She was president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors when, in 1978, fellow supervisor
Dan White shot and killed Mayor
George Moscone and openly gay Supervisor
Harvey Milk. She served as mayor of San Francisco from 1978-1988. In 1990, she beat then-state Attorney Gen. John Van de Kamp in the Democratic primary for governor and then, narrowly, lost to then-GOP Sen.
Pete Wilson. In 1992, Feinstein defeated then-state Controller
Gray Davis in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Wilson. That race was notorious because of Davis' running ads comparing Feinstein to tax-evading hotelier
Leona Helmsley. Feinstein went on to beat Republican John Seymour, a former state senator who Wilson had appointed to his old seat upon becoming governor. In 1994, Feinstein only barely survived the GOP tide against multi-millionaire Republican
Michael Huffington. In 2000, she had an easier time besting Silicon Valley moderate Rep. Tom Campbell. She became a respected member of the Senate, gaining praise for her even-handed work on the Judiciary Committee.