California Democrats Decline To Endorse Another Term For Sen. Dianne Feinstein : NPR
Dianne Feinstein
California Democrats Decline To Endorse Another Term For Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Before  U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein  could finish  her  speech at the California Democratic Party convention Saturday  the music began playing to indicate  she  had used  her  allotted time.
 She  kept talking. The music got louder. "I guess my time is up "  Feinstein  conceded as what sounded like a 1940s 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.
It was a sign of things to come. The grass-roots Democratic activists gathered at the party's annual convention in San Diego this weekend implicitly rebuked  the state's senior U.S. senator  by denying  her  the party's endorsement for  her  re-election bid.
 Feinstein  finished far behind de León  the top Democrat in the state Senate. De León received 54 percent of delegates' votes to just 37 percent for  Feinstein . It takes 60 percent to receive an endorsement.
While the lack of an endorsement certainly won't keep  Feinstein  off the ballot  it's a sign that grass-roots Democrats are eager to supplant leaders who are seen as too moderate and willing to compromise.
Democratic Party activists have never really been  Feinstein 's people. In 1990  when she was running for governor  she came to the party convention and expressed her support for the death penalty  eliciting boos from the liberal crowd. She lost the party endorsement to John Van de Kamp but got the nomination anyway  ultimately losing the November election to Pete Wilson.
 Feinstein  has always been a little to the right of where the party's activists are. Now  at age 84 and in  her  final campaign   Feinstein  is once again at odds with progressives  despite  her  efforts to move left by more strongly opposing President Trump's agenda.
 She  said the Senate Appropriations Committee  which  she  sits on  would never approve $25 billion for Trump's wall along the Mexico boarder. But minutes later  de León's team sent texts noting that  Feinstein  had just voted for exactly that as part of the "Common Sense Coalition" immigration plan that failed to get through the Senate.
 Feinstein  also reminded the crowd of  her  longstanding leadership on gun control  including  her  success against long odds at getting an assault weapons ban signed into law in 1994.
In  his  speech to the convention  de León reminded the crowd that  his  opponent hasn't always been a reliable liberal. "Democrats  you'll never have to guess where I stand " de León said before noting that he has championed issues such as raising the minimum wage  single-payer health care and the environment.
"California Democrats Decline To Endorse Another Term For [TGT]
Before  [TGT]could finish  [TGT]  speech at the California Democratic Party convention Saturday  the music began playing to indicate  [TGT]  had used  [TGT]  allotted time.
 [TGT]  kept talking. The music got louder. "I guess my time is up "  [TGT]  conceded as what sounded like a 1940s movie score continued playing.
Without missing a beat  supporters of  [TGT]  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  [TGT] 's 25 years in the U.S. Senate.
It was a sign of things to come. The grass-roots Democratic activists gathered at the party's annual convention in San Diego this weekend implicitly rebuked  the state's senior U.S. senator  by denying  her  the party's endorsement for  her  re-election bid.
 [TGT]  finished far behind de León  the top Democrat in the state Senate. De León received 54 percent of delegates' votes to just 37 percent for  [TGT] . It takes 60 percent to receive an endorsement.
While the lack of an endorsement certainly won't keep  [TGT]  off the ballot  it's a sign that grass-roots Democrats are eager to supplant leaders who are seen as too moderate and willing to compromise.
Democratic Party activists have never really been  [TGT] 's people. In 1990  when she was running for governor  she came to the party convention and expressed her support for the death penalty  eliciting boos from the liberal crowd. She lost the party endorsement to John Van de Kamp but got the nomination anyway  ultimately losing the November election to Pete Wilson.
 [TGT]  has always been a little to the right of where the party's activists are. Now  at age 84 and in  her  final campaign   [TGT]  is once again at odds with progressives  despite  her  efforts to move left by more strongly opposing President Trump's agenda.
 She  said the Senate Appropriations Committee  which  she  sits on  would never approve $25 billion for Trump's wall along the Mexico boarder. But minutes later  de León's team sent texts noting that  [TGT]  had just voted for exactly that as part of the "Common Sense Coalition" immigration plan that failed to get through the Senate.
 [TGT]  also reminded the crowd of  her  longstanding leadership on gun control  including  her  success against long odds at getting an assault weapons ban signed into law in 1994.
In  his  speech to the convention  de León reminded the crowd that  his  opponent hasn't always been a reliable liberal. "Democrats  you'll never have to guess where I stand " de León said before noting that he has championed issues such as raising the minimum wage  single-payer health care and the environment."