It's Not Going To Be A Progressive, You Can Count On That
With the not surprising passing of Dianne Feinstein (age 90), the Democrats no longer have a majority in the Senate and will have to depend of Kamala Harris to break ties. So… Newsom will have to move rapidly. I’m sure he’s already made up his mind and just feels he has to wait until after Feinstein is buried before naming the new interim senator. He’s already announced it will be a Black woman placeholder, not someone (Barbara Lee) who is running for the seat in 2024. If you'd like to contribute to the campaigns of any of the plausible candidates currently running, you can do that here.
The L.A. Times ran down a list of probable contenders yesterday. Keep in mind, like Feinstein, Newsom is a corporate shill and not a progressive. He’s likely going to appoint another centrist like the bum he appointed when Kamala Harris gave up the seat to run for vice president, Alex Padilla.
Angela Glover Blackwell, PolicyLink founder
Newsom could avoid potential conflicts with other elected Democrats by appointing someone like Angela Glover Blackwell, who has deep experience in law and policy but does not hold elected office.
A leader in the movement for racial equity, Blackwell has had a long career working on civil rights as an attorney, policy advocate, educator and writer. She is the founder of the PolicyLink racial justice organization, a lecturer at the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy and author of scholarly articles and co-author of the book “Uncommon Common Ground: Race and America’s Future.”
Lateefah Simon, Bay Area Rapid Transit board member
Lateefah Simon, currently on the Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors, is running for the U.S. House seat that Lee now holds representing Oakland and the East Bay.
Early in her career, Simon worked for then-San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris, leading an anti-recidivisim program for youths. In 2020, as the nation grappled with fallout from the police killing of George Floyd, Newsom tapped Simon to advise him on police reform. She currently serves on the California State University board of trustees.
Simon is well known in the Bay Area for decades of community organizing and civil and human rights advocacy, and could be a safe choice for Newsom because she’s already running for Congress.
London Breed, San Francisco mayor
[The worst possible choice, so one who was probably high on Newsom’s list]
San Francisco Mayor London Breed is a trickier political choice. She’s running in a challenging reelection next year amid a backdrop of doom and gloom in San Francisco, where voter dissatisfaction over homelessness and crime has taken center stage in the race.
But she’s also a prominent California politician from the same city as Feinstein, which could make her selection symbolic, too. [She’s detested in San Francisco and will likely lose her election bid so no doubt she is desperate for the appointment.]
Shirley Weber, California secretary of state
Newsom turned to Shirley Weber a few years ago when he had a big position to fill. The governor tapped the then-Assembly member in 2021 to fill a vacancy as the state’s chief elections officer after he appointed Alex Padilla to the U.S. Senate. Weber won her election by more than 20 points in 2022 to retain the job.
Weber can serve in her current position, if reelected, until 2030, so accepting a temporary appointment would bring her time as secretary of state to an early end— and create another vacancy for Newsom to fill.
Laphonza Butler, EMILY’s List president
Laphonza Butler is the president of EMILY’s List, a national political organization that focuses on electing Democratic women to office who support abortion access.
Butler has an accomplished resume in Democratic politics and campaign strategy, with deep roots in California [though she lives inMaryland]. She served as senior advisor to Vice President Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign and as president of one of California’s most influential and powerful labor unions, SEIU Local 2015, which represents long-term care workers.
If she accepted an appointment, Butler would also make history as the first out person of color in the Senate. Newsom has prioritized the appointment of LGBTQ+ people to positions of power, including state Supreme Court Associate Justices Martin Jenkins and Kelli Evans.
Malia Cohen, California state controller
Malia Cohen was elected as California’s accountant in 2022, and her political history runs through the same halls of power that catapulted Feinstein to national prominence.
A San Francisco native, Cohen previously served on the California State Board of Equalization and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
[Probably too progressive for Newsom to have considered seriously.]
Leondra Kruger, California Supreme Court justice
Once on President Biden’s shortlist for a U.S. Supreme Court appointment, Leondra Kruger serves as an associate justice on the California Supreme Court.
She has previous experience in the U.S. Department of Justice and has argued several cases before the nation’s highest court on behalf of the federal government.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Kruger to the state Supreme Court in 2014. She went to high school in Pasadena and, during law school, was the first Black woman to serve as editor in chief of the Yale Law Journal.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Los Angeles County Supervisor Holly Mitchell and billionaire media personality Oprah Winfrey have announced they’re not interested in the appointment.
Who do you like best for the job-- Barbara Lee, Katie Porter or Adam Schiff? Let us know here.
UPDATE:
He picked Laphonza Butler, EMILY's List president. Expect all the worst. And, she's likely to run in November as an incumbent.