Elections
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, arrives for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. I Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Senator Dianne Feinstein has reported a mere $558 in contributions to her 2024 reelection campaign last quarter, raising new questions about her readiness for a reelection bid.
The paltry sum Feinstein has raised pales in comparison to that of other declared candidates: Orange County Rep. Katie Porter raised over a million in donations after launching her bid, positioning herself as a progressive with the endorsement of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Los Angeles Rep. Adam Schiff has racked up endorsements from congressional colleagues—and is also swimming in campaign cash.
Schiff changed the name of his House campaign committee to reflect his recently announced bid for the Senate, and recent filings show $643,839 in donations during the last quarter of 2022 and over $1.34 million in the election cycle to date. Those numbers don’t include most donations he’s received since announcing his Senate run on Jan. 26.
Feinstein, 89, has not given a clear indication of whether she will retire or run again after serving 30 years in the Senate. In an email, a spokesperson for the legislator said that “Senator Feinstein will announce her decision regarding the 2024 election in the coming months.”
Whether or not she runs, the race for her seat promises to be a knife fight.
Though she has yet to formally declare, East Bay Rep. Barbara Lee has told colleagues that she’s planning to enter the race. So has South Bay Congressman Ro Khanna—with a caveat that he’ll stay out of the race if Lee throws her hat in.
Unknown parties have even registered two domain names suggesting a Senate bid for action star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a political independent who has not publicly signaled any plans to run for Senate.
Mike Ege can be reached at [email protected]
