Karen Bass says Barbara Lee should be appointed if Feinstein resigns from Senate
Jack Birle
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says that Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) should be appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to the Senate, if Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) chooses to resign before her term is finished.
The Democratic Mayor also emphasized that filling one of the Golden State’s Senate seats is not an issue because Feinstein is still in office, while speaking on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
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“Well, Barbara Lee was under consideration before [Newsom] made the appointment of Sen. Padilla, who I supported and am excited about. And I absolutely think that he should appoint Barbara Lee, but we’ll see. I mean, Sen. Feinstein is still in office,” Bass said.
“It’s not an issue right now,” she continued.
When pressed by host Jake Tapper on whether Feinstein should still be in office, Bass deferred to the longtime California senator but did say she worries about Feinstein’s health.
“Should she be in office? I mean, that’s her decision, I worry about her — I worry about her health — but ultimately, of course, that’s her decision to make,” Bass said.
Feinstein, who was first elected in 1992, has opted to retire at the end of her current term in 2025. At 89 years old, she is the oldest senator in the chamber. Feinstein received pushback from some Democrats for her lengthy absence earlier this year as she recovered from shingles.
As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she faced pressure to resign during her absence from mid-February until May because some of President Joe Biden’s judicial nominations were being held up as Democrats hold a narrow majority in the Senate. Feinstein ultimately did not resign from her committee assignment or the chamber and has been back working on Capitol Hill since May, but she still faces scrutiny over her health.
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A recent poll found Lee in third place behind Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Katie Porter (D-CA) in the California Senate primary. In a survey of voters of all political affiliations, Schiff had 14.5% support, Porter had 14.2%, and Lee had 6.2%, while 47.4% were undecided.
Due to California’s primary system, the top two candidates in the March 2024 primary, regardless of party, are the only ones that will advance to the general election in November 2024.