Dianne Feinstein dusted off her personal Twitter account this morning and used it for the first time since April to tweet:
@DianneFeinstein – “I am running for reelection to the Senate. Lots more to do: ending gun violence, combating climate change, access to healthcare. I’m all in!”
The tweet was followed by a Facebook post and press release.
And, from her colleague: @KamalaHarris – “I strongly support @DianneFeinstein’s reelection campaign, and am thankful she is again offering to serve our state.”
Already, “progressive” Democrats are responding calling for a challenger from the left with Kevin de León’s name coming up frequently.
So, continuing on my writing yesterday, we at least have certainty on one front.
One of the items of feedback I got yesterday was the rumor that de León was eyeing Eric Garcetti‘s seat, should the Los Angeles mayor run for U.S. Senate. However, Garcetti is not likely to challenge Feinstein from the left or President.
Even if Garcetti ran for President, though, his term as mayor doesn’t end until 2022, which is extended one year with the move from odd-year elections for LA muni elections to even-year elections. Thus, de León could wait, but that means he would be out of office until 2021 (if Garcetti became President) or 2022 (end of Garcetti’s term).
Thus, de León would still need to find a way to maintain his voice and expand his reach, so my thoughts yesterday of becoming an immigrant/low income populist makes sense.
However, he may challenge Feinstein from the left. Yesterday, following Feinstein’s appearence on Meet the Press and Face the Nation, de León seemingly criticized her incremental approach of “art of the possible” right now, while he’s pushing the more popular assault weapons ban that Feinstein pushed before.
We’ll see what de León does and watching for any clues. If he decides to challenge her, its very possible that the two of them would land in the top to spots, facing off in the November general election. No significant Republicans have indicated that they are running. I wouldn’t be shocked if former San Diego councilmember and now radio talk show host Carl DeMaio jumped in to carry the Republican flag. He is the public face behind Reform California, which is behind one of the two initiatives to repeal the gas tax.
Anyway, you thought the Democratic Party’s race for chair in May was ugly. It’s possible you ain’t seen nothing yet.