After more than a quarter century of advocating for progressive values in the House, Rep. Barbara Lee will leave Congress in January after losing her bid for Senate.
The 77-year-old Democrat from northern California war running fourth in a 27-candidate field seeking two nominations for the seat left open by the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein last year when The Associated Press called the race for second-place finisher Steve Garvey at 12:01 Wednesday morning. Fellow Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff had been called the winner of the top spot around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
A one-time aide to the late Rep. Ronald V. Dellums, Lee was first elected to the 12th District seat in 1998 and has faced minimal opposition in one of the nation’s bluest districts, where she typically ran up vote totals topping 80 percent.
