BREAKING Dianne Feinstein, pioneering US senator, dies at 90

United States Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the progressive Democrat who was the longest serving senator from California, has died at age 90 following a decades-long political career. Two unnamed sources told NBC News on Friday that Feinstein had died. Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom will appoint a temporary successor to the now-vacated seat.

Born in San Francisco in 1933, Feinstein was elected president of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors in 1978, the first woman to hold that office. She then became acting mayor of the city later that year, due to the assassination of Mayor Henry Mascone. In 1990, she won a special election to become one of California’s U.S. senators and the first woman to hold the elected office, with fellow Californian Barbara Boxer being elected to the Senate weeks later. Continue reading.