Delegates to the state party’s annual convention in San Diego over the weekend voted 37 percent for Feinstein and 54 percent for Kevin de León, the State Senate leader and a progressive. An endorsement requires 60 percent of the vote, denying either candidate the prize.
Feinstein, 84, remains well ahead in the polls and in fund-raising and is still favored to win reelection.
Feinstein, who was born to to a Jewish physician father and a Catholic Russian-American mother, is seen as progressive on social issues but has found disfavor among progressives for her hawkish defense of the security and intelligence establishments.
