Barbara Lee Jumps Into Cali Senate Race!

Barbara Lee jumps into California senate race.

It will be one of the most costly races in California history. Now it is official, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) is joining the race to replace retiring Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein.

It is going to be a civil war.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) and Lee are Democrats who support President Joe Biden but despise one another's approach to getting things done.

Porter is a favorite among the progressives. She is best known for the whiteboards, Batgirl costumes and media appearances.

Schiff is considered the most safest candidate, so obviously they'll label him the establishment. He already has the endorsement of former House Speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). He was an impeachment manager in Washed Up 45's first. He also served on the Jan. 6 Committee. He is vilified by the far right and was stripped of his committees by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).

Lee could be the second African American woman from California elected to the Senate. 

Lee will be the third African American woman if elected. She will join the ranks of Carol Mosley Braun and Kamala Harris. Harris is currently the Vice President of the United States. Both served only one term.

Black women have little recognition in the U.S. Senate. When Harris left the senate seat, Gov. Gavin Newsom was pressured to pick a woman of color but ended up picking former California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who is the first Mexican American to be elected to the Senate.

In a video posted on Twitter, Lee ran through a list of the personal and professional battles she has taken on in her life, including fighting to be her school’s first Black cheerleader, championing protections for survivors of domestic violence and being the only member of Congress to vote against the authorization for the use of military force after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“Today I am proud to announce my candidacy for U.S. Senate. I’ve never backed down from doing what’s right. And I never will,” Lee said in the video. “Californians deserve a strong, progressive leader who has delivered real change.”

Lee, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, filed federal paperwork last week to enter the campaign shortly after the 89-year-old Feinstein announced she would step down after her term ends next year. Feinstein, the oldest member of Congress, has held the seat since 1992.

The three Democratic candidates occupy much of the same political terrain, so the race could be shaped by other factors that distinguish them.

Lee’s district in the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most liberal in the country and includes Berkeley and Oakland. Porter represents a politically divided district in Orange County, southeast of Los Angeles, that was once a conservative stronghold. Schiff’s district runs north from Los Angeles and includes Hollywood and Burbank, where he lives.

Lee is the highest-ranking Black woman appointed to House Democratic leadership, serving as co-chair of the Policy and Steering Committee. Schiff and Porter are white. Lee, at 76, is the oldest of the group. Porter is 49, and Schiff is 62.

In a nod to her age, Lee said she was the same fighter she has always been.

“For those who say my time has passed, well, when does making change go out of style?” she said in the video. “I don’t quit. I don’t give up.”

Lee has long been on outspoken defender of abortion rights. In 2021, she was one of several members of Congress who shared personal testimony about their own abortions during a congressional hearing.

She became pregnant at age 16 in the mid-1960s. Abortion in California was illegal at the time, so a family friend helped send her to a back-alley clinic in Mexico, she said at the time.

She had no ill effects from the procedure, but she said many other women weren’t so lucky in that era.

Democrats are expected to dominate the contest in the liberal state. A Republican hasn’t won a statewide race in California since 2006, and the past two U.S. Senate elections had only Democrats on the November ballot.