Dianne Feinstein’s big legacy – and empty Senate seat
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 29 September 2023
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
Senate stalwart Dianne Feinstein died Thursday at the age of 90. Today, we talk about her legacy — and the existential crisis for Democrats that comes with her vacant Senate seat.
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Sen. Dianne Feinstein, centrist stalwart of the U.S. Senate, died Thursday. At age 90, she was the chamber’s oldest sitting member and its longest-serving woman.
Although the question of her fitness to serve received increasing scrutiny after she was hospitalized in February, Feinstein worked in politics for more than 50 years. She started in local politics in her home city of San Francisco and eventually became the city’s mayor. Then, in 1992, Feinstein became the first woman elected to the Senate from the state of California.
Today, senior congressional correspondent Paul Kane discusses the late senator’s life, legacy and the big question on the minds of many on Capitol Hill: What will happen to her vacant Senate seat?
A previous version of this episode incorrectly stated, upon second reference, the year in which San Francisco's mayor and city supervisor Harvey Milk were killed. It was November of 1978, not 1979. The audio has been updated to remove the error.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Diane Feinstein was ready to walk away from politics in the fall of 1978. |
| 0:08.0 | She had just spent nine years by that point on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, |
| 0:12.8 | and she'd run for mayor twice and lost, and her husband had just died of cancer. |
| 0:18.8 | But another tragic event would change her life and reset a political career that would |
| 0:23.4 | go on to make history. |
| 0:28.1 | On November 27, 1979, gunshots rang out in San Francisco City Hall. |
| 0:34.3 | A former city supervisor had killed the mayor in another supervisor named Harvey Milk. |
| 0:40.1 | Feinstein ran to Milk to feel for a pulse. |
| 0:43.5 | Before long, she was standing in front of TV cameras. |
| 0:48.1 | Both Mayor Masconi and supervisor Harvey Milk had been shot and killed. |
| 0:57.1 | The suspect, supervisor Dan White. |
| 1:05.1 | The country watched as Feinstein. |
| 1:07.1 | Solomon grounded promise that the city would get through the devastating events of that day. |
| 1:12.1 | She went on to become the mayor because of the city's succession laws, and she was |
| 1:16.1 | the first woman to hold that position. |
| 1:19.1 | In 1992, she won a seat in the U.S. Senate. |
| 1:23.1 | Once again, it was her first, the first woman in California ever to do so. |
| 1:28.1 | Tonight, we celebrate a victory of the people, and what a great victory it is. |
| 1:41.1 | In this Thursday, just yesterday, she walked slowly on the Senate floor |
| 1:46.1 | to cast what would be her last vote. |
| 1:48.1 | This is Feinstein. |
| 1:50.1 | Mrs. Feinstein, aye. |
... |
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