In order for Sen. Dianne Feinstein to secure the California Democratic Party’s official endorsement in her bid for re-election, she needed at least 60 percent of the delegate votes at Saturday’s state convention. She did not, while challenger Kevin de León received 54 percent of the votes.
During his speech Saturday Mr. de Leon described himself as the “president of the most progressive legislative house in America” and called for unwavering opposition to the president, bringing the audience to its feet and eliciting loud cheers. He took aim at Ms. Feinstein’s words last summer about Mr. Trump.
“We speak truth to power, and we’ve never been fooled into believing Donald Trump ‘can be a good President,’” he said. “California Democrats—we fight on the frontlines—we don’t equivocate on the sidelines.”
According to both the Wall Street Journal and NPR, Feinstein’s speech had the doubly awkward ending of running long, forcing the Senator to sign off from her speech as music played.
She kept talking. The music got louder. "I guess my time is up," Feinstein conceded as what sounded like a 1940's movie score continued playing.
Without missing a beat, supporters of her opponent, State Sen. Kevin de León echoed her statement in a chant: "Your time is up! Your time is up!," a not so subtle reference to Feinstein's 25 years in the U.S. Senate.
A touch that would seem heavy-handed if scripted but perfectly appropriate for our reality television times. Since announcing she would run for re-election in October, Sen. Feinstein has been chasing Kevin de Leon’s more popular progressive positions, taking louder stands on DACA, as well as criticizing the complicity of Republican senators in the ongoing investigations into Trump’s campaign connections to Russia. Most people around these here parts have been hoping for a great progressive candidate to step into the field, and while Kevin de Leon isn’t particularly far left, he has shown himself to at least sound like he’s considerably more in tune with the more progressive Democratic California voter.