Party leaders back Feinstein’s challenger

LOS ANGELES — Kevin de Leon, a 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.

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.

So far, 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.

With the endorsement from the state party’s roughly 360-member executive board, de Leon will benefit from party money, volunteers and organizing help.

But he remains a long shot.

Feinstein is an institution in California politics, while de Leon remains largely unknown. She continues to hold a vast advantage in fundraising.

De Leon fired out a fundraising appeal Sunday, highlighting his endorsement. He said the vote showed his campaign is a “real alternative to the worn-out Washington playbook,” a reference to Feinstein, who is 85.