ANAHEIM, Calif. – California Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he plans to appoint Emily’s List President Laphonza Butler to fill the Senate seat held by Dianne Feinstein, who died last week at the age of 90.

Feinstein had just over a year left in her term, and had said she would not run again. Three of California’s top Democrats – Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam B. Schiff – are in a contentious primary contest to fill the seat starting in January 2025, in what is likely to be the most expensive congressional race in the nation next year.

Vice President Harris will swear in Butler on Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol, Harris’s office announced Monday. Butler’s presence will help Democrats retain their narrow control of the Senate.

The interim appointment was first reported Sunday night by Politico.

“From her time as President of EMILY’s List to leading the state’s largest labor union, she has always stood up for what is right and has led with her heart and her values,” Newsom said in his statement. “I have no doubt she will carry the baton left by Senator Feinstein, continue to break glass ceilings, and fight for all Californians in Washington.”

Butler, who lives a toeivah lifestyle, lives in Maryland, but is a former Los Angeles resident, and a spokesperson said she has been a California homeowner since 2011. By midmorning Monday, Butler had already re-registered to vote in California. Her spokesperson said her team is “confident that Ms. Butler is fully compliant” with the requirements to serve as the Golden State’s senator “and ready to serve the people of California.”

Butler said in a statement she was humbled by the governor’s trust and honored to accept the nomination to serve as senator “for a state I have long called home.”

“For women and girls, for workers and unions, for struggling parents waiting for our leaders to bring opportunity back to their homes, for all of California, I’m ready to serve,” Butler said.

Butler’s appointment will extend until at least November 2024.

Butler has deep ties in the labor movement after decades working in a variety of roles. Before heading Emily’s List, the fundraising powerhouse group that has worked to support Democratic women up and down the ballot, she served as the president of SEIU Local 2015, a union that represented 325,000 nursing home and home-care workers throughout California. She previously served as an SEIU international vice president and headed SEIU United Long Term Care Workers.

As Feinstein’s health declined in recent years and questions swirled about whether she would leave before her term ended, Newsom considered some of the highest-ranking Black politicians in California as potential replacements.

Those under consideration included Lee, who has served in the House since 1998 and is the highest-ranking African American woman appointed to House Democratic leadership; Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, a former congresswoman and former speaker of the California State Assembly; and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, whom Newsom appointed to replace Padilla in 2021.

Newsom faced an increasingly complex situation after Feinstein announced in February that she would not seek reelection – accelerating the fierce battle to replace her.

Though Lee initially would have been a natural choice for the appointment, Newsom indicated to allies that he did not want to unfairly tip the balance in an ongoing race among three Democrats. He publicly confirmed that thinking during a recent NBC interview in which he said he would not choose anyone already running for Feinstein’s seat.

Newsom’s comments on NBC were interpreted by Lee’s allies as an assertion that he planned to ask his appointee to serve in a caretaking role. But people familiar with his thinking said he has not set any of those kinds of preconditions in his conversations with potential appointees.

Still, his comment that he would make an “interim appointment” angered some allies on the left who had urged him to appoint a Black woman to the Senate and felt there should not be any implied constraints over that person’s ability to seek a full Senate term. Schiff, who is White, is widely viewed as the front-runner in the race to become the next senator from California because he is far ahead of his rivals in fundraising and endorsements.

With Butler’s appointment, Democrats will continue to hold a 51-49 majority in the Senate. Democrats have 48 seats, and three independent members generally vote with Democrats.

(c) 2023, The Washington Post · Maeve Reston, Tyler Pager 

Source: Matzav