Geoffrey Skelley, political analyst at the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said "events have thrown fresh-faced senators into the maelstrom before." He cited the case of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the sponsor of an assault weapons and high capacity magazine ban. She became mayor of San Francisco just after the 1978 murders of former Mayor George Moscone and city supervisor Harvey Milk and has advocated for gun control ever since.