Senator Dianne Feinstein, who passed away at the age of 90, set numerous records during her lifetime, including being the longest-serving senator from California and the longest-serving woman in the Senate. According to financial disclosure data, she was also one of the wealthiest US politicians, with a net worth of up to $69.4 million this year.
According to Feinstein’s most current financial disclosure form, which was submitted in May, her holdings included millions stored in a blind trust, a common financial structure for members of Congress, as well as cash stashed in multiple sizable bank accounts and U.S. Treasury notes and other low-risk investments. According to the paper, she also owned a condo in Hawaii that may have been worth $5 million.
Feinstein made history when she became a senator in 1992, when there were few female members of Congress, but more lately, as American political leaders have gotten older and wealthier, she has come to symbolize another demographic transition. According to OpenSecrets.org, Feinstein was the second-richest senator as recently as 2018—behind Virginia Democrat Senator Mark Warner.
According to OpenSecrets.org, Feinstein had a net worth of around $88 million in 2018, and at the time her most valued asset was a $37.5 million ownership in the Carlton Hotel Properties in San Francisco. Due to the Carlton Hotel’s sale in 2020, her most current financial disclosure form values the interest at less than $1,000.
The qualified blind trust she established in the early 1990s and the associated First Republic Bank account are her most valuable assets. Together, they may be worth up to $25 million.
Where did Feinstein’s wealth come from?
According to the Jewish Women’s Archive, Feinstein was raised in the affluent San Francisco suburb of Presidio Terrace. She was the oldest of three daughters born to Dr. Leon Goldman, a surgeon, and Betty Goldman. Following her graduation from Stanford University, Feinstein entered politics and wed judge Jack Berman; however, their union disintegrated three years later due to their divergent perspectives on women’s duties, according to the archive.
Later, she wed neurosurgeon Bertram Feinstein; their union lasted until the latter’s passing in 1978.
Feinstein continued her political career in the meantime and won the 1979 mayoral election in San Francisco. According to her financial disclosure form, her pension from the city of San Francisco is worth between $500,000 and $1 million.
Feinstein wed Richard C. Blum in 1980. Blum was a financier who owned Blum Capital Partners and earned a wealth that, according to the New York Times, was estimated to be worth more than $1 billion.
Feinstein and Blum jointly held some of the assets indicated on the disclosure form; Blum passed away in 2022.
How did Feinstein’s wealth change over time?
According to Feinstein’s most recent financial statement, her assets have changed from the time before Blum passed away. Feinstein’s net worth may have been as low as $19.4 million according to her 2023 form, based on the low end of the asset value range.
For instance, Blum’s 2020 financial disclosure form lists additional assets she owns that aren’t disclosed in her 2023 declarations, such as shares and other investments, as well as the Carlton Hotel Properties, which were valued between $25 million and $50 million.
She indicated that the hotel owned by Carlton Hotel Properties was sold in 2020 and that the partnership disbursed any remaining funds in 2022 in her most recent disclosure form.
According to the New York Times, Feinstein allegedly got into a financial fight with Blum’s three daughters more recently. The focus of that, according to the story, was disagreements over real estate that Feinstein wanted to sell but the daughters wanted to maintain, as well as access to Blum’s life insurance that Feinstein wanted to obtain.
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