If California Senator Dianne Feinstein leaves Congress before her term ends, she will not be replaced by Oprah Winfrey.
The media mogul’s spokeswoman on Thursday poured cold water on the idea that Winfrey could break into politics, saying she “doesn’t consider this chair if it’s vacant.”
Winfrey, who has never held public office, has repeatedly rejected calls to run for president. The talk show host’s endorsement shook the market, driving millions of Americans to try new diets and turning books into overnight bestsellers.
The Montecito resident’s name has been featured in several media outlets as a possible replacement for Feinstein, who was frail after being hospitalized with shingles.
Feinstein, who will turn 90 next month, has been absent from Washington for 10 weeks and has wheelchair use to participate in committee hearings since returning to Capitol Hill. She was noticeably thinner, her face and eyelids drooping, likely due to Ramsay Hunt syndrome, a side effect of shingles that is usually temporary.
Feinstein has vowed to serve the rest of her term, which ends in January 2025. Three members of the House are vying for her seat in next year’s vote: Representative Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), Katie Porter (D-Irvine) and Barbara Lee (D-Oakland).
But her public health struggles have been amplified concern about whether America’s oldest senator is fit to represent California’s 39 million residents. Her absence from the powerful Judiciary Committee has led to delays in the confirmation of some of President Biden’s judicial candidates.
If Feinstein leaves Congress before the November 2024 election, Governor Gavin Newsom could appoint a caretaker to serve for the rest of his term. He will be under enormous pressure to appoint an immediate successor, because the Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate.
Newsom said that he would appoint a black woman into a vacant Senate seat. When Kamala Harris was sworn in as vice president and vacated the Senate seat in 2020, Newsom appointed Alex Padilla, who was then California’s secretary of state and became the state’s first Latino senator.
Times columnist George Skelton in April said Newsom would find it difficult to fill the Senate vacancy, if one showed up, and throw Winfrey’s name as a possibility – almost in a joke. Since then, the idea of Newsom appointing Winfrey has been discussed by several news outlets, including a Gail Collins column in the New York Times.
Winfrey was involved in politics and was a trusted donor to the Democratic party.
Last fall, she was noticed by support Democrat John Fetterman in the controversial Pennsylvania Senate race. His Republican opponent, TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, became famous for playing “America’s Doctor” on her daily talk show.
