Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., announced Tuesday she is going to join the competitive 2024 Democratic race for the Senate seat held by retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
“Californians deserve a robust, progressive leader who has delivered real change,” Lee, 76, said in a social media post unveiling her long-rumored campaign for the coveted seat.
Lee’s announcement makes her the third major Democratic candidate within the running for the seat that the 89-year-old Feinstein has held since 1992. Reps. Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, each California Democrats, have already thrown their hats within the ring.
If elected in 2024, Lee would change into the one Black woman serving within the U.S. Senate.
A campaign launch video highlighted Lee’s personal struggles and experience in major civil rights movements, because it touted her progressive record.
“When my highschool said cheerleaders couldn’t be Black, I took them on,” Lee said. “I worked with the NAACP and earned my spot as, guess what, the varsity’s first Black cheerleader.”
She noted her work passing legislative protections for girls and folks within the LGBTQ community, and her efforts to secure global AIDS funding.
Lee also trumpeted her lonely opposition to a broad expansion of presidential war powers just days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
“Within the face of countless death threats, I used to be the one ‘no’ vote,” Lee said.
The 12-term congresswoman, who has been within the House since 1998 and is now vying to succeed her state’s longest-serving senator, appeared to anticipate attacks about her long tenure in politics.
“For many who say my time has passed, well, when does making change exit of favor?” Lee said within the video.
Feinstein said she is going to retire when her current term expires in 2024, opening up one of the powerful, and reliably blue, seats within the Senate. As Republicans took control of the House within the November midterms, the prospect to represent California within the remaining chamber where Democrats hold a slim majority is predicted to supply a crowded, expensive and intense primary campaign.
