A Glass of Wine and a Binder of Bills: How Feinstein Paved the Way for Women

After Kamala Harris was sworn in as the junior senator from California in 2017, Senator Dianne Feinstein pulled her into a private hideaway off the Senate floor.

There, Vice President Harris recalled on Thursday, Ms. Feinstein handed her a glass of California chardonnay and a binder full of draft bills — the start of a partnership on behalf of their state.

“Dianne, the women of America have come a long way,” Ms. Harris said. “Our country has come a long way. You helped move the ball forward, and our nation salutes you, Dianne.”

There were very few women in the Senate when Ms. Feinstein arrived in 1992, and she made a point of welcoming those who came after her. She helped coordinate private group dinners, doled out gifts so frequently that one senator jokingly feared complimenting a purse or scarf and presented her colleagues with watercolor paintings of flowers.

At one point, she phoned some of the other women in the Senate to get their measurements, so she could buy seersucker suits for one of the classic sartorial Senate traditions in the summer. (At least one senator said she still owns that suit.)

Ms. Harris and other veterans of the Senate also described Ms. Feinstein’s rigor when it came to her legislative work on some of the chamber’s most powerful committees, including the Senate Intelligence Committee and Judiciary Committee.

“If there was the smallest bit of common ground, she’d pursue it if it meant moving an issue forward — even while being so far ahead of her time on gun safety, marriage equality, women’s rights, the environment and so many other issues,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader.

He added, “Dianne Feinstein was the living embodiment of what the Senate should always be — an institution built on cooperation.”

Mr. Schumer, the first Jewish person to serve as Senate majority leader, recalled how Ms. Feinstein made a point of bringing his daughter with her to High Holy Days services after she moved to San Francisco. And he credited her with ensuring that his daughters grew up in a world where more women were in positions of power.

“Because of Dianne, my daughters grew up in a world that’s a little bit fairer, a little more just and more accepting of women in leadership,” he said.