First elected to the Senate in 1992, Dianne Feinstein is the oldest member of Congress.
“:”US Senator Dianne Feinstein, a trailblazer for women in American politics, announced on Tuesday that she will not seek re-election in 2024, clearing the path for a hotly contested race for her seat among California Democrats. First elected to the Senate in 1992, Feinstein is the oldest member of Congress at 89. She had been under pressure to resign in recent years and had pushed back on lawmakers’ accounts that her memory had deteriorated. “I am announcing today I will not run for re-election in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends,” she said in a statement. “There are times for all things under the sun and I think that will be the right time,” she told reporters. Feinstein, who declined to endorse a successor on Tuesday, had led the way for women in US politics: the first to serve as mayor of San Francisco, the first to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee and now the longest-serving female senator. Her achievements include writing the 1994 assault rifle ban and producing a 6,700-page report on the CIA torture programme during the US “war on terror”.
