BREAKING: Senator Dianne Feinstein Dead At 90

Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the oldest U.S. Senate member, has died at 90.

Feinstein, the longest-serving senator from California, had numerous health issues over the past year.

According to reports, the cause of her death is unclear.

Now, Gov. Gavin Newsom must appoint a temporary successor for the U.S. Senate seat.

Feinstein’s term ends in 2024.

🚨BREAKING: Senator Dianne Feinstein has passed away at the age of 90 pic.twitter.com/xM79eAaS0R

— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) September 29, 2023

BREAKING: Senator Dianne Feinstein has died at the age of 90. pic.twitter.com/PWFmowW5lu

— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) September 29, 2023

Feinstein was present in the U.S. Senate Wednesday and cast a vote at 11:45 a.m. ET, Fox News reports.

It appears she marked a “yes” vote on the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act.

Dianne Feinstein voted yesterday.

She was marked as a "yes" vote on the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act. pic.twitter.com/HTKMPukDTz

— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) September 29, 2023

Fox News reports:

Feinstein, the longest-serving female senator ever, was first elected to the role in 1992.

“Senator Feinstein led a bipartisan group of senators in passing legislation to drastically increase the fuel efficiency of cars. She was a leading voice in the effort to legalize gay marriage and ensure rights for LGBT Americans,” a biography on her website reads.

“She’s a champion for the preservation of the Mojave Desert, Lake Tahoe and California’s forests. She helped create the nationwide AMBER Alert network, passed bills to criminalize border drug tunnels and has long focused on improving California’s water infrastructure and reducing the threat of wildfires,” it added, noting that she has pushed for “commonsense gun laws.”

Her biography says her “most notable achievements” are the “enactment of the federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994” and the “six-year review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program that culminated in the 2014 release of the report’s executive summary and passage of legislation ensuring that certain post-9/11 interrogation methods are never used again.”

Many wonder who Newsom will appoint for the U.S. Senate.

As you've heard, Dianne Feinstein has passed away.  And, of course, the media jumps right into the politics — who will replace her, what will Gavin Newsom do, Newsom promised to appoint a black woman, etc.  And how she was a "moderate" — how the media build up Democrats the way…

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) September 29, 2023

Per NBC News:

In his most direct comments on the matter yet, Newsom said in the interview with Chuck Todd for NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that airs Sunday that he would instead make an “interim appointment” to replace Feinstein if necessary.

“Yes. Interim appointment. I don’t want to get involved in the primary,” Newsom said. “It would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away. I don’t want to tip the balance of that.”

Lee publicly fired back at Newsom over the news, calling the idea of appointing a Black woman on only an interim basis “insulting.”

“I am troubled by the Governor’s remarks. The idea that a Black woman should be appointed only as a caretaker to simply check a box is insulting to countless Black women across this country who have carried the Democratic Party to victory election after election,” Lee said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Lee, Schiff and Porter are locked in a high-profile battle ahead of the March 5 all-party primary, when the top two vote-getters of any party will advance to the November general election. Both may end up being Democrats, given California’s partisan tilt.

A poll released Thursday from the Institute of Government Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, found Schiff and Porter running neck and neck at 20% and 17%, respectively, while Lee trailed at 7%. A third are still undecided.

Feinstein, 90, has resisted calls to resign and said she intends to serve out the remainder of her term, which ends in January 2025.