De León unleashes on Feinstein
Senate challenger goes on attack in seeking party endorsement
SAN DIEGO — State Senate leader Kevin de León, hoping to land the California Democratic Party’s endorsement for his longshot U.S. Senate campaign, intensified his attacks on incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Saturday, saying “the days of Democrats biding our time, biting our tongue and triangulating at the margins are over.”
Without directly naming Feinstein, a fellow Democrat who was first elected to the Senate in 1992, de León told delegates at the state party convention that “some will have you believe this Senate race is about congressional seniority, not ideas or values; that being good sometimes is good enough.”
By the time the votes of 3,400 delegates are counted early Sunday morning, the Los Angeles legislator will know if his candidacy will get a much-needed boost and whether progressives tired of Feinstein will have a shot at ousting her. If he were to win the party’s endorsement — or
even block Feinstein from getting the 60 percent support needed to secure it — “it would be huge,” de León told The Chronicle’s “It’s All Political” podcast.
There’s no doubt that a “California Democrats reject Feinstein” headline would send a tremor through the nation’s political establishment and breathe life into de León’s campaign.
But its long-term value might be limited. While the Democratic nod would enable de León to draw on the state party’s infrastructure and some of its cash, the fundamentals of the race would still be largely the same. Feinstein led de León 46 percent to 17 percent in a January survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. Nearly two-thirds of likely Democratic voters prefer Feinstein. And with an estimated personal net worth of $53 million, she has access to as much cash as she needs.
“Winning an endorsement, or even holding Sen. Feinstein to a draw by denying this incumbent her party's endorsement, would be a coup for Kevin de León,” said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego.
“It would be a surprising sign that California's Democratic establishment is not lining up behind one of its most experienced and popular officeholders,” Kousser said. “But it would not be a death knell.”
De León’s campaign has had a hard time getting off the ground.
For starters, virtually every California voter knows Feinstein, while nearly two-thirds of voters don’t know enough about de León to form an opinion. Feinstein has $9.8 million on hand and could tap millions more as one of the wealthiest members of the Senate; de León has raised less money than Buffy Wicks, a first-time Democratic Assembly candidate in Oakland, and has $359,261 on hand.
Their race is a microcosm of two distinctly California stories at a time when the state Democratic Party is becoming more progressive and less white. Feinstein, 84, is the oldest child of a wealthy physician, raised in San Francisco’s ritziest neighborhoods. De León, 51, the youngest son of housekeeper, was raised in a San Diego barrio just a few miles from where he addressed delegates Saturday.
In some ways, de León’s candidacy has forced Feinstein to the left, especially since August, when she enraged progressives by saying she hoped Trump had the capacity to change “and if he does, he can be a good president.”
Ever since then, she’s been trying to walk back that remark to progressives, who have an outsize presence at the convention.
At some of the more left-leaning convention caucuses this weekend, Feinstein’s supporters passed out flyers describing her as “our progressive champion” and containing a quote from the Washington Post describing her as “one of the most liberal members of the chamber.” Three times, it mentions how she opposes Trump. Feinstein voted to confirm 11 of Trump’s 22 Cabinet or administration appointees, in the lower third among Democratic senators.
But at the more Feinstein-friendly women’s caucus Saturday morning — where she received a standing ovation when she walked into the room — supporters handed out similar-looking flyers, except that Feinstein was merely called “our champion.” Those flyers don’t mention Trump at all.
De León tapped into misgivings about the fervor of Feinstein’s Trump resistance during his speech Saturday. He criticized her for supporting the Iraq War, the Patriot Act and the federal government’s warrantless surveillance program.
“We speak truth to power, and we’ve never been fooled into believing Donald Trump ‘can be a good president,’ ” de León said. “California Democrats — we fight on the front lines — we don’t equivocate on the sidelines.”
Yet he acknowledged his predicament: It is
hard for him to trash a pioneering politician who still enjoys widespread respect in the party.
“I respect my opponent’s service,” de León said. “This race isn’t personal, but the values we are fighting for — California values, Democratic values, fundamental human rights values — are as personal as it gets.”
During her speech to the full convention Saturday, Feinstein focused almost entirely on what she has called her mission to eliminate assault weapons. Invoking the recent school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people, Feinstein said “this is not what our schools should be ... and
I’m dedicated to change that.”
But she has a long way to go with many of the party’s activists. She has rarely attended state party conventions in recent years. A moderator at the Latino caucus noted, “she hasn’t been here in 25 years.” Then the group endorsed de León.
De León has spent the past several months visiting Democratic clubs across the state, trying to woo many of their delegates. He frequently began his remarks, as he did to the labor caucus, by invoking his humble roots.
“Brothers and sisters, I am one of you,” de León said. “Together we fought for $15 minimum wage” and other labor-friendly legislation.
Feinstein, meanwhile, barely mentioned labor at the labor caucus Friday, instead talking about “being a woman on a mission to ban assault weapons.”
“Just as you care about wages, hours and working conditions. We all have to care about the safety of our streets, our schools, our workplaces,” Feinstein said, quickly adding that she believes that she has always voted with labor during her Senate career.
Yet some at the convention weren’t ready to ditch Feinstein.
“Do I agree with everything she says? No,” said Melinda McGraw, a Los Angeles resident. “But with all of that experience she has — especially now — it’s essential that we keep her.”
“Winning an endorsement, or even holding Sen. Feinstein to a draw ... would be a coup for Kevin de León.”
Thad Kousser, political science professor at UC San Diego