In a political career spanning more than five decades,Feinstein was a history maker and a glass-ceiling breaker.
Sean Penn played Harvey Milk on the big screen. Feinstein was the first person on the scene after the real Harvey Milk was assassinated.
She was the first female elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1971,and later became the city’s first female mayor after the murders in 1978 of city supervisor Milk and then-mayor George Moscone.
“I found Harvey on his stomach. I tried to get a pulse and put my finger through a bullet hole. He was clearly dead,” she told her local newspaper at the time.
She later became California’s first woman elected to the Senate,and has since been one of the most vocal advocates of gun control measures. She championed the assault weapons ban that lasted 10 years after then-president Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1994. Biden,with Feinstein’s support,has been trying to reinstate the ban since winning the White House.
Feinstein was also the first woman to chair the Senate Intelligence Committee,where she led a contentious review of the CIA’s detention and interrogation program after the September 11 terrorist attacks. That review resulted in laws barring the use of torture methods.
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In recent years,Feinstein had faced a series of health problems and cognitive decline,sparking a broader debate in Washington about the gerontocracy of America’s political class.
As the oldest representative in Congress,Democrats urged Feinstein to resign after an extended absence from work following a shingles diagnosis in February.
She returned to work in June and had announced she would not be recontesting her seat,but often appeared fragile and confused. This was evident in August when she unexpectedly began reciting a speech during a vote in the Senate and had to be told by colleagues to “just say ‘Aye’.”
The unnerving episode took place one day after Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell,81, had to be escorted away after freezing for 23 seconds during a press conference,prompting questions about whether some of America’s most senior politicians should still be in office.
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell froze during a press conference in July.Credit:AP
Some candidates such as former UN ambassador Nikki Haley,who is vying for the Republican nomination against Donald Trump,are now pushing for term limits in Congress and mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.
“America is not past our prime – it’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” Hayley,51,declared when she launched her candidacy for the presidency earlier this year.
Feinstein’s death has now paved the way for a potentially bruising battle within the Democratic Party over who will take over her prized seat in California,which has been in the middle of a once-in-a-generation race to succeed her ever since she announced she would not seek re-election.
With a government shutdown looming,California Governor Gavin Newsome came under immediate pressure on Friday to quickly name a replacement as Congress was set to vote on a spending plan in the coming hours to avert a government shutdown.
Newsom has committed to appointing a black woman,but with more than a year left in Feinstein’s term,the issue is likely to cause internal ructions among Democrats.
Three federal politicians are currently in the race for her California Senate seat:Adam Schiff,Katie Porter and Barbara Lee,the only black woman running.
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