What a De León vote didn’t mean

Re “De León wound up the red to Feinstein’s blue,” Nov. 8

I was appalled to learn that my last-minute decision to vote for state Sen. Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) over U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has backfired.

I wanted and expected Feinstein to win; her seniority, experience and connections are worth her politics being a little too centrist for my taste. But when I read how campaigning against De León had been nudging her a little further to the left, I hoped that an increase in his vote total would both encourage him to keep up the good fight for progressive activism, and her to stay in the left lane.

I applauded Feintein’s courage and integrity in the Brett M. Kavanaugh catastrophe, and I’m ashamed to have my vote for De León counted among those of Trump’s supporters. I’d like to see their faces if they had actually helped elect him. David Bortin Whittier

Feinstein was responsible for the Republicans holding on to the Senate.

First, she helped to destroy the careers of two moderate Democratic female senators by cornering them into voting against Kavanaugh. Second, when the letter sent to Feinstein was released and Kavanaugh was publicly humiliated, she eliminated any chance for the judge to have ended his own nomination during the private Senate hearings.

Feinstein and her fellow Democrats on the Judiciary Committee gambled on destroying Kavanaugh during the hearings, but the backlash against her cost the Democrats the Senate. Mark Walker Chino Hills

De León lost the primary and his own district to Feinstein, yet a few party elites awarded him their “endorsement.”

Now De León touts his losing effort as a “progressive movement,” though he had nothing going until he amplified Trump’s attacks on Feinstein during the Kavanaugh hearings.

Let’s be clear: Democrats chose Feinstein on Nov. 6 and rebuked the party insiders who disregarded their primary votes.

If the California Democratic Party hopes to regain the trust and support of Democratic voters, it must clean house, change the endorsement process and reach out to Democrats rather than to Trump Republicans. Until that happens, I am no longer donating to my party. Jo Perry Studio City