became a powerful voice for American values. She had faced calls for her resignation over concerns about her health. Senator Feinstein was a force of nature who made an incredible impact on our country and her home state.'įeinstein, the oldest member of the Senate, the longest-serving female senator and the longest-serving senator from California, announced in February that she planned to retire at the end of 2024, when her term is up. “There are few women who can be called senator, chairman, mayor, wife, mom and grandmother. Feinstein's office did not share a cause of death, but she had been experiencing rapidly declining health in recent months. At the same time, she was always willing to work with anyone, even those she disagreed with, if it meant bettering the lives of Californians or the betterment of our nation,' her chief of staff, James Sauls, said in a statement. “Senator Feinstein never backed away from a fight for what was just and right.

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