Veteran Senator Dianne Feinstein to End Her Career in 2024

California Senator Dianne Feinstein walks the halls of the Senate this Tuesday, February 14.J.

Scott Applewhite (AP)

Farewell to one of California's political legends.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein announced this Tuesday that she will not seek re-election in the 2024 elections. The 89-year-old legislator puts an end to a career in the Capitol that began more than three decades ago, in 1992. “I have proposed to achieve for California as much as possible until the end of next year, when my term ends," the senator said in a statement.

The announcement is also the starting gun for one of the most important political positions in the most populous state in the country.

There are already several interested in filling the vacancy left by a benchmark for women in American politics.

Feinstein, who has been called an "icon" by Nancy Pelosi, confirms months of speculation surrounding his ability to continue holding office.

She is the senior senator among the hundred legislators on Capitol Hill.

Had she gone ahead, she would be 91 years old on election day in November 2024 and 97 years old after six years in office.

Her health has also been a topic of debate.

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He assured in April of last year that the senator had problems following the long meetings that were held in Washington to discuss the content of the legislation.

She also dealt with short-term memory problems: she would forget the names of her colleagues and phone conversations.

The article was based on testimonials from close associates, who remained anonymous.

The Chronicle revelations and concerns from Democrats also impacted the fundraising ability of Feinstein, who has shown a lot of muscle in previous election cycles when it comes to raising money for campaigns.

In 2018, he raised more than $11 million, far exceeding the average for his peers.

So Feinstein ran against Kevin de León, a Democratic politician of Latino origins who wanted to freshen up the seat.

The reputation of De León, who is now a mayor, has recently been tarnished by the racist scandal within the Los Angeles City Council.

Feinstein won that election with 54%, by almost a million votes.

Feinstein's retirement sets in motion an intense competition for the job.

Several politicians have announced their intention to take the seat that the former San Francisco mayor has held for 31 years.

Congressman Adam Schiff announced at the end of January that he would start the campaign with a view to the fall of 2024. Schiff gained national notoriety as one of the most visible faces of the committee that led the impeachment process against Donald

.

In addition to Schiff, congresswomen Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, with more progressive profiles, have begun to raise funds for the battle.

California has 52 legislators in the House of Representatives (40 are Democrats), but only two senators.

The other is Alex Padilla, the only Latino to have held the position.

The still senator has said this Tuesday that she will exhaust her time in Washington in some of the causes that she has defended for decades.

“Preventing and fighting wildfires, mitigating the effects of the drought, responding to the homelessness crisis, and making sure that all Americans have access to affordable social security,” the legislator listed in the statement.

Despite being the longest-serving woman in the Senate and the most experienced Democrat, she does not head any committee.

Polls have also found that approval for the politician, a moderate centrist, has taken a nosedive in very progressive California.

Obama is received upon his arrival in California by Senator Feinstein.JEWEL SAMAD (AFP)

Feinstein also mentions fighting the "epidemic of gun violence."

The senator was one of the architects of the 1994 rule that prohibited the sale of high-powered rifles in the United States, one of the most important laws on gun control.

This achieved that the killings and mass shootings decreased by about 40%.

To ensure that Republicans in the Senate would support her, Feinstein relented and added a ten-year sunset clause.

Championing the cause of gun control nearly cost him her job in her first re-election.

In November of that year she won the elections with a difference of 2%.

Feinstein has been trying since 2017 to get a new ban on these types of weapons into effect.

The high polarization that the country is experiencing has made the attempt fail time and time again.

A graduate of Stanford University, Feinstein began her political career as an expert on the judicial and prison system.

In 1960, she was appointed by the governor of California to serve on the board that oversaw early releases from state prisons.

In 1969 she rose to one of San Francisco's highest political offices, the board of supervisors, the body that oversees the county's actions.

From there, she planned to become mayor of her city, but failed on two attempts, in 1971 and four years later, in 1975.

Feinstein met on the San Francisco board of supervisors with Harvey Milk, a pioneering advocate for minority rights.

In November 1978, Milk was assassinated along with the city's mayor, George Moscone, by a former county supervisor, Dan White.

Feinstein had an office in City Hall and heard the shots.

She was the first to find Milk's body on the ground.

Feinstein became the mayor, the first woman to hold the position, thanks to the support of the other supervisors.

She extended her term after two elections.

The murders of Milk and Moscone convinced her to fight against the proliferation of weapons in the United States.

The mayor was the Democratic candidate for governor in 1990. However, she lost to Republican Pete Wilson.

Two years later, she became a senator.

She came to Washington with Barbara Boxer, who left the position in 2017, when she was succeeded by Kamala Harris.

One of Feinstein's most important legacies in Washington was her publication in 2014 of a more than 6,000-page report documenting the torture used by the CIA, the US intelligence agency, to gather information.

The document confronted the legislator with the leadership of Washington.

First with President George W. Bush and then with Barack Obama, who belonged to the same party as hers.

Feinstein then accused the White House of censoring a text that shed light on the bad practices of the agents.

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