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Gavin Newsom has chosen who will fill Dianne Feinstein’s seat in the U.S. Senate and it is not one of the usual suspects, nor is it Meghan Markle. Instead he went even more progressive left than Feinstein ever was.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has chosen Laphonza Butler, the president of EMILY’s List, to fill the seat of the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the governor’s office confirmed to NBC News.
Feinstein, the longest-serving woman in the Senate, died Thursday at the age of 90.
In California, the governor has the power to appoint a senator to serve until the next regularly scheduled statewide general election. That means that Butler will serve until the next senator, whom voters will choose in the November 2024 election, is sworn in.
Butler has led EMILY’s List, which works to elect Democratic women, since 2021.
Keep in mind, Newsom had pledged to appoint a black woman to that seat and at least honored that pledge.
I'm proud to announce California's new United States Senator — Laphonza Butler.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 2, 2023
As we mourn the enormous loss of Sen. Feinstein, the very freedoms she fought for — reproductive freedom, equal protection, and safety from gun violence — have never been under greater assault.… pic.twitter.com/SOnbfVPmXj
As you can see from clicking on the entire link, Newsom checked all the pretty politically correct boxes and peppered his statement will every woke buzzword available with this appointment.
However, there’s one teeny tiny problem with this appointment. Politico buried the lead halfway down their report.
The people who spoke with POLITICO ahead of the announcement were granted anonymity to disclose internal deliberations. Butler is registered to vote in Maryland but will switch her registration to California.
~Snip
Butler, who is based in Washington and maintains close ties with Los Angeles, had a stint as director for public policy and campaigns at Airbnb and spent nearly two decades as a powerful and well-respected labor leader with the Service Employees International Union. As president of SEIU California, she worked closely with then-Gov. Jerry Brown on policies like hiking the minimum wage to $15 per hour and raising taxes for wealthy Californians. She also served on the University of California Board of Regents, to which she was appointed by Brown in 2018 before stepping down in 2021.
Yes folks, you read that correctly. Butler is a resident of … Maryland. Last I checked, Maryland is on the EAST COAST while California is…not.
This can be another major problem for @GavinNewsom pick of @LaphonzaB to replace Feinstein in US Senate: she doesn’t legally reside in California and has most recently registered to vote (and voted) in Maryland! The potential pool was so bad in CA that he had to go outside the… https://t.co/aIu9is08Wb
— Houman David Hemmati, MD, PhD (@houmanhemmati) October 2, 2023
A search last night and this morning turned up the fact that, to be ELECTED to office in California one must be an actual resident. Thus far, I could find nothing that indicates someone appointed to office must also be a resident. However, the fact that she isn’t a resident of California even though she evidently still owns a home there would seem to be quite problematic.
California’s newest Senator Laphonza Butler literally lives in Maryland and registered to vote here LAST YEAR https://t.co/0Ps00L3Nuq pic.twitter.com/YImmk48n5y
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) October 2, 2023
If a Republican governor appointed a non-resident to such a high profile seat, you can darned well bet the knives would be out in force.
That said, the thinking of the day was for Newsom to appoint Barbara Lee to the seat. Others such as Mayors Karen Bass of LA and London Breed of San Francisco had already said no in hopes Lee would be chosen.
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.
~Snip
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.
You just know that Adam Schiff is jumping up and down with joy right now.
As I pointed out above, Newsom really made sure to check off ALL the progressive leftist boxes with this appointment. Laphonza Butler has spent her entire career as a union activist. She was one of the SIEU leaders in pushing California’s $15 minimum wage hike into state law. She’s rabidly pro-abortion and was hired to run EMILY’s List just a couple of years ago.
There’s a great deal to Butler’s record that will keep the far left base in California happy. Most especially the union and pro-abortion angles as EMILY’s List only supports pro-abortion candidates.
No one can accuse Gavin of not pandering to the hard core of their Base.
— HumphreyBohun (@HumphreyBohun) October 2, 2023
However, even THEY know that her residency in Maryland is a problem for Newsom. The scrubbing commenced late last evening after the announcement. Screen shots are forever guys. You can’t unring this particular bell!
Again, was the pool of choices of ACTUAL California residents really that limited in scope that Gavin Newsom had to go all the way to Maryland to pick someone?
Feature Photo Credit: Laphonza Butler in 2018, cropped, via Rep. Jimmy Gomez, public domain
Cameron says: “Last I checked, Maryland is on the EAST COAST”
Hiya. I’m a resident of the GPROMD. Trust me when I say the government would love us to be California of the East Coast.
Lloyd says: Once two or more boxes are checked, geographical consideration is thrown out the window.
John Shepherd says: What is it with white men and black lesbians?
This isn’t as dumb as it superficially appears. Newsom does not want step into a hotly contested Senate race so he reached outside the announced contestants. Way outside. Let’s see if this blows up in his face when she seeks election in her own right.
Drew458 says: Newsom didn’t step outside of any list; you’re looking at the wrong list. This is a sinecure appointment, a little payback, crossing the right kind of person off of the Favors Owed to Big Donators list. Butler runs EMILY, a donations aggregator that pumps dozens of millions of bucks into the campaign coffers of pro abortion female democrat candidates. So let’s look at the Big Donator list and find a) someone female, b) someone black. That narrows it down a heck of a lot right there. Finding a match who also happens to be a total union shill (likely with a long history of pumping union money to the dems, hates men, and is a recognized name in the agitprop field are major pluses. Lives in Maryland? Who cares? Change her voter registration to CA and (since she owns a CA home too) her primary residence data with the IRS and DMV, and she’s good to go.
Even if she doesn’t seek to be elected to this position, she’ll still have the “Senator” feather in her cap for the rest of her life, adding “gravitas” to whatever else she gets involved with afterwards. IOW, it’s a golden ticket.
The one thing most have NOT picked up on is that this woman also used to be the director of the LA office of the Federal Reserve!
She has a BA from (HBCU) Jackson State, 2001 grad in poly sci and government, did union centric or political things her whole working life, but it somehow on MIT’s Community Innovators list. (Maybe MIT is trying to score some leftist points).
She’s had her fingers in a whole lot of pies, given that she’s only 45 years old at most. Looks to me like she entered the working world already halfway up the ladder and quickly stepped up even higher in her 22 years of employments.
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