🇺🇸 Senate Seat Selection

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SENATE

Senate Seat Selection

On Tuesday, Laphonza Butler was sworn in to fill the vacant Senate seat left by the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. Appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, Butler was most recently the president of EMILY's List, a political action committee (PAC) that works to elect pro-choice female candidates to office.

Reporting from the Left: Feinstein's successor Laphonza Butler takes office as California's new senator (NPR)

Reporting from the Right: Gavin Newsom’s Senate pick Laphonza Butler stirs controversy on social media (FOX News)

From The Flag: Newsom selected Butler over a handful of black female lawmakers in California, including Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), who is gearing up to run for the seat next year. Newsom said it would be "completely unfair to the Democrats" running for the seat if he chose one of them as Feinstein's interim replacement. Here’s how both sides are responding to the appointment.

LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT

Was This the Right Choice?

• Appointing Butler could add another element of complexity and confusion in the 2024 race for California’s senate seat.

• The Democratic Party needs to shift its focus from appointing Black women to supporting and helping them get elected.

• “Rep. Barbara Lee called out the California governor’s approach to filling the vacancy, maintaining her tradition of speaking truth to power. Newsom wasn’t impressed. But voters should be.”

Laphonza Butler Appointment Could Scramble Democratic Politics in California Dan Walters, Times of San Diego: “Were she to run, it would insert a completely new — and powerful — player into the contest, and thus violate Newsom’s assertion just weeks ago that he didn’t want to “tip the balance” of the Senate contest. … Even if Butler intends only to serve the remaining 15 months of Feinstein’s term, she must win voter approval next year. … Were Butler to seek a full term, the other Senate hopefuls might be forced to also run against her for the rest of Feinstein’s term, which could be extremely confusing for voters. California’s top-two system would add even more complexity to a head-spinning scenario. As it stands, it’s likely that two of the three Democrats running for the Senate would finish 1-2 in the March primary and face each other in November. Were Butler to run, four Democrats would be seeking voter approval, and splitting the Democratic vote four ways might allow a Republican to sneak into the November runoff.”

Democrats should be putting Black women like Laphonza Butler on the ballot LZ Grandson, Los Angeles Times: “…can Democratic men now stop pledging to appoint Black women as though they’re a charity in need of matching contributions? Black women have never needed an electoral quid pro quo — a “vote for me and I’ll appoint one” sort of thing. … Instead of pledging to appoint Black women, the national party and Democratic leaders should be pledging to get more elected. … The Democratic party could seriously back Black female candidates and make history across the nation. Or white male candidates could keep talking about “making history” while they dangle pledges about Black women. It feels as manipulative as promising candy to school kids. We don’t want to hear it. We want to see these qualified women on the ballot, getting the party support that they need to win and wield their power.”

One more opinion piece from the Left: The Reason Gavin Newsom Didn’t Appoint Barbara Lee Is the Reason She Should Be a Senator John Nichols, The Nation

RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT

This Appointment Is Just Identity Politics

• This was a political play mired in identity politics for Newsom, who may be using it to gear up for a potential presidential run.

• Butler is a radical pro-abortionist, and now she’s been handed an opportunity to further her agenda in the Senate.

• It seems hypocritical that the media criticized Dr. Mehmet Oz for being a carpetbagger, but there doesn’t appear to be much coverage of Butler residing in Maryland instead of California.

Gavin Newsom’s Choice for Senator Is a Pure Political Play John Fund, National Review: “[Butler’s] appointment is also marinated in identity politics at its most craven. … you have to admire the cold-blooded politics of [Newsom’s] choice if he wants to run for president. Abortion rights? Butler heads one of the largest pro-abortion political lobbies in EMILY’s List. African Americans and LGBTQ+ voters? Checked both those boxes. Unions? Who better than a former head of the state’s largest labor union (Service Employees International) to represent the interests of union bosses? Should Newsom make a sudden parachute entry into the 2024 presidential race, given Joe Biden’s weaknesses, his choice of Butler will be viewed as a master stroke. By making such an enormous down payment to every part of the left-wing coalition within the Democratic Party, he has sent a message that he not only celebrates their obsession with identity politics but that he is willing to keep his promises to govern from the left while once in office.”

Newsom’s Pick To Replace Feinstein Is A Professional Pro-Abortion Extremist Jordan Boyd, The Federalist: “Newsom…chose Butler, whom a recent FEC filing pins as a resident of Maryland, for the position based on her race and her sex. … Butler is outspoken about her desire to force Democrats’ radical abortion-until-birth agenda on Americans who didn’t elect her. She specifically praised Democrats’ efforts to pass an extreme bill that would have effectively legalized abortion at any point in a woman’s pregnancy. … Newsom’s decision to install an open abortion shill in office was immediately celebrated by far-left activist organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign, which hailed Butler as the ‘first Black lesbian to openly serve in Congress and the first openly LGBTQ+ person to represent California in the Senate.’ Pro-life groups including SBA Pro-Life America, however, condemned the pick as yet another attempt by Democrats to push their abortion-through-all-nine-months wishlist on Americans who do not want it.”

One more opinion piece from the Right: Newsom goes to Maryland to find California a black woman to appoint senator Tiana Lowe Doescher, Washington Examiner

FLAG THIS

Butler May Reshape California’s Senate Race

A poll released Monday, but conducted Sunday before Butler’s appointment was announced, suggested that 63.5% of California voters generally favor appointing a Black woman to Feinstein’s seat.

Looking ahead, some believe Butler’s appointment to the Senate could reshape the 2024 election for California’s senator. Before Butler’s appointment, a Public Policy Institute of California poll released last week had Rep. Adam Schiff at 20%, and Rep. Katie Porter at 15% for California’s US Senate seat. Rep. Barbara Lee was at 8% among likely voters, and Republicans James Bradley and Eric Early were at 5% each (Cal Matters).

FLAG FINDS

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