Katie Porter has Competition as Lee and Schiff Say They are Candidates for Senate Seat

After Katie Porter made it clear to Dianne Feinstein that it was time for the 89-year-old, six term senator to retire when her current term expires in 2024, the establishment wing endorsed that with Barbara Lee telling colleagues the day after Porter declared that she also intends to run for the seat. Adam Schiff followed that with his official announcement that he is a candidate, too. 

Senator Feinstein still has not said that she intended to retire when she is 91 years old, but it is clear that Democrats young and old believe it is time for the ancient ones to move on with their lives. Despite these announcements resulting in a rather ungraceful exit from power for Senator Feinstein, the three candidates are all tremendously accomplished people who are qualified to step into the Senate from the House. 

Barbara Lee is the oldest. She was born in 1946. Schiff, born in 1960, is 14 years younger than Lee. Katie Porter is the youngest of the three. She was born in 1974, which makes her 14 years younger than Schiff.

Barbara Lee is one of the most historic figures in Congress. Before becoming one of the first handful of Black women in the House, she worked on the presidential campaign of Shirley Chisolm and the Oakland mayoral campaign for Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party. Since being elected, she has served as the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and held numerous other positions of distinction. 

More significantly than anything else, she was the only member of Congress to vote against the Authorization for Use of Military Force in 2001. She warned her colleagues to be careful "not to embark on an open-ended war with neither an exit strategy nor a focused target." Even Bernie Sanders later confessed that he got it wrong, and that Barbara Lee was the only member of Congress to get it right.

Despite all of Representative Lee's qualifications and historical significance, it does not seem much like a youth movement to replace a 91-year-old senator with a 78-year-old successor. She may be the representative who has served the longest in the House, but this is not about whose turn it is to be the next senator from California.

Nancy Pelosi has said that she will endorse Adam Schiff -- unless Feinstein runs for reelection. If she does, then she will endorse the incumbent because that is what maintaining the establishment is all about. What it shows to me more than anything else is how worthless Pelosi's endorsement is for Schiff. It seems it is about retaining really old incumbents, like her and Senator Feinstein, or promoting the party's leading fundraisers, like her and Adam Schiff.

That said, Adam Schiff is a worthy candidate in his own right. Like Barbara Lee, he has served in the House for many terms. He voted in favor of invading Iraq in 2003, but he has been an outspoken opponent of the government unconstitutionally gathering information under the guise of national security. He is also a staunch advocate for freedom of the press. 

Schiff was the former ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, but he was one of the Democrats targeted by McCarthy for a vengeful removal from committee assignments. Schiff played big roles in the impeachments of Trump, and he was also a member of the January 6th Committee. 

Though competent and qualified, Schiff has voted on the wrong side of legislation that benefitted big money donors to the Democratic party. I am not accusing Schiff of any malfeasance for voting for things like the invasion of Iraq, but it would make it easier for me to believe that he thought it was best for his constituents if it hadn't cost them so much money and benefitted the party's big-money corporate donors so richly. 

Katie Porter is the young, progressive candidate who will have served three terms in the House. As a single mother, a university law professor, and the author of a book about modern consumer law, she has proven herself to be in touch with the plights of common people, and that she is both willing and able to teach rich and powerful people lessons. She has become a celebrity for using her whiteboard to spell things out for those whose misdeeds need exposing, or who need lessons about their jobs and the corruption of their companies and industries. 

Even though she is not the historic figure that Barbara Lee is, and she is not the party favorite that Adam Schiff is, she would join Elizabeth Warren as the two senators who can explain bank regulations to bank regulators. She would also join Bernie Sanders as the two senators who do not take donations from corporations or rich people. Both are advocates for significant campaign finance reform. 

I love Barbara Lee for the changes she has brought to the political landscape by bringing her voice to the House. I respect Adam Schiff for the competent leadership he showed in the impeachment hearings, and for the expertise that he added to the January 6th Committee. However, there is only one progressive candidate in the race, and Katie Porter winning the primary would mean huge changes for the direction of the Democratic party and the Senate.

Katie Porter and her famous whiteboard have proven her willingness to teach the rich and powerful the lessons that they do not learn by living privileged lives. Also, if Democrats are serious about making changes, Katie Porter is the candidate who won in a traditionally red legislative district. 

This primary should not be about whose turn it is or who earned the most money for the party to win it as a prize. It should be about who better represents the people than the 50-year-old (by then) university law professor who specializes in consumer protection law, and who has to deal with life as a working single mother. For me, it is unquestionably Katie Porter for the win!