Feinstein foe wins party backing, still faces tall odds
LOS ANGELES — California’s forgotten U.S. Senate candidate finally has had a memorable moment.
Kevin de Leon, a little-known liberal state senator trying to oust U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, staged an insider coup Saturday by winning the endorsement of state Democratic Party leaders.
The snub to Feinstein was a testament to the leftward shift of California Democratic activists in the age of President Donald Trump, highlighting a long-running split between the party establishment and its agitated liberal wing.
But the benefit of de Leon’s star turn — occurring at a time when voters are thinking about the beach and barbecues, not the ballot box — is likely to be fleeting.
It’s “the strongest signal yet of just how far to the left California’s Democratic activists have moved, how emboldened they are by their party’s dominance in the state and how much the Trump presidency has polarized our politics,” said University of California, San Diego political scientist Thad Kousser.
The state senator’s challenge to the more moderate Feinstein has been largely an annoyance for his fellow Democrat, rather than a threat to her winning a fifth, full term.
In the June primary Feinstein trounced de Leon, carrying every county in the state while he finished a distant second and struggled to break into double digits. California’s primary system sends only the two highest vote-getters to the general election, regardless of party.