Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) said Thursday that she would back her senior Democratic colleague, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), “100 percent” should she decide to run for a fifth term in 2018.
“I am a strong supporter of Dianne, and if she decides to run again, I will be front and center in supporting her — and for lots of good reasons,” Harris told Politico. “I may not agree with her on everything. But I admire and respect her. … I do strongly believe that she is one of the greatest public servants that California has had.”
Harris reportedly added, “Anyone who knows Dianne knows she takes the job very seriously. And if she runs, I am supporting her 100 percent.”
Feinstein, who at 84 is the oldest member of the U.S. Senate, could be primaried next year if faced with a strong enough challenger and if growing criticism prevails against her among her party’s increasingly-relevant progressive wing.
Politico noted that “Feinstein angered constituents in her hometown of San Francisco when she said firmly that she doesn’t support a universal ‘Medicare-for-all’ health care system championed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders,” unlike Sen. Harris who intends to back it.
“It’s time for Dianne Feinstein to go,” Ben Becker, co-founder of San Francisco Berniecrats said earlier this month, according to the Sacramento Bee. “She’s not looking out for people of color and poor people, those who don’t have equal footing in Donald Trump’s America. Her argument for civility and bipartisanship will lead us down a very, very dark path with this current administration.”
The publication noted that she further angered the radical wing of her party when she said Trump “can be a good president” if he can “learn and change.”
Still, Harris reportedly disputed suggestions that Feinstein was weakened, reportedly saying “she is forceful and clear-thinking.”
According to the Bee, Feinstein has raised $1.35 million during the first half of 2017, and has a total of $3.6 million in her campaign war chest.
Adelle Nazarian is a politics and national security reporter for Breitbart News. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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