Marianna Brady
Live reporter

We'll be closing this live page, but our news coverage on the death of Dianne Feinstein can be read here.

Here's what we learned today:

• California Senator Dianne Feinstein died at the age of 90 at her home in Washington DC
• Colleagues from both parties have been paying tribute to the senator, who cast her last vote in Congress on Thursday
• They hailed her as a "trailblazer" for female politicians and a kind, hard-working and effective colleague
• Feinstein was the first female mayor of San Francisco and the first woman to head the Senate Intelligence Committee
• The California Democrat was the oldest US senator and had recently faced questions about her health
• Feinstein's replacement will be selected by California governor Gavin Newsom

Thank you for joining us.

Long before she was a senator, Dianne Feinstein had a very active career in politics.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Regan Morris
Reporting from Los Angeles

Image source, Getty Images

Dianne Feinstein was thrust into the national spotlight in November 1978 when two of her colleagues were assassinated inside San Francisco’s City Hall.

“Both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk have been shot and killed,” Feinstein calmly announced outside City Hall in a chaotic press conference shortly after she found Milk dead in his office.

Her colleagues had been shot by a disgruntled former police officer and politician who wanted his city job back. Feinstein found Harvey Milk, the city’s first openly gay elected official, dead in his office.

“I found Harvey on his stomach. I tried to get a pulse and put my finger through a bullet hole. He was clearly dead,” she told the San Francisco Chronicle in 2008.

“And it was one of the hardest moments, if not the hardest moment, of my life. It was a devastating moment. For San Francisco, it was a day of infamy.”

Feinstein dedicated much of her career to creating stricter gun control in Congress.

Image source, Getty Images

Like Feinstein, the Republican leader in the US House, Kevin McCarthy, is also from California. He recalled working with her on water conservation legislation.

“I remember the hours and the nights that we had to work to try to work through and the challenges. We come from different parties,” he said during a news conference this morning.

“We have different philosophies, but we put our state first.”

McCarthy said Feinstein “inspired women from both sides of the aisle to seek elected office and to have their voices heard.

“Her career was, by any standards, historic.”

Gary O'Donoghue
Washington Correspondent

Her decline over recent years has been played out in public and has not always been edifying.

For some time, a number of Democrats questioned Feinstein's cognitive faculties and her ability to carry on.

Several Democratic California House members began campaigning openly to replace her before she’d announced she wouldn’t be running in 2024.

Her health challenges were not helped by a bout of shingles which led to brain inflammation and her seeming bewilderment when she returned to work in May after several months away, having missed more than 90 votes and held up judicial nominations because of her absence.

Feinstein had also begun to find herself more isolated in the modern Democratic party – a centrist at heart, California Democrats had shifted to the more progressive wing, leading to the party there not endorsing her 2018 re-election bid.

Nevertheless, there were many who admired her tenacity and her determination to carry on until the end – in a political life that spanned more than half a century.

“She’s a true public servant I’ll miss her,” wrote Chuck Grassley, a Republican senator from Iowa.

Feinstein’s death means that Grassley, 90, is now the oldest US senator.

The advancing age of America’s political class is a big talking point, as a rematch for president between Joe Biden (80) and Donald Trump (77) has become increasingly likely.

The average age of all US senators is 65, according to Pew Research, external.

Feinstein’s death will reduce that figure, but not substantially. The main contenders to replace her include three members of the US House: Barbara Lee (77), Adam Schiff (63) and the youngster of the bunch, Katie Porter (49).

Image source, Getty Images

In a statement, Democrat House leader Nancy Pelosi remembers Dianne Feinstein's long career, from serving as San Francisco's first female mayor to her work on national security and federal gun laws.

"Standing strong amid horror and heartbreak – from the brutal murders of Harvey Milk and George Moscone to the deadly HIV/AIDs epidemic – she offered our City a beacon of strength and hope," Pelosi says of Feinstein's term as mayor.

In the Senate, Pelosi says Feinstein was a trailblazer who became the first woman to lead the powerful Intelligence Committee.

"She bolstered America’s moral standing and national security with her fierce opposition to the use of torture," Pelosi says.

"On the Judiciary Committee, she authored and passed the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, which helped stem the tide of mass shootings for the ten years it was law."

Pelosi says that as a fellow California politician, it was "a great honour to serve alongside Dianne for decades - from the hilly streets of San Francisco to the hallowed halls of Congress."

She adds that her daughter, Corinne, has long been an admirer of Feinstein.

"Dianne’s extraordinary career will continue to inspire countless young women and girls to pursue public service for generations to come."

Gary O'Donoghue
Washington Correspondent

Dianne Feinstein’s life reads as a whole series of firsts. First woman to be Mayor of San Francisco; first woman in California to be elected to the senate; First woman to chair the Senate Intelligence committee.

But perhaps her true impact on the role of women in politics is that she was at the heart of things for so long. For more than thirty years, she has shaped the Democratic party, and broken through important glass ceilings in areas such as national security – long dominated by men.

You wouldn’t have needed the fingers of two hands to count the women in the Senate when she first arrived in Washington in 1992. Yet her political acuity saw her thrive in an institution that’s only had 59 women in its entire 234 year history.

Nonetheless, she also championed issues that affected women directly – leading on the reauthorisation of The Violence Against Women Act last year which funds initiatives to help protect women from domestic violence.

Regan Morris
Reporting from Los Angeles

In California, as many mourn the passing of Senator Feinstein they are also looking to the future and wondering who will replace her in the Senate.

California Governor Gavin Newsom called Feinstein a “powerful, trailblazing” senator and a dear friend and mentor. Now he has the politically tricky task of appointing her replacement.

