this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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308
California governor to name Laphonza Butler, former Kamala Harris adviser, to Feinstein Senate seat (apnews.com)
submitted 10 months ago by return2ozma@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world
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[–] worldwidewave@lemmy.world 111 points 10 months ago (16 children)

Butler will be the only Black woman serving in the U.S. Senate, and the first openly LGBTQ person to represent California in the chamber.

The long-serving Democratic senator died last Thursday after a series of illnesses. Butler leads Emily’s List, a political organization that supports Democratic women candidates who favor abortion rights. She also is a former labor leader with SEIU 2015, a powerful force in California politics.

She seems like a good appointee, but honestly I’m just glad to have two functioning senators in my state now.

[–] Zoness@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

Yeah, let's get back to appointing judges ASAP.

[–] tooren@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 10 months ago

2nd quote speaks to experience, but the first is irrelevant. Sexuality, gender, and race have nothing to do with competency.

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[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 61 points 10 months ago (6 children)

I understand why Lee is so incensed that Newsom isn't putting her in the seat (which would basically guarantee her winning in 2024), but honestly why is she running for a six year Senate term in her late seventies?

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 52 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

She wants to be the next Diane Feinstein.

[–] worldwidewave@lemmy.world 48 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Nancy’s running for re-election as well. These old fogies just won’t step down.

Major props to Mitt for enjoying the later years of his life.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 26 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It's American brain rot. We devote our lives to our jobs to the exclusion of everything else; family, friends, hobbies, personal projects, etc. If other jobs were as easy and fulfilling as being a Senator no one would retire.

[–] some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org 13 points 10 months ago (3 children)

No. They’re just selfish boomers who won’t let other generations have a seat at the table. Judy like housing.

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[–] LetMeEatCake@lemm.ee 22 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I'm more willing to forgive members of the house running despite their old age than I am senators.

Representatives only serve two years, so they're making a shorter commitment. It's substantially easier for someone to think they can keep doing something for another two years than it is for them to think they can do it for another six years. Especially on health matters. But also, individual representatives are simply just less important. In our current political environment, an individual senator leaving office is going to be a huge disruption for any balance of power that's less than 54-46, with another critical point reached at the 60-40 balance. In the house it won't matter for any caucus that's ahead by ~5+ seats. Even in today's razor close house, it was elected as 222-213 seats — a nine seat gap.

There's a decent number of older representatives out there. I wouldn't have minded Lee sticking around there for a bit longer. The only real issue with older representatives is that by staying in office they block the pipeline for new blood and building a bench for future offices. Running for senate in her late 70s is ridiculous though, especially for a first term.

For Pelosi specifically, I'd put it at 50-50 odds that she retires shortly after the 2024 election. If it wasn't for her personal feud with Hoyer I'd put it at near-certain. When she decides to retire, I expect she'll stick around for one last campaign solely because it will improve her ability to fundraise for the DCCC. She's a team player through and through.

[–] Nahvi@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

While I agree in the lesser of two evils kind of way, meaning its better than they are in the House rather than Senate or President, I still think it is pretty shameful. If they just can't let go of politics it is time to go back home to city and state legislative bodies.

Still, it is wonderful to read an actually well-stated view point in this post. Seems that most of the thread has devolved to name calling and verbal diarrhea.

Have an upvote for some quality content!

[–] originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 13 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Because these people are addicted to power

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

It can also be simple egotistical narcissism, not that that's any better.

[–] Devious_Thoughts@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I did not know she was in her 70s 😳

[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Yeah see that's why I think ages of candidates should be listed on the ballot.

[–] offbyone@reddthat.com 6 points 10 months ago

The irony is that it very well could have been a disadvantage for her to get picked. The incumbent advantage isn't really a thing for people appointed to the seat, and she'd be stuck doing Senate things for the next year instead of campaigning.

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[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago (1 children)

But TMZ said it would be Meghan Markle!

😂

[–] stopthatgirl7@kbin.social 21 points 10 months ago

I legit saw UK folks losing their damn minds on Mastodon at the very idea, which spawned out of nowhere on the Daily Mail because they heard Newsom wanted to appoint a Black woman, and she’s apparently the only one they could think of 🤣

[–] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 18 points 10 months ago

It's insane that a terrible candidate had to literally die of age for this to happen.

[–] Hello_there@kbin.social 11 points 10 months ago (4 children)

I'm not voting for anyone over 50 at this point

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 54 points 10 months ago

I tend to agree. But I will absolutely vote for Joe Biden if he's the Democratic candidate for President. Not voting will just help Trump and the Republicans.

[–] downpunxx@kbin.social 42 points 10 months ago (25 children)

If you don't vote for Biden, you are straight fucking trash, man

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[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 10 points 10 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Gavin Newsom will name Laphonza Butler, a Democratic strategist and adviser to Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a spokesman in his office said Sunday.

Butler leads Emily’s List, a political organization that supports Democratic women candidates who favor abortion rights.

A quick appointment by Newsom will give the Democratic caucus more wiggle room on close votes, including nominations that Republicans uniformly oppose.

Emily’s List, the group Butler leads, focuses on electing Democratic women who support abortion rights.

It was one of a string of appointments Newsom made in late 2020 and early 2021, a power that gave him kingmaker status among the state’s ambitious Democrats.

Democrats in the liberal-leaning state have not lost a statewide election since 2006, and the party holds a nearly 2-to-1 voter registration advantage over Republicans.

The original article contains 576 words, the summary contains 143 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] SerfDWeb@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

Count on Newsom to appoint the "former" labor leader - i.e. union-busting consultant over long-serving, popular Barbara Lee.

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Ayyyyy

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