Time to retire? Feinstein says no
WHITEWATER, Calif. — There was the 5-mile dusty drive to a remote wilderness reserve on the outskirts of Palm Springs, to talk about her efforts to protect the pristine deserts and mountains that make up so much of California.
A few days later, it was off to Salinas for a tour of a mushroom farm with members of the powerful United Farm Workers. And on Thursday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., was posing in front of a C-130 firefighting air tanker outside Sacramento as she got a briefing from state officials about the coming fire season.
At a time when other members of this state’s Democratic old guard are moving toward retirement, Feinstein, 85, is running again, closing out what will likely be her last campaign with a statewide tour that has all the markings of a career valedictory.
And weeks after she was pummeled by Republicans, including President Donald Trump, for her actions during the confirmation hearing of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, she appears to be cruising to victory over her opponent, Kevin de León, the former Democratic leader of the state Senate.
As she traveled around the state, she drew no criticism for how she handled her role as the senior Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
Feinstein’s dominant position comes despite opposition from some Democrats, who contend it is time to dispatch a younger, less moderate, more partisan member to the front lines in Washington, and amid criticism that her age is beginning to take a toll. (The state Democratic Party, in a notable rebuke, endorsed the younger and more liberal de León.)
Her apparent lead suggests that at a time of generational and ideological upheaval, California — the face of the liberal resistance — still has an appetite for a politician who embraces political moderation. And in an interview, Feinstein said the Senate needed a mix of political ideologies — and of younger and older leaders.
“I think it takes both,” said Feinstein, who has been a staunch moderate since her days as mayor of San Francisco. “I think a government of just young people — it should be a government of all people. America is growing more elderly.”
By all appearances, this campaign is hardly the toughest race she has faced since she first joined the San Francisco
Board of Supervisors 49 years ago. She narrowly lost a bid for governor in 1990 to Pete Wilson, a Republican who was senator at the time. (She went on to take his seat in a special election in 1992.)
The visit to Salinas, 50 miles south of San Jose, was only one of three campaign appearances she made last week. Though she had been making stops around the state, her pace was far less busy than would normally be expected with Election Day so close.
De León, in an interview, called her “out of touch” with California values and how politics is now conducted in Washington, but Feinstein declined to address any of his criticisms.
“You’re not going to get anywhere on this,” she said. “I’m so substantially ahead, I don’t pay any attention to him.”
And in a show of just how much money the Feinstein campaign has to spend, it treated 100 supporters to a three-course lunch at Lulu California Bistro in Palm Springs. Typically, these kinds of luncheons are fundraisers, which require attendees to contribute to attend.