Democratic California senator Dianne Feinstein has died. She was 90. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
CALIFORNIA — California U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was elected to the Senate in 1992 and became a prominent voice for gun safety, has died, her office confirmed Friday. She was 90.
Remembered as a "trailblazer" by many of her colleagues, Feinstein broke gender barriers for women in politics, both locally and nationally. After the death of San Francisco mayor George Moscone in 1978, Feinstein became the city's first female mayor. She was later elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992 becoming one of California's first two female senators. Feinstein was also the first woman to head the Senate Intelligence Committee and the first woman to serve as the Judiciary committee’s top Democrat.
Although Feinstein championed many firsts for women in politics, her greatest legislative accomplishment was advocating for gun safety. In 1994 the Senate approved her amendment to ban manufacturing and sales of certain types of assault weapons. Although the law later expired, Feinstein never stopped pushing for stricter gun measures.
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In recent years, Feinstein's health began to deteriorate. The senator had recently announced she would not run for a sixth term next year after missing several months of work due to health issues.
Feinstein is survived by her daughter Katherine, her granddaughter and three stepchildren.
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See photos from the storied career of Senator Dianne Feinstein below.
Dianne Feinstein, elected to finish out the term of the late San Francisco Mayor George R. Moscone, addresses the Board of Supervisors following her election in San Francisco Monday, Dec. 5, 1978. Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California has died. Three people familiar with the situation confirmed her death to The Associated Press on Friday, Sept. 29, 2023. She was 90.(AP Photo/Sal Veder, File) San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein carries a candle as she leads an estimated 15,000 marchers also carrying candles during a march in memory of slain Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in San Francisco, Nov. 28, 1979. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein and singer Tony Bennett, who sang " I Left My Heart in San Francisco," hangs on to the outside of a cable car in San Francisco before taking a test ride, Wednesday, May 2, 1984. (AP Photo/Jeff Reinking, File)San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein flashes a victory sign as her husband Dick Blum shows the latest City Hall fashion as they go to the polls in San Francisco on Tuesday, April 26, 1983. The mayor faces a recall election organized by the White Panthers who were angered at her support for gun control. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)Former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn wave to photographers on the City Hall balcony in San Francisco, Feb. 1, 1983 as they arrived with Mayor Dianne Feinstein, right. Carter's meeting with the mayor was cancelled when a caller phoned in a bomb threat, the Secret Service said. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, left, California Assembly speaker Willie Brown, center, and Rev. Cecil Williams of the Glide Memorial Church of San Francisco, hold hands during Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., march in downtown San Francisco Monday, Jan. 20, 1986. About 60,000 people attended the rally which ended at the San Francisco Civic Center. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., left, accompanied by Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill., holds an AR-15 assault-style rifle with a collapsible stock during a Capitol Hill news conference Friday March 22, 1996, after the House voted to repeal the two-year-old assault-style firearms ban. (AP Photo/John Duricka, File)Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., speaks with reporters following a closed-door briefing by intelligence agencies on the Boston Marathon bombing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, April 23, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., talks to reporters as she walks to her office during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Feb. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)Former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein celebrates in San Francisco, Tuesday, June 8, 1992, after announcing her victory for one of California's U.S. Senate seats. (AP Photo/George Nikitin, File)
