California Democrats decline to endorse Senate veteran Dianne Feinstein's final campaign

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and plans to make 2018 her final campaign. But if the activists at the California Democratic Party's convention this weekend have their say, she won't run again at all.

In vote results released Sunday, just 37 percent of delegates backed Feinstein, while 54 percent supported her primary challenger, State Sen. Kevin de León. Party rules require 60 percent support for an endorsement, but the underdog de León promptly cast the vote as "an astounding rejection of politics as usual [which] boosts our campaign's momentum as we all stand shoulder-to-shoulder against a complacent status quo."

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In the broader race, however, Feinstein's name recognition and deep coffers put her well ahead of her opponent. A recent survey saw her leading with 46 percent to de León's 17 percent.

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.