A lion of the Senate has died — and California has lost a political icon.
As news spread Friday morning, Sept. 29, of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s death, condolences, remembrances and reflections on the Golden State’s longest-serving senator flowed from Democrats and Republicans honoring her accomplishments across a broad spectrum of public policy.
Feinstein “was one of the greatest public servants that California and our nation has ever known,” Vice President Kamala Harris, a Californian who served with Feinstein in the Senate, said in a White House statement.
“From her work to help pass the Assault Weapons Ban in 1994, to her work to safeguard California’s public lands, and her longstanding advocacy for reproductive rights, marriage equality, and LGBTQ+ rights, Senator Feinstein helped build a better America.”
Feinstein “was a towering figure not just in modern California politics, but in the history of our state and our nation,” Sen. Alex Padilla, now California’s senior representative in Congress’ upper chamber, said in a statement.
It is with profound sadness that I bid farewell to my dear friend, colleague, and champion for the State of California, Senator Dianne Feinstein. https://t.co/77eaLxZGVO
— Senator Alex Padilla (@SenAlexPadilla) September 29, 2023
Padilla noted that Feinstein was San Francisco’s first woman mayor — in the wake of the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. As a senator, Padilla said, her willingness to compromise and strike bipartisan deals made her a “deeply respected” figure.
Related: Dianne Feinstein, California’s longest serving U.S. senator, dies at 90
Feinstein “was a powerhouse if I ever met one,” said L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger. “Her depth of knowledge was incomparable, she understood the complexities of every issue.”
Feinstein, a Democrat, died Thursday night at her home in Washington, D.C., according to her chief of staff, James Sauls. She was 90.
Her death ended a three-decade career in the Senate — during which she worked on gun safety, environmental and health care reform legislation, among other initiatives. She had announced she wouldn’t run for reelection when her term expires next year.
Feinstein “was thrown into the fire when she became Mayor of San Francisco and led with grace and a steely nerve ever since, making a lasting and meaningful difference in our golden state,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in an emailed statement.
“I will always remember her deep understanding of the nuances of policy and local funding in the Inland Empire, and our region owes so much to her stewardship.”
National Union of Healthcare Workers President Sal Rosselli praised Feinstein as “a courageous and trailblazing mayor of San Francisco who acted with grace and compassion during the worst years of the (1980s) HIV/AIDS crisis.”
“Dianne Feinstein was blunt; she was bold; and she backed the LGBTQ community during our darkest hour,” Rosselli said via an emailed statement. “Her response to the crisis helped healthcare workers better understand the nature of the virus and their duty to serve those suffering from it.”
Rep. Mark Takano, D-Riverside, lauded Feinstein’s work “protecting our water resources and the California desert (that) has been critical to the health of our state and its residents.”
“As the first openly gay person from California to serve in Congress, and as someone who was publicly outed in 1994, her leadership was personal to me,” Takano said in an emailed statement.
Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, who is the first openly LGBTQ immigrant member of Congress, also touted Feinstein’s advocacy for the LGBTQ community.
“Her legacy of progressive leadership on LGBTQ+ rights forged a path for a more equal country,” Garcia, who was also Long Beach’s first openly gay mayor, said in a Friday morning tweet.
Feinstein “single-handedly pushed an assault weapons ban over the finish line, and never gave up her fight to end gun violence,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, said in an emailed statement.
“She fought powerful agencies to investigate and uncover torture – and made sure it would never happen again,” added Schiff, who is running for Feinstein’s seat in 2024.
Rep. Ted Lieu, a Democrat who represents much of the South Bay, lauded Feinstein for leading the way for women to have a more prominent role in Congress.
“Through grit, grace and incredible intelligence, she succeeded in politics at a time when few women could,” Lieu said in a statement posted on social media.
Feinstein “was a trailblazer on whose shoulders I, and women in elected office all across America, will always stand,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who served in the House of Representatives in 1992, said in an emailed statement.
“She worked harder than anyone I knew on Capitol Hill, and she will be remembered as one of the most effective and impactful Senators in American history.”
Republicans also praised Feinstein.
“Her career was, by any standards, historic,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a GOP congressman from Bakersfield, said via email. “She truly cared about Californians and sought to find common ground to advance the interests of the Golden State.”
Feinstein “was a trailblazer and a titan in the Senate,” read a statement from Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, who has spent three decades in Congress.
“I’ve had the pleasure of partnering with her on many issues, including addressing California water challenges and building transportation infrastructure in the Inland Empire. When you needed to get something done in (the) Senate, the best call you could make was to Dianne Feinstein.”
Gloria Deukmejian, widow of California GOP Gov. George Deukmejian, said: “Diane was a very gracious person, a very lovely lady. Partisanship did not figure in my relationship with her.”
While Judie Mancuso — an animal rights advocate who has spearheaded at least 24 bills that have been signed into law helping animals and wildlife in California — said she didn’t always agree with Feinstein’s policies, she credited the longtime senator with being an inspiration to women wanting to make a difference.
She also credited Feinstein’s leadership as a woman for inspiring Mancuso’s own effort to found her nonprofit, Social Compassion in Legislation, in 2007.
“For women like me, without those women that came before us, charting that path and breaking ground, either we wouldn’t be where we are today or it would be a whole lot harder. I’m grateful to her for being in the place that she was,” Mancuso said.
Feinstein was first elected to the Senate in 1992 — at the same time as former Sen. Barbara Boxer. That made California the first state to have two women senators at the same time.
When Feinstein and Boxer took office, they grew the number of women in the Senate to seven. There were 47 women in the House of Representatives at the time, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.
Currently, there are 125 women in the House and 24 in the Senate. Combined, that’s more than a 175% increase in female representation since 1992.
Former Southern California U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal said Feinstein was instrumental in helping spur the cleanup of toxic chemical DDT along the Los Angeles coast in 2021.
But ultimately, Lowenthal said, Feinstein will be remembered for her ability to remedy partisan differences and make change on critical issues, such as spearheading an assault weapons ban that Congress failed to renew.
“She really moved the needle. Unfortunately, the needle has slipped back because it’s such a crisis in this country — you can’t go a week without hearing about a mass shooting,” Lowenthal said. “So, I wish we had listened to her more.”
Press-Telegram Public Editor Rich Archbold and Staff Writers Kristy Hutchings and Erika I. Ritchie contributed to this report.
