It’s official: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has served as U.S. Senator from California for three decades, will not seek re-election. Or is it?
The 89-year-old Democrat issued a statement on Tuesday afternoon announcing she will leave office when her term ends in December 2024. The long-anticipated news ends speculation about Feinstein’s future—and opens up what could be a crowded race to replace her.
“Each of us was sent here to solve problems,” Feinstein said in the statement. “That’s what I’ve done for the last 30 years, and that’s what I plan to do for the next two years.”
But when she was later asked in the halls of the U.S. Capitol about her announcement, Feinstein reportedly told the press she hadn’t made any decision. “I haven’t released anything,” she said.
A staffer apparently reminded Feinstein that her office had, in fact, released the retirement news. “I should have known they put it out,” Feinstein responded.
According to Bloomberg News, Feinstein followed up by saying “it is what it is, I think the time has come.”
Still, after that interaction, Feinstein told another Capitol reporter that she was “not announcing anything.”
“I will one day,” she said, before noting that one day was “not too far away.”
Whether or not Feinstein’s retirement is official, most in the Capitol seemed to be taking it that way Tuesday.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Feinstein’s “long, distinguished career stands out for the sheer width and breadth of what she accomplished.” And according to Schumer, Feinstein gave an emotional address to her colleagues during Democrats’ weekly lunch announcing that she would depart the Senate once her term concludes in 2024.
Since arriving in the Senate in 1992, Feinstein has made her mark on a number of policy areas, from countering gun violence to scrutinizing and opposing the use of torture as an interrogation tactic. She is considered one of her generation’s most consequential lawmakers and trailblazing female politicians.
But Feinstein clearly began to decline after her 2018 reelection, and in 2021, Democratic leaders ensured she would not chair the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee. Last year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that her memory was “rapidly deteriorating,” with colleagues and staff increasingly concerned she could not fulfill the duties of her office.
This latest episode announcing her retirement just underscores those concerns.
Asked to clarify her remarks, a spokesperson for Feinstein said that senator approved the announcement “going out today, just confusion on timing.”
“The senator was out of the office for votes, a meeting, lunch and more votes when the announcement was sent,” the spokesperson said.
While Feinstein’s retirement was expected, her announcement allows would-be successors to fully charge ahead with their campaigns.
Two leading candidates did not wait until her announcement to launch their campaigns. In early January, Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) announced her plans to run for the seat. And Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) followed shortly after, though he made a point to say he had consulted Feinstein before announcing he would run. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) is also set to launch her own campaign in the coming days.
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, Schiff called Feinstein “one of the finest legislators our state and country have ever known,” adding that her accomplishments are “immense and far from over.”
