Democratic whispers on future of Feinstein
SACRAMENTO — There are two questions that California Democrats whisper incessantly, yet no one can answer definitively. The first: Is Sen. Dianne Feinstein running for re-election next year?
And only the bravest officeholders and party operatives dare to tackle — publicly, at least — the thornier question that’s rife with ageist implications and the potential for disrespecting a longtime senator:
Should Feinstein, who turns 84 next month and was first elected in 1992, run?
She should, her supporters
say, because she offers gravitas at a time when the Trump administration is threatening to deconstruct government and social programs dear to Democrats.
It’s hard finding a name Democrat willing to take her on. But rising Democratic Party star Rep. Adam Schiff of Burbank told the Chronicle — prefaced by a long disclaimer saying he hoped Feinstein would run — that he would consider running for her seat if she didn’t.
But others, usually more progressive, grassroots Democrats, say she should retire, because she too often she sides with corporate interests and hasn’t been vocal enough in opposing President Trump.
Feinstein’s office continues to say she hasn’t made a decision yet. Politically, it would be foolish to pull the rip cord before the last possible minute, as she would be dismissed as a lame duck. She continues to hold fundraisers and had a modest $3.1 million cash on hand through March in her campaign account, according to federal records. Funding a campaign shouldn’t be a problem, as Feinstein is one of the wealthiest members of Congress with a net worth of at least $49 million, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.
And while her absence at last weekend’s California Democratic Party convention wasn’t surprising — like campaign debates and town halls, Feinstein rarely attends — it allowed 3,000 of the party’s delegates, officeholders and grassroots activists to size up her possible successors.
One of them was Schiff, a soft-spoken, once obscure congressman who is now the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. He’s become a party darling for his dogged pursuit of allegations that Trump campaign officials colluded with Russian operatives to meddle in last year’s presidential elections. He’s become ubiquitous on cable news and Sunday morning political shows, sought out for his measured yet pointed critiques of the Trump administration.
As he started his keynote address Saturday night, someone in the audience yelled, “We love you!” Schiff responded, “I love you, too.”
Sunday, when asked about Feinstein, the former federal prosecutor began with an explanation of how he hopes Feinstein will run again.
“Because it’s kind of an allhands-on-deck situation right now, and she has an extraordinary level of experience” on the Senate Intelligence, Judiciary and Appropriations committees, Schiff told The Chronicle. “She’s in a real key position right now, and we are benefiting from her leadership and her experience. And, plus, I have a wonderful working relationship with her — so I hope she runs again.” But ... “If she decides not to for whatever reason, it is certainly something I would consider,” Schiff said.
Schiff is among the few sitting politicians who will even entertain the possibility. At Feinstein’s town hall in San Francisco last month, some people held signs saying, “Retire Feinstein,” and others wanted Rep. Barbara Lee, DOakland, to challenge the senator.
But when an audience member at Lee’s own town hall in Berkeley on Sunday asked the congresswoman whether she would consider running for Senate, Lee smiled and passed the microphone to a fellow panelist. Asked again after the meeting by reporters, Lee said she was happy remaining in the House.
“I don’t have any political ambitions,” she said.
Don’t go searching for deep insight on the subject from other California Democrats.
“Dianne Feinstein will do what Dianne Feinstein will do,” said state Attorney General Xavier Becerra. So should she run? “Dianne has a proven track record. She will do what she feels is right,” Becerra said. “People will write books about her when she is done. But she will make that decision.”
On the convention floor over the weekend, rank-and-file Democrats felt free to tell Feinstein to pack it up.
“I don’t think she should run,” said Tara Cole, a cosmetologist from Hemet (Riverside County). “She has an old-school view of things, and she either needs to get with the program or leave. She’s on the wrong side of a lot of issues.”
Joe Wildman, a union representative from Potter Valley (Mendocino County) said he didn’t know whether Feinstein will run again, “but I don’t think she should be our senator anymore. She represents a wing of the party more suited to West Virginia than California. She’s been there a long time, so it’s time to move and make way for other people.”
Some voters think she’s too old to run. A Berkeley IGS poll in April found that 48 percent of respondents thought it would be “a good thing for California” if Feinstein sought re-election, while 52 percent thought it was a bad one. But when told that Feinstein would be 84 years old next year, 62 percent of the polls’ respondents said it would be a “bad thing” for California.
Brenda Ferguson, a clerical worker from Sacramento who lived in San Francisco when Feinstein was mayor, disagreed.
“She should stay, and I think she would spank down anybody who tried to run against her,” Ferguson said. “Run, Dianne, run. But only if you want to.”
Insiders say Feinstein remains sharp and focused, particularly as the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Plus, in a time of paralyzing Congressional gridlock, she remains one of a dwindling number of Democrats who can work across the aisle. On Monday, she led the effort to convince the Trump administration to restore $647 million in federal funding for the electrification of Caltrain. And Feinstein voted to confirm 11 of the 22 Trump nominees who faced a Senate vote. Only nine Democratic senators have backed more.
Ed Garza, a retired Democrat from Santa Ana, thinks it’s time for Feinstein to move on. But he acknowledged that “she knows a lot of stuff ” and worries that another Democrat with less name recognition might lose the seat to a Republican.
“If push came to pull, I would probably support her, though,” Garza said. “I haven’t seen anybody yet rise up to take her on.”