Senator Dianne Feinstein defiantly insisted she is not resigning, in an interview with editorial board members of The San Francisco Chronicle after the newspaper published a detailed report citing multiple US senators, a member of Congress and former staffers saying that her memory is declining.
“I meet regularly with leaders,” the California Democrat, who is 88, told editorial board leaders of the newspaper. “I’m not isolated. I see people. My attendance is good. I put in the hours. We represent a huge state. And so I’m rather puzzled by all of this.”
Ms Feinstein, who has served in the Senate since 1992, has faced numerous questions about whether her memory is declining in recent years. Earlier this year, her husband Richard C Blum died. Ms Feinstein declined to be interviewed for the initial story but she spoke with editorial board leaders on Thursday.
“No, that conversation has not happened,” she said. “The real conversation is whether I’m an effective representative for 40 million people.”
Ms Feinstein last ran for election in 2018 and would be up for reelection in 2024. If she were to step aside, Governor Gavin Newsom, who would appoint a replacement, declined to comment.
Of the four senators The Chronicle interviewed, three were Democrats. “It’s bad, and it’s getting worse,” one senator said. Similarly, one former staffer said that California has had to rely increasingly on Senator Alex Padilla, whom Governor Gavin Newsom appointed to replace Senator Kamala Harris when she became vice president of the United States.
“There’s a joke on the Hill, we’ve got a great junior senator in Alex Padilla and an experienced staff in Feinstein’s office,” the staffer said.
Many Californians seem to have a negative opinion of Ms Feinstein. A survey from the Public Policy Institute of California found that 36 per cent of likely voters approved of her performance, down from 9 points a year ago. Comparatively, 39 per cent of voters approve of Mr Padilla’s performance.
