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Sen. Dianne Feinstein dodged questions Sunday on whether she is planning to mount a re-election run for a fifth term as a U.S. senator in 2018.

During an appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Feinstein, a former San Francisco mayor and the oldest U.S. senator at age 84, quickly sidestepped a question about whether she was “up for another” six-year term.

“Well, we will see, won’t we?” Feinstein told Dana Bash, the show’s host. “I’m not going to declare on CNN.”

Feinstein’s political future has been the subject of intensifying — and, at times, divisive — speculation within Democratic circles in recent months, which the senator’s remarks Sunday will likely do little to quell.

Internal fighting swirling among Democrats around Feinstein’s status can be seen as emblematic of the party’s overall struggle to chart a course for the future as establishment figures clash with growing grassroots efforts to pull them further to the left.

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