Saturday, April 28, 2018

Feinstein Refuses to Debate Primary Opponents

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has refused an invitation to debate her principal opponents in California's senatorial primary because there are too many candidates in the race, her campaign spokesman said Thursday.

Feinstein rebuffed an overture by Indivisible Los Angeles, the local chapter of a Washington, D.C.-based progressive group that works with activists to resist the Trump agenda, to debate three of her top contenders on May 5, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Feinstein, 84, has 31 primary opponents who are vying to prevent her from returning to Washington, D.C. next January.

The high number of opponents that Feinstein has drawn is due in part to California's jungle primary system, in which candidates from all political parties face each other on one ballot, with the top two vote-getters moving forward to a head-to-head matchup in November.

A spokesman for the Feinstein campaign, Jeff Millman, said the senator will abide by a promise she made to the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle to debate whoever her opponent is in the general election.

De León's strategy has paid off with voter enthusiasm; he's currently second to Feinstein in the polls, but his campaign continues to trail Feinstein in fundraising.

A spokesman for de León, Jonathan Underland, said the state senator is eager to debate Feinstein and display the contrasts, in policy and style, that exist between the two candidates.

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