At 89 years old, you’d think that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) would be ready for retirement, wouldn’t you? Yet she hasn’t given any indication as to whether she’s retiring or running for reelection in 2024.
Though she has regularly trounced her primary opponents throughout her days in the Senate, Feinstein faces potential 2024 primary challengers with bigger reputations, namely Reps. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Katie Porter (D-Calif.). Come to think of it, if I were faced with the possibility of either one of those fools taking over my Senate seat, I’d hold off on retiring, too.
But if Feinstein is giving serious thought to running again next year, she’d better get her fundraising game in gear. The Hill is reporting that she raised just short of $600 in the last quarter of 2022 and a little over $100,000 for the whole year.
On top of that, her Fund for the Majority PAC only raised around $300 last quarter and a mere $35,000 for all of 2022. Contrast those numbers with Schiff, who had roughly $21 million cash on hand at the end of 2022, and Porter, who had about $7.4 million in the coffers at the same time.
Breitbart suggests that Schiff and Porter won’t be the only ones gunning for Feinstein’s seat.
“Many members of Congress from California, including state House and Senate lawmakers, will also make a run for the seat, creating a crowded primary where only the top two vote-getters will continue to the general election in November 2024,” the site reports.
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There has been plenty of speculation and chatter about Feinstein’s declining physical and cognitive health. Last spring, the New York Times reported that Democrats had been trying to keep the senator’s condition as secret as possible but that they were having an increasingly difficult time doing so.
“At 88, Ms. Feinstein sometimes struggles to recall the names of colleagues, frequently has little recollection of meetings or telephone conversations, and at times walks around in a state of befuddlement — including about why she is increasingly dogged by questions about whether she is fit to serve in the Senate representing the 40 million residents of California, according to half a dozen lawmakers and aides who spoke about the situation on the condition of anonymity,” the article stated.
Around the same time, PJ Media’s own Robert Spencer pointed out that Feinstein’s age was catching up with her in embarrassing ways.
On Wednesday, Los Angeles Times columnist Mark Z. Barabak called on Feinstein to hang it up.
Feinstein has faced persistent questions about her performance in the face of a conspicuous decline in mental capacity. She’s gotten by these last few years with a lot of help from Senate staff and I, for one, argued that barring obvious incapacity, Feinstein deserves to finish her term without being shoved aside.
But running again would be a terrible idea. She’s clearly not up for the rigors of a campaign — much less another six years in the Senate — and would surely, and deservedly, lose her try for reelection. That would be a sad and embarrassing coda to a remarkable, history-making career.
Does all this mean that Feinstein is planning on retiring? We just don’t know.
“For her part, Feinstein has said she will most likely make a decision on her reelection by the spring,” reports The Hill.
Politics notwithstanding, Feinstein has had an impressive run in the Senate, but her age and health are making it clear that her time is done. Certainly, she’ll make the right decision for her, but if that decision involves running again, she’ll have to step up her fundraising game.
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