Feinstein signals she’ll run for re-election in 2018

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa listens at left, as the committee's ranking member, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. questions Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala. during Sessions confirmation hearing before the copmmittee, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) less Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa listens at left, as the committee's ranking member, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. questions Attorney General-designate, Sen. Jeff Sessions, ... more Photo: Alex Brandon, Associated Press Photo: Alex Brandon, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Feinstein signals she’ll run for re-election in 2018 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein strongly suggested Wednesday that she will run for re-election in 2018.

Although she said she has not yet made up her mind, Feinstein told KQED-FM that “as long as I feel I can get things done, and I can, then I think I benefit the people of my state as opposed to someone new coming in.”

When reporter Scott Shafer responded that she sounded as if she were running, Feinstein said, “Well, that’s sort of true.”

Feinstein, 83, was first elected to the Senate in 1992. She is the oldest member of the Senate and has risen to its top ranks in seniority. As the new ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, she is set to lead any fight over President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

Ambitious California Democrats are waiting for Feinstein to make up her mind about 2018. Blocked from higher office by party veterans who have held power for decades, several contenders would surely announce their candidacies should Feinstein decide not to run. Potential candidates include Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, hedge fund millionaire-turned-environmentalist Tom Steyer and state Senate President Kevin de León of Los Angeles.

With the state’s top-two primary system enabling a Democratic challenger to reach the November runoff, some might decide to take on Feinstein even if she does run for re-election.

“I’m not suggesting any candidate is going to oppose her at the moment,” said Larry Gerston, a political science professor emeritus at San Jose State University. “But I think for anybody to assume that somebody at that age has a clear shot may be a bit of an overreach.”

If she ran and won, Feinstein would be 91 at the end of her next six-year term.

Feinstein had a pacemaker installed last week, a scheduled procedure that she fit in after leading a daylong Judiciary Committee hearing on the nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., to be attorney general. Her office said the procedure was undertaken out of “an abundance of caution.” Feinstein returned to work after one day of rest at home.

Feinstein said in the radio interview that “if I can produce, and I can produce, and I can continue to produce, then I will continue to produce. If I believe I can’t, either by health or any other way, I won't. But as long as I believe I can, I will.”

She said she will make a formal announcement about the 2018 campaign “at an appropriate time.”

Carolyn Lochhead is the San Francisco Chronicle’s Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com