Little-known Republican challenges Senator Dianne Feinstein

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File: Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) questions witnesses at a hearing on Capitol Hill on March 30, 2011 in Washington, DC.

You may not have noticed, but California has a U.S. Senate race on the November ballot. A GOP candidate threw her hat in the ring today.

Dianne Feinstein has served in the Senate since 1992. The 78-year-old Democrat hasn’t made a formal announcement, but she is running for re-election. She’s raised nearly a million dollars in the last quarter to fund her campaign.

No big name opposition has surfaced, but little-known Republican Elizabeth Emken has jumped in the race. Emken, a UCLA grad who lives in Northern California, was an executive at the advocacy group Autism Speaks and is a former cost-cutting expert at IBM.

Tom Del Beccaro, head of the California GOP, told the Sacramento Bee he thinks Feinstein’s “polls show that she is vulnerable,” but admits the party has not yet attracted a “very prominent” name to challenge her.