39th United States president Jimmy Carter (D–Georgia) has entered hospice care that he is now having at his home in Plains, Georgia.
Born October 1, 1924, at age 98 Carter has established the historic record for having the longest life span of all previous 45 (or 44 individual) U.S. presidents. He also has the longest record for a life span having followed his exit from the presidency, back in 1981, which so far totals 42 years.
It was three years ago, in 2020, that I took care of my father in the final period of his life. He was also in hospice. I relate to enough of this to understand Carter’s decision to not try to prolong his life.
Respect.
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It was reported last week that Dianne Feinstein, the Democratic incumbent and senior U.S. senator from California, will not run for possible re-election in 2024. She was first elected in 1992; the longest woman having served in the upper chamber in United States history; and, frankly, it was expected.
A cruel fate is partly the reason why Feinstein rose to power. It was in San Francisco, California, and on November 27, 1978, as ex-board supervisor Dan White (1946–1985) assassinated mayor George Moscone (1929–1978) and supervisor and LGBT icon Harvey Milk (1930–1978). (I will write about and published this, timed with the 45-year anniversary, this coming November.) This catapulted Feinstein—who ran against Moscone in 1975—to mayor of San Francisco. She was elected to a full term in 1979. After having won re-election in 1983, months after beating back a recall election (brought by the White Panthers)—and she was very popular (winning re-election with 80 percent of the vote following her 1979 win with 53 percent)—Feinstein was in office until 1988. (Given term limits, she could not win again in 1987.) Feinstein was also the 1990 Democratic gubernatorial nominee as Republican Pete Wilson, for which he gave up his U.S. Senate seat, won. (To date, he is the last elected, Republican-affiliated U.S. senator from California.) In 1991, and by the California’s 36th governor, Wilson appointed John Seymour to that his prior seat as Wilson. In the special election on November 3, 1992, as Democratic presidential pickup winner Bill Clinton unseated Republican incumbent George Bush and flipped the state of California, Feinstein unseated Seymour. She won a full-term re-election in 1994 and went on to win re-elections through 2018.
Not one who was particularly progressive, but one who has been very pro-Military Industrial Complex—even with her remarkable history—it has been obvious that, for years, Feinstein needs to go. Turning 90 this coming June 22, and with a remainder of eighteen months, she will finally go. (Everyone does.)
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Who will also go, after 2024, is United States senator Debbie Stabenow from my home state Michigan.
Born April 29, 1950, Stabenow became the first woman in the history of Michigan elected to the United States Senate in 2000. While George W. Bush won a Republican pickup of the presidency, Michigan was one of four states which delivered a Democratic pickup of a scheduled U.S. Senate election as Stabenow, then a member of the U.S. House, unseated Republican incumbent Spencer Abraham. (To date, Abraham is the last elected, Republican U.S. senator from Michigan. He was elected with the Republican midterm wave of 1994.)
Stabenow won three more re-elections through 2018. After four terms, and at which point she will be age 74, she is ready to go.
Given its bellwether status, Michigan will be the more vital state in 2024. It is likely the winner of the 2024 United States presidential election will carry this state along with fellow Rust Belt bellwether states Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The White House is nowadays running through these states. And with all three also on the schedule for U.S. Senate—and each currently in the column for the Democratic Party (with Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey and Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin running again)—it is likely the same party will carry all three states for both U.S. President and U.S. Senate.
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