Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) plans to announce she will run for California’s U.S. Senate in 2024 this month, according to a report, and join what is shaping to be a crowded primary for Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) seat.
The congresswoman is planning to make a formal announcement to run for Feinstein’s coveted U.S. Senate in California by the end of February, according to the Washington Post, who spoke with a person familiar with the plans around Lee’s announcement.
The same person acknowledged that Lee is looking to announce joining the primary field during black history month.
Lee would join the race alongside her two Democrat colleagues from the U.S. House of Representatives — Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter — who entered the race last month. In January, Lee reportedly told her colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus that she intended to run for the seat.
The congresswoman’s announcement would also make her the first black woman to enter the races, something that Lee appears to want to emphasize as she told the Post in a statement that the upper chamber is lacking black women:
Currently, there are no black women in the U.S. Senate, and there have only been two in our almost 250-year history. Our voices are sorely missed in the Senate. My lived experience as a black woman making true progressive change for Californians will give a voice in the U.S. to those who are currently voiceless.
Lee’s plans to announce, along with Schiff’s and Porter’s announcements, comes as Feinstein has yet to make an official announcement on if she will retire or run for another term. However, with many Democrats announcing their intentions to run for the seat, it could potentially pressure Feinstein to retire. The 89-year-old recently said that she would make a final decision in the next couple of months.
Many members of Congress from California, including state House and Senate lawmakers, are expected to make a run for the seat, making it a crowded primary where only the top two vote-getters will continue on to the general election in November 2024.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.