Live from the State with the Extremely Strong Democratic Bench: Alexei Koseff: Feinstein denied Democratic endorsement in CA Senate race: "Delegates at the California Democratic Party convention... the veteran lawmaker... received only 37 percent...
...Her principal challenger, state Senate leader Kevin de León, received 54 percent of the vote, just short of the 60 percent threshold to capture the Democratic endorsement.... After announcing his candidacy in mid-October, de León raised about $500,000 by the end of the year. Feinstein raised double that amount during the same period and kicked in $5 million of her own money, giving her nearly $10 million on hand at the start of 2018. A poll released earlier this month by the Public Policy Institute of California found Feinstein leading among likely voters by nearly 30 points—46 percent to 17 percent—while nearly two-thirds of respondents had never heard of de León or didn’t know enough about him to form an opinion..... The convention delegates reflect only a highly-involved slice of the party.
No endorsements were handed out in several other hotly contested races, including for governor, where four Democratic candidates vied for delegates’ support. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom led the vote with 39 percent, followed by Treasurer John Chiang with 30 percent, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin with 20 percent, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa with 9 percent.
