Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California, a top House Democrat and a central figure in the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, is considering a run for the U.S. Senate in California in 2024, according to a report by Politico.
Schiff, a senior member of the House Democratic Caucus and outgoing chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, is looking to run for the seat occupied by Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California. It comes after earlier reports that Schiff had been looking to succeed outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as leader of the House Democratic Caucus.
Schiff’s consideration of a Senate bid for Feinstein’s seat despite her not announcing her retirement comes amidst widespread speculation that she is suffering the effects of old age. Feinstein, 89, is serving her sixth term in the Senate, with her political career spanning 52 years from her first election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, at age 27, in 1970.
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“Colleagues worry Dianne Feinstein is now mentally unfit to serve, citing recent interactions,” wrote the San Francisco Chronicle, a hometown newspaper that has covered Feinstein for decades, in April. It added that “Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and a California Democratic member of Congress, told the Chronicle in recent interviews that her memory is rapidly deteriorating.” (RELATED: Adam Schiff Claims He Has ‘Powerful’ Evidence About Trump And Jan 6)
Feinstein, so far, has only said she will not serve as President Pro Tempore – an office held by the most senior majority-party senator, in the presidential line of succession – in the Democratic-led Senate after her party colleague, Sen. Pat Leahy of Vermont, retires at the end of this Congress. However, in 2021, she filed paperwork to run for reelection to a seventh term in 2024, according to SFGate, which would set up a competitive primary between her and Schiff.
Schiff gained a global profile following the first impeachment of Trump for allegedly illicit contacts with Ukraine, where his committee hearings questioning witnesses attracted international attention and he received a variety of nicknames from Trump, including “Shifty Schiff” and “Pencil-Neck,” which boosted his popularity among Democrats.
Still, Schiff had to navigate difficult terrain despite gaining a prominent name. House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is the party’s nominee for Speaker of the House, has vowed to block Schiff from serving as the Intelligence Committee’s Ranking Member in the next Congress, while his bid to become leader of the caucus also seemed overshadowed by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the frontrunner in the race.
Moreover, should a vacancy occur in Feinstein’s Senate seat before 2024, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has vowed that he will appoint a black woman to the seat, which would complicate Schiff’s efforts to be elected to the upper chamber. California has a jungle primary system for statewide elections, where candidates of all parties run in a single primary and the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of party.
Schiff is himself a 26-year political careerist, having entered the California State Senate in 1996 after serving as a federal prosecutor. In November’s midterm elections, he won a 12th term in Congress by a 43.8% margin.
Schiff and Feinstein’s offices did not respond to a request for comment.
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