California Democrat Dianne Feinstein turned 90 years old today in a birthday that made her one of only five senators ever to serve in the upper chamber as a nonagenarian.
Feinstein was born in 1933 and has held her seat in the Senate for nearly 31 years.
The former San Francisco mayor was long a powerhouse of Democratic politics – previously chairing the high-profile Senate Rules and Intelligence committees and authoring the 1994 assault weapons ban.
But her reputation has begun to sour as the ailing senator clings to power despite plain-as-day cognitive decline and a two-and-a-half month illness absence that led to a backlog of judge confirmations through the Judiciary Committee.
With the death of Alaska Rep. Don Young, Feinstein became the oldest member of U.S. Congress in March 2021. Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is only months behind – he will turn 90 on September 17.
California Democrat Dianne Feinstein turned 90 years old today in a birthday that made her one of only five senators ever to serve in the upper chamber as a nonagenarian
Feinstein, D-Calif., left, and Deb Fischer, R-Neb., are seen after a group photo to mark National Seersucker Day in the Ohio Clock Corridor of the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, June 8, 2023
Feinstein is the fifth-oldest to ever serve in the Senate. Strom Thurmond, the segregationist Democrat-turned-Republican, was the oldest and longest-serving senator ever: he was 100 when he retired in January 2003 after 48 years in office.
She is also one of the wealthiest: Feinstein is worth an estimated $58 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. She was married to investment banker Richard Blum from 1980 until his death in 2022.
A poll conducted late last month by the University of California at Berkeley showed some two-thirds of California voters do not think the senator is fit for office.
Feinstein will retire in 2024 – three House Democrats have already lined up to try to replace her: Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. Businessman Eric Early is running on the Republican side.
Feinstein returned to the Senate last month after a bout with shingles that led to vision and balance impairments as well as facial paralysis known as Ramsay Hunt syndrome in addition to encephalitis, a brain infection.
Her office confirmed the diagnosis after the senator herself curiously told reporters she had had the flu.
Feinstein D-CA, is assisted by a staffer following votes on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on Wednesday, June 14, 2023
Feinstein holds a copy of a billboard to be placed in 20 locations throughout the City on January 20, 1983
Mayor Feinstein – then running for governor in 1990 – speaks on the phone
Feinstein uses a weight machine at her home in 1990
‘It was a really bad flu. I’m doing better thank you,’ Feinstein said initially about her condition.
Last month it also came to light that Nancy Corinne Prowda, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi’s eldest daughter, has been acting as a caretaker of sorts to Feinstein, the Senate’s oldest member.
Asked if the arrangement was to aid Schiff’s campaign, Pelosi spokesperson Aaron Bennett gave a curt ‘no.’
Sources suggested to Politico that the arrangement was to ensure Feinstein, whose state of confusion and misremembering has been plainly on display in the Senate, remained in office to the end of her term.
Feinstein speaking on telephone in private box during NFL game between San Francisco 49ers & Seattle Seahawks; looking at aide
Swearing-in of Diane Feinstein at the Senate in 1992
Feinstein jogging looks far more full of life than in recent years
Feinstein, D-Calif., is assisted to a wheelchair by staff as she returns to the Senate after a more than two-month absence, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, May 10, 2023
The 58-year-old marketing executive has appeared with the retiring senator after the departure of several trusted aides.
Pelosi has endorsed Schiff in the primary, and sources told Politico they believed the arrangement could be to prevent Gov. Gavin Newsom from appointing Lee to fill the seat.
Newsom has pledged to appoint a black woman to the Senate and Lee fits the bill.
A spokesman for Feinstein said Prowda was not drawing a salary for her role.
‘Nancy Corinne and Senator Feinstein have been friends for decades. Nancy Corinne has been supporting her in her shingles recovery,’ Bennett explained in a statement to DailyMail.com.
‘Speaker Emerita Pelosi and Senator Feinstein have been friends since long before their service in Congress — and their friendship is personal, not political. Anyone who knows Senator Feinstein knows that her service in the Senate is entirely her own decision, and Speaker Emerita Pelosi would never suggest otherwise.’