Newsom has previously pledged to appoint a black woman if he had to replace a Senate seat – because there are no black women in the Senate since Kamala Harris left the Senate to become Joe Biden's Vice President. At that time, Newsom appointed Alex Padilla to replace Harris.

But Newsom also said he would not choose any of the Democrats already running for Senate in California because it would give them an unfair advantage to run as an incumbent.

“I don’t want to get involved in the primary,” he said earlier this month on Meet The Press, adding that he would make an interim appointment instead.

“That primary is just a matter of months away. I don’t want to tip the balance of that.”

California’s primary election is 5 March 2024 and it’s already a crowded race with three frontrunners – Congressman Adam Schiff, Congresswoman Katie Porter, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Image source, Getty Images

The latter said she has trouble with Newsom's plan to appoint a black woman. "I am troubled by the governor’s remarks,” Lee wrote in a statement.

“The idea that a Black woman should be appointed only as a caretaker to simply check a box is insulting to countless Black women across this country who have carried the Democratic Party to victory election after election."

Today, Lee remembered Senator Feinstein as “a champion for our state” who “served as the voice of a political revolution for women”.

Image source, US Senate

Feinstein’s colleagues are still paying tribute on the Senate floor.

Among them are leading female lawmakers - women make up a quarter of the US Senate.

“She came into politics at a time when there weren’t many women leaders,” said Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota. “And the way she achieved her goals and passed bills and did what she wanted was not because they were just going to accept her as she was at that moment at time.

“It was the hard work, it was the relationships, it was the leadership.”

Maria Cantwell, a senator from Washington state, also paid tribute, saying: “Dianne showed us that yes, we could be trailbrazers and do it, and the results really really really matter for people.

“I hope people will remember that legacy of her and the kindness of what went with it.”

Senator Gillibrand spoke later and thanked Feinstein for making it easier for women like her to enter the job - in many unseen ways. She said that thanks to Feinstein she didn't have to worry about the lack of female toilets near the Senate chamber, as Feinstein had.

In one of the most tearful tributes so far, junior California Senator Alex Padilla called Feinstein an "outright champion for the state of California".

She broke barriers throughout her career, Padilla said, and had a "unique ability to lead with grace and strength in the face of adversity".

He said Feinstein was "deeply respected on both sides of the aisle", saying it fills his heart to hear tributes from Republican colleagues this morning.

Padilla shared how Feinstein gave him one of his first jobs in politics in her Los Angeles office - when she became his mentor.

That mentorship and friendship continued when Padilla was elected to the Senate in 2020. He closes by telling a moving story about the day he was sworn in.

Padilla said while he was FaceTiming his wife and kids that Feinstein grabbed the phone and said she was so "proud" of Padilla.

She asked his children: "When are you coming to Washington?"

"I will buy you lunch," she told them.

The Senate Majority Leader from New York opened the floor this morning with a tribute to his "beloved friend" and colleauge.

Image source, Getty Images

In a tribute to Dianne Feinstein, US president Joe Biden says the long-time senator was a "pioneering American".

"And for Jill and I, a cherished friend," Biden writes in a statement.

He recalls her early political career in San Francisco, where he says "she showed enormous poise and courage in the wake of tragedy, and became a powerful voice for American values".

When serving alongside her in the Senate for 15 years, Biden says he had a "front row seat" to what Feinstein was able to accomplish.

"Dianne made her mark on everything from national security to the environment to protecting civil liberties," he says.

He also calls her a "role model for so many Americans" who was "often the only woman in the room".

"Dianne was tough, sharp, always prepared, and never pulled a punch, but she was also a kind and loyal friend, and that's what Jill and I will miss the most."

Outside the US Capitol building, where Congress meets, workers have just lowered the American flag.

Image source, Getty Images

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she is "deeply saddened" by the death of Dianne Feinstein.

"She blazed trails for women in politics and found a life's calling in public service," Clinton said in a post on social media.

"I'll miss her greatly as a friend and colleague."

Feinstein and Clinton have long crossed paths in politics. When Clinton ran for president in 2016, Feinstein was among 16 female Democratic senators to sign an October 20, 2013, letter endorsing her for president.

Image source, US Senate

Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell says Dianne Feinstein was a "trailblazer", especially for women in politics.

"She was an incredibly effective person at every line, at every level," he said.

"Our entire nation is better for her dogged advocacy and diligent service."

He also remembers her as a cherished friend for him and his wife Elaine.

"Elaine and I will also remember and cherish a friendship for 30 years that we were fortunate to share with Dianne and Dick," McConnell says, mentioning Feinstein's late husband, who died in 2022.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Dianne's daughter Katherine and her granddaughter," he says.

A vase of white flowers has been placed on her desk, as lawmakers pay tribute to her legacy.

"Our nation will be forever thankful to Senator Feinstein for the accomplishments she fought for," says Chuck Schumer, Majority Leader of the Senate.

"She gave a voice, a platform, a model for women across the country who aspired to roles in leadership."

He said the 25 women in the Senate today "stand on Diane's shoulders".

Schumer began to tear up and said, "We look at that desk and we know what we have lost".

He said she was "in a class of her own", calling her "powerful, prepared, unflappable".

Schumer ended his tribute holding back tears saying he joins his colleagues in mourning "our beloved friend".

Majority Leader of the United States Senate Chuck Schumer is speaking about how Dianne Feinstein "held doors open" for generations of women to follow in her footsteps.

"There was no stopping her from getting it done," he says.

"Diane Feinstein was not like the others."

The US Senate is now paying tribute to Dianne Feinstein after the news of her death.

You can click the Play button at the top of this page to watch it live.