By Tyler Sonderholzer
In 2024, Californians will have the opportunity to not only vote in the 2024 presidential election, but they will also be able to vote in a U.S. Senate election. Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein currently holds the seat but she announced that she is not running for re-election. While the seat is not considered competitive in the traditional Democratic v Republican sense, it is still expected to be a very closely watched election of the 2024 senate election cycle
Why Feinstein retired
Feinstein is currently 89 years old, meaning if she did run for re-election she would be 94 at the end of her next term. Even before she made a decision on whether she will run for re-election, some California Democrats have already announced their bid for the seat.
Feinstein had faced pressure from Democrats to not run for re-election; some even questioned her ability to serve due to her age.
She has been serving in the Senate since 1992 and last won re-election in 2018 beating fellow Democrat and state senator Kevin de Leon by a 54.2%-45.8% margin.
Feinstein has served on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee, most notably serving as Ranking Member.
Feinstein’s potential successor
With Feinstein not running, it will mean that California will have a highly contested election with a wide range of Democrats and Republicans vying to replace Feinstein. At the time of this article, two notable candidates have already announced their bids for the seat, Democratic Representatives Adam Schiff, who represents Burbank, and Representative Katie Porter, who represents Huntington Beach and South Orange County. Democratic Representative Barbara Lee, who represents Oakland, has told colleagues that she plans to run but has not made an official announcement.
Porter is part of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party as she is a member of the congressional progressive caucus. She was first elected in 2018 and has gained notoriety for using a whiteboard during congressional hearings.
Unlike Porter, Schiff is considered to be an establishment Democrat, meaning that his policies are more aligned with most Congressional Democrats. He was first elected in 2000 and is famous for being the lead impeachment manager in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment.
There have yet to be any notable Republicans to either announce their candidacy or express interest in running for the seat.
Unlike most of the country, California does not have a traditional Democratic and Republican primary for local and statewide races. Instead, the state has a unique jungle primary system where all candidates regardless of party run in the primary election in March. The top two vote-getters will face each other in the general election in November. This could lead to the possibility of a Democrat vs Democrat, Republican vs Democrat or Republican vs Republican election, however, the latter is highly unlikely given California’s partisan lean.
