WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a centrist Democrat and champion of liberal causes who was elected to the Senate in 1992 and broke gender barriers throughout her long career in local and national politics, has died. She was 90.
CLICK HERE to watch the latest Rants of Izzo Show!
Feinstein died on Thursday night at her home in Washington, D.C., her office said on Friday. Tributes poured in all day. Opening the Senate floor, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced that “we lost a giant in the Senate.”
“As the nation mourns this tremendous loss, we know how many lives she impacted and how many glass ceilings she shattered along the way,” Schumer said, his voice cracking.
President Joe Biden, who served with Feinstein for years in the Senate, called her “a pioneering American,” a “true trailblazer” and a “cherished friend.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will appoint a temporary replacement, and there is sure to be a spirited battle to succeed her.
Listen to “The Dangers of People Pleasing” on Spreaker.
Feinstein, the oldest sitting U.S. senator, 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 death came after a bout of shingles sidelined her for more than two months earlier this year — an absence that drew frustration from her most liberal critics and launched an unsuccessful attempt by Democrats to temporarily replace her on the Senate Judiciary Committee. When she returned to the Senate in May, she was frail and using a wheelchair, voting only occasionally.
On Friday, her Senate desk was draped in black and topped with a vase of white roses. Senators gave tearful tributes as members of the California House delegation stood in the back of the chamber and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sat in the gallery with Feinstein’s daughter, Katherine.
WATCH: Aliens, Lizard People and Other Conspiracy Theories!
Biden said in a statement, “Dianne made her mark on everything from national security to the environment to protecting civil liberties. “Our country will benefit from her legacy for generations.”
Former president Barack Obama also saluted her as “a trailblazer,” and former President Bill Clinton called her a champion “of civil rights and civil liberties, environmental protection and strong national security.”
She was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1969 and became its first female board president in 1978, the year Mayor George Moscone was gunned down alongside Supervisor Harvey Milk at City Hall by Dan White, a disgruntled former supervisor. Feinstein found Milk’s body.
