United States Senator Dianne Feinstein Dies At 90

Senator Dianne Feinstein, a trailblazing politician and the longest-serving female US senator in history, has died at the age of 90. Feinstein was a centrist Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 1992 and broke gender barriers throughout her long career in local and national politics. She was a leading figure in California politics for decades and became a national face of the Democratic Party. The specific cause of her death is not mentioned in the search results. Her death has injected a new element of uncertainty into the nation's capital as her Senate seat is now vacant, requiring California Governor Gavin Newsom to appoint a temporary successor. Tributes poured in from both sides of the aisle as news of her death spread, with many lawmakers and others who knew her during her long career in San Francisco politics and her three decades in the U.S. Senate lauding her legislative accomplishments and the example she set for others.

 Following  Senator Dianne Feinstein death, California Governor Gavin Newsom will be tasked with determining who will take her place as a senator for California. Newsom has set two key parameters for his appointment. First, he will appoint a Black woman, and second, the person will be a caretaker, not one of the candidates already seeking Feinstein’s seat in the 2024 election. This means that the person appointed will serve until the next election, and will not run for the seat in 2024. The candidates running for Feinstein's seat in the 2024 election include three Democratic members of Congress: Adam B. Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee. Representative Barbara Lee is the most prominent Black female candidate in the race, but she is excluded from consideration as a caretaker. Newsom has not yet announced who he will appoint to fill the vacant Senate seat.

Feinstein was a passionate advocate for liberal priorities important to her state, including environmental protection, reproductive rights, and gun control, but was also known as a pragmatic lawmaker who reached out to Republicans and sought middle ground. Her decades-long career was studded with major legislative achievements on issues including gun control and the environment. She was one of California’s first two female senators and served three decades in the Senate.  Feinstein's death leaves a vacancy on the powerful Judiciary Committee and shrinks the Senate Democratic majority to 50 seats. She was poised to become president pro tempore of the Senate third in line to the presidency but declined to.

 In a statement, Feinstein’s office said, “Her passing is a great loss for so many, from those who loved and cared for her to the people of California that she dedicated her life to serving”. Her chief of staff, James Sauls, said in a statement, “There are few women who can be called senator, chairman, mayor, wife, mom and grandmother. Senator Feinstein was a force of nature who made an incredible impact on our country and her home state”. Feinstein had been struggling with her health and had missed some work this week. “She didn’t feel well this morning,” Sen. Dick Durbin said on Thursday, noting Feinstein was unable to attend a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. Her third husband Richard Blum died in 2022.