{"id":8717301,"date":"2023-01-16T05:45:58","date_gmt":"2023-01-16T13:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/?p=8717301&preview=true&preview_id=8717301"},"modified":"2023-01-17T05:24:25","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T13:24:25","slug":"dianne-feinstein-once-in-a-generation-political-fight-is-heating-up-in-california-us-senate-seat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastbaytimes.com\/2023\/01\/16\/dianne-feinstein-once-in-a-generation-political-fight-is-heating-up-in-california-us-senate-seat\/","title":{"rendered":"A once-in-a-generation political fight is heating up for U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein\u2019s seat in California"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Sen.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) leaves the Senate Chamber during a procedural vote on the bipartisan federal omnibus spending legislation at the U.S. Capitol on December 20, 2022 in Washington, DC. The $1.7 trillion spending package increases both defense and discretionary spending and would avert a government shutdown days before Christmas. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A once-in-a-generation political battle is heating up in California as candidates begin to spar over Dianne Feinstein\u2019s coveted Senate seat, promising reverberations that will shake up everything from our representation in the U.S. House to our local Bay Area elections.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s exceedingly rare \u2014 like snow in San Jose rare \u2014 for one of California\u2019s two U.S. Senate seats to hit the ballot without an incumbent running. But that\u2019s exactly what may happen in 2024 when many expect Feinstein, who is almost 90 and reportedly facing cognitive decline, to retire.<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, an Orange County Democrat, made waves this past week when she became the first to officially declare her candidacy for Feinstein\u2019s seat. And several of the Golden State\u2019s representatives in the U.S. House, including locals Barbara Lee\u00a0<\/span>from the East Bay and Ro Khanna from Silicon Valley, and Adam Schiff from Southern California, have shown interest in the seat Feinstein has held since 1992.<\/p>\n

\"From
From left, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif. (AP file photos) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Others, including Rep. Eric Swalwell from the East Bay \u2014 who was 12 when Feinstein took office \u2014 also have been mentioned as contenders. If they run, the scramble could open the door for a new generation of ambitious Democrats to slip into those vacated House seats, providing a chance for termed-out local mayors, county supervisors and city councilmembers to move up the political ladder without facing off against an entrenched opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of people who will be looking at this as an opportunity,\u201d said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State University.<\/p>\n

The election is still nearly two years away. And what\u2019s more, Feinstein \u2014 who has been adamant she won\u2019t leave office until she\u2019s good and ready \u2014 hasn\u2019t even hinted that she won\u2019t seek reelection in 2024. But the fact that the feeding frenzy already has begun shows it\u2019s going to be a crowded, dramatic and expensive race.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could be a cast of thousands,\u201d joked Larry Gerston, professor emeritus of politics at San Jose State University. \u201cThese things don\u2019t come up very often. It\u2019s a gem of a position to have, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landing a seat in the U.S. Senate is scoring one of the \u201cultimate\u201d jobs in politics, Gerston said. It\u2019s an exclusive club with just 100 members, and it can serve as a springboard to the presidency.<\/p>\n

\"FILE
Democrat Katie Porter captured a Republican-held U.S. House seat in 2018 in the heart of what once was Southern California\u2019s Reagan country. (AP Photo\/Chris Carlson, File) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Porter got some blowback for the timing of her announcement \u2014 in the midst of damaging storms and flooding that have resulted in multiple deaths across the state. But she put pressure on other prospective candidates to make a move, McCuan said. Timing is important, he said, and no one wants to be last.<\/p>\n

The next day, Lee told colleagues during a closed-door meeting that she plans to run \u2014 though she hasn\u2019t formally announced her intentions, a source close to Lee confirmed to this news organization. Meanwhile, Khanna has said he\u2019s considering a Senate run. There\u2019s even speculation that Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is thought to have his eye ultimately on the presidency, might throw his hat in the ring \u2014 though he has publicly promised to serve all four years of his brand-new term as governor.<\/p>\n

Feinstein, the longest-serving female senator in U.S. history, is a political legend in California and throughout the country. She has deep Bay Area roots, serving as a San Francisco supervisor and then mayor before joining the Senate. But her advanced age and recent questions over her ability to do her job have opened the floodgates to rivals eager to replace her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if she chooses to run she\u2019s still hard to beat,\u201d said Thad Kousser, a UC San Diego political science professor. \u201cShe\u2019s not unbeatable. She\u2019s no longer the single most popular politician in the state, as she once was.\u201d<\/p>\n

All that jostling for Feinstein\u2019s seat will spur some interesting down-ticket races. With Porter no longer in the mix, it\u2019s not unlikely that her battleground Southern California district will go to a Republican \u2014 potentially helping the GOP hold onto their control of the House.<\/p>\n

Lee\u2019s vacated House seat, on the other hand, would undoubtedly go to a Democrat \u2014 maybe someone like former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf or Oakland Councilmember Rebecca Kaplan, who recently lost her bid for Alameda County supervisor, Gerston said.<\/p>\n

Amelia Ashley-Ward, publisher of the Sun-Reporter \u2014 a historic San Francisco newspaper serving the Black community \u2014 wants Feinstein to step down early and Newsom to appoint Lee to take her place. The Black community felt \u201crobbed\u201d when Newsom did not replace then-Sen. Kamala Harris \u2014 the only Black woman in the Senate when she became vice president \u2014 with another Black woman, Ashley-Ward said (though she loves Sen. Alex Padilla, who ultimately took that seat). Newsom has since promised to appoint a Black woman if Feinstein steps down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re underrepresented and we need to have our voices heard there,\u201d Ashley-Ward said. \u201cI think that it\u2019s really, really needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hot-button race is also a fight for geographic representation, pitting Northern California candidates (Lee, Khanna and Swalwell) against SoCal ones (Porter and Schiff). Until Harris vacated her spot for the vice presidency, Northern Californians had occupied both of the Golden State\u2019s Senate seats since Feinstein and Sen. Barbara Boxer, from Marin County, were elected together\u00a0three decades ago.<\/p>\n

\"Democratic
Democratic Senate candidates Barbara Boxer, left, and Dianne Feinstein raise their arms in victory and wave to supporters at an election rally in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 1992. The two women claimed victory over their Republican male rivals, Bruce Herschensohn and Sen. John Seymour. (AP Photo\/Alan Greth) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But no matter who wins, they are likely to vote very similarly on key issues, Kousser said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a fight for different flavors of progressive Democrats,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Harmeet Dhillon, a San Francisco lawyer running for chair of the Republican National Committee, thinks while the candidates mentioned so far might garner votes in big, liberal cities, their left-leaning politics are too \u201cextreme\u201d to win fans statewide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not likable, crossover, appealing-to-moderates candidates in my opinion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The race hasn\u2019t drawn any Republican challengers yet, but Gerston is sure it will \u2014 though they will face a \u201csteep hill to climb\u201d in liberal California, he said.<\/p>\n