Sen. Dianne Feinstein has passed away at the age of 90. She had represented California in the Senate since 1992.

Senator Dianne Feinstein has died at 90 years old, ABC7 Insider Phil Matier has confirmed. Her career was one of many firsts. She was the first woman president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the first woman mayor of San Francisco, and one of two of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate from California.

"Dianne Feinstein, right from the start, was an icon for women in politics," said former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Senator Chuck Schumer adds, "She's a legend. A legend in California as the first woman senator. A legend in the Senate. She was the leader on so many different issues."

The seat Feinstein held in the Senate will now be filled by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. According to previous reporting, he will not be appointing any of the people who are already running to replace her in the 2024 election (Feinstein had planned to retire at that point). Rather, he has stated that he'll be putting in place a "caretaker" who isn't running to hold the seat permanently. 

That plan caused controversy given Newsom's previous pledge to appoint a black woman to the seat. 

"But you're going to abide by – it would be essentially a caretaker –an African American woman?" Todd also asked Newsom, to which he replied "I abide by what I've said very publicly on a consistent basis. Yes."

Not surprisingly, this caused an eruption from Lee, who declared she was very "troubled" by Newsom's "insulting" comments because in her view Newsom was boiling it down to appointing what MSNBC has called a "token" black woman.

Currently, House Representatives Katie Porter and Adam Schiff are the two most notable Democrat names battling for the seat in 2024; Lee is a candidate but down further in the polls. This is a developing story.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This piece was edited post-publication for clarity.)