Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) will retire from Congress at the end of 2024 after three decades in the Senate and over 50 years in public office, she announced in a statement on Tuesday.
"I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends," Feinstein said in the statement, quoted by NBC News.
Feinstein, 89, is currently the oldest sitting member of the upper chamber and the longest-serving senator from her state, first elected to the Senate in 1992. She had been under pressure for years from other Democrats in the state to make room for a younger generation of legislators who could fill her seat. She had also declined the role in the new Congress of president pro tempore, which has traditionally been the senior member of the majority party since the mid-20th century.
Her retirement opens up her California Senate seat for the first time in decades. A number of House Democrats have either announced a 2024 campaign bid for the seat, including Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff.
Rep. Barbara Lee is also planning to announce a Senate run by the end of this month, a source familiar confirmed to NBC News.
Feinstein has worked under five presidential administrations and alongside the two presidents who also served with her in the Senate: Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
In April 2022, Feinstein pushed back against a news report citing multiple anonymous colleagues expressing worry that she was mentally unfit to serve. As recently as December, she was still conveying publicly she had no plans to retire.
“Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives,” she said in Tuesday’s statement. “Each of us was sent here to solve problems. That’s what I’ve done for the last 30 years, and that’s what I plan to do for the next two years.”
Feinstein, who lists her religion as Judaism, has in the past made controversial statements related to Israel.
In 2015, she launched a verbal attack against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who at the time was preparing to speak to Congress against the Iran deal.
Feinstein said at the time that Netanyahu is "arrogant" for asserting that he speaks for all Jews, adding that he doesn't speak for her.
In 2018, Feinstein joined Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in opposing a bill intended to protect Israel from the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
A year later, she was one of six Democratic senators who introduced a resolution to restore US humanitarian aid to Palestinian Arabs in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.