Senator Dianne Feinstein's career was filled with firsts, including first woman mayor of San Francisco and one of two of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate from California.

Senator Dianne Feinstein’s career was filled with firsts, including first woman mayor of San Francisco and one of two of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate from California.

    • lars@lemmy.world
      51·
      9 months ago

      I assumed it would be a little like New York’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand? She was someone most New Yorkers had never heard of, but when Senator Hillary Clinton vacated the seat, Gillibrand was assigned to it by then-governor and thus has never, and will never, run in a competitive election.

      • Heresy_generator@kbin.social
        161·
        9 months ago

        No, Newsom has said two things about the appointment: It’s going to be a black woman and it’s going to be someone intended to be a placeholder so as not to advantage one of the actual contenders (Schiff, Porter, or Lee) with incumbency.

        • lars@lemmy.world
          71·
          9 months ago

          Wow — congratulations to the people of California!

          Except the “placeholder”.

          • Heresy_generator@kbin.social
            5·
            9 months ago

            I think the term of art he choose was “caretaker” come to think of it. But hell, they get to be a Senator for a year, something that they probably never would have gotten the chance to do otherwise. And it’s voluntary, of course, if someone doesn’t want the job temporarily they’re free to turn it down.

            • tburkhol@lemmy.world
              3·
              9 months ago

              Caretaker is way better. “I’ll put a black woman in as a placeholder until a real senator can be elected” sounds horrible.

              I mean, it’s a very pro-democracy move to make an explicitly temporary appointment and not distort the election. It’s also a very progressive move to fill the seat with a highly qualified member of an under-represented group. High marks on both counts. It’s just hard to describe the coincidence of those goals in a way that doesn’t sound like tokenism.

          • Ertebolle@kbin.socialOP
            3·
            9 months ago

            Placeholder Senate seat isn’t so bad, you still get to be a Senator even if only for a little while.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
          English
          11·
          9 months ago

          Right. Whichever centrist he appoints is gonna decide they want to keep the seat, and the party protects incumbents from progressives challengers.