SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s longest serving senator, Dianne Feinstein, announced Tuesday she will not run again in 2024.
At 89, Feinstein is the oldest senator in the country and has served for 30 years.
The race for her seat is already heating up. Several congressman, including Representative Adam Schiff, announced they were running before Tuesday's announcement.
Schiff gained national notoriety as he led the first impeachment trial against Former President Donald Trump and his role on on the House January 6th Select Committee.
Schiff said he knew an announcement was coming, just not today, and that Feinstein really wrestled with the decision. However, he hasn't heard whether Feinstein will back him in the race.
Schiff spoke one-on-one with political reporter Morgan Rynor about the issues facing California and the upcoming senate race.
The following interview has been edited for brevity.
Q&A
Rynor: What are the biggest issues California's are facing right now?
Schiff: I think they're economic issues. People are still struggling with high prices. In many parts of this state, they're struggling to pay their bills, make sure that their kids are safe. You know, very bread and butter challenges of everyday life. Costs of childcare remain impossibly high for too many families. And there's a lot we can do about it. So this is a central part of my campaign, meeting the everyday economic needs of Californians. We need to restore the child tax credit to what we had during the pandemic. We need to give more support to people starting small businesses and helping them keep small businesses going. There's so much that we can do to restore the California dream for many families that that award is slipping away.
Rynor: What can Congress do to address some of the big issues in the state like homelessness?
Schiff: I think homelessness is one of the biggest issues in the state. And it's an indication that over the last couple decades, the economy has changed in ways that people who are doing well are doing super well. But people who are struggling are really struggling, their incomes haven't kept pace with the cost of housing and the result is we have more and more people living on the street. And unless we address some of those fundamental imbalances, we're always gonna have more people becoming homeless, even as we find homes for people who already are. There's a lot the federal government can do to be a better partner to provide more resources to identify... programs that work, to help people get off the street, to help build more affordable housing, we ought to invest in these things that work. On the other hand, these approaches have not worked. They're unsustainable. They're unaffordable. Californians, I think, are very, both generous as well as compassionate. They want to help people who don't have a home. The same time, they want to know that their tax dollars are being used wisely on solutions that are actually working.
Rynor: What sets you apart in the senate race?
Schiff: I think we are all progressives. The question is, who can get things done? Who can actually make progress? I have a track record of getting things done on behalf of my constituents, on behalf of Californians. I also have a track record of leading and not being on the sidelines in the fight to protect our democracy. In the investigations of the former President, I led the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump to the first bipartisan vote to convict to remove a president in history. I served on the January 6 committee and exposed the acts of the insurrectionists and the former president's role. California is used to having senators who are in the middle of the fight, not on the sidelines. Because I have been, I think it's a big part of the reason why people like Speaker (Nancy) Pelosi have endorsed me, as well as more than 20 of my current California house colleagues, current and past colleagues. And at the end of the day, what California should want are results, and I've shown I can get results.
WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW:
