Even her critics credited Feinstein with a calming influence, and she won reelection on her own to two four-year terms. It was a story she would retell often in the years ahead as she pushed for stricter gun control measures.įeinstein became mayor of San Francisco after the 1978 slayings of Moscone and Milk, leading the city during one of the most turbulent periods in its history. Though the assault weapons ban expired 10 years later and was never renewed or replaced, it was a poignant win after her career had been significantly shaped by gun violence.įeinstein remembered finding Milk’s body, her finger slipping into a bullet hole as she felt for a pulse. One of Feinstein’s most significant legislative accomplishments was early in her career, when the Senate approved her amendment to ban manufacturing and sales of certain types of assault weapons as part of a crime bill that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994. The president pro tempore opens the Senate every day and holds other ceremonial duties. In 2023, she said she would not serve as the Senate president pro tempore, or the most senior member of the majority party, even though she was in line to do so. And within weeks of that announcement, she was absent for the Senate for more than two months as she recovered from a bout of shingles.Īmid the concerns about her health, Feinstein stepped down as the top Democrat on the Judiciary panel after the 2020 elections, just as her party was about to take the majority. In February 2023, she said she would not run for a sixth term the next year. But she lost that edge in her later years in the Senate, as her health visibly declined and she often became confused when answering questions or speaking publicly. A fierce debater who did not suffer fools, the California senator was long known for her verbal zingers and sharp comebacks when challenged on the issues about which she was most fervent.
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