Senate Tracker: Democrat Kevin De León Challenges Sen. Dianne Feinstein To Bring 'New Voice' To Cali

This story is part of our Senate Tracker series, looking at Senate races across the country ahead of the 2018 midterm elections. Check out all of our election coverage.

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is up for re-election in November, and her opponent is a fellow Democrat.

In 2016, the state changed its primary rules, allowing the two candidates who earned the most votes to advance to the general election, regardless of party.

Polls show state Sen. Kevin de León (@kdeleon) is a longshot to defeat Feinstein (@SenFeinstein), who has served in the Senate since 1992. In the California primary, he earned just 12 percent of the vote to Feinstein’s 44 percent. So why is he running against her?

The goal was to make it to the top two in a crowded primary field, de León tells Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson, so that he would have the chance to “juxtapose our accomplishments, our vision and our values for California.”

“The two latest independent polls now hold us at 11 points and eight points, respectively,”