How does Laphonza Butler’s appointment to US Senate affect 2024 California elections?
How will Laphonza Butler’s appointment affect the 2024 U.S. Senate election?
Make that elections.
Even though California Gov. Gavin Newsom made an appointment to succeed Sen. Dianne Feinstein, there must be a special election to finish the late Democratic icon’s term. Primaries for the remainder of her term and the next one are in March, with the general election in November.
Whoever wins November’s special election will serve the final weeks before the new session starts in January 2025.
Butler, 44, the president of EMILY’s List who has never held public office, will be sworn in this week. She had to re-register as a voter in California, having moved to Maryland to lead the organization that helps get Democratic women elected.
She will be the only Black woman currently in the U.S. Senate and the first Black lesbian to serve openly in Congress. She could take office immediately, allowing Democrats to control 51 of the Senate’s 100 seats.
“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 in a statement.
It’s unclear if Butler will run in either the special election or for a full term of her own. She has until Dec. 8 to file for the March primary if she chooses to.
Matt Wing, a spokesman, said in response to a query about her political future that Butler was focusing on “honoring Sen. Feinstein’s legacy and getting ready to serve the people of California in the Senate. Politics can wait.”
California, which has not elected a Republican senator in over 30 years, is seen as solidly blue for the 2024 Senate election.
Newsom appointed Sen. Alex Padilla in 2021 after Vice President Kamala Harris took her White House role. Padilla, 50, won both the special election and one for a six-year term in 2022. Democrats fell in line behind him after Newsom’s appointment, with no federal legislators challenging him in either election.
This time, multiple members of Congress already announced their intent to run in 2024: Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, and Katie Porter, D-Irvine, and Barbara Lee, D-Oakland. Feinstein, who died Friday after a long-period of failing health, announced earlier this year that she would retire when her term ended in 2025.
Now all the candidates must weigh running in the special election too, doubling their name count on the ballot.
Barbara Lee
Lee, one of the most progressive Democrats in Congress, trails her colleagues significantly. Porter and Schiff are both fundraising machines with higher name recognition, per a September Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll.
Being appointed historically gives a candidate an advantage, which could have boosted Lee.
Speculation initially focused on Lee, 77, after Punchbowl reported that Newsom would pick a Senate appointee who could run in 2024.
In early September, Newsom said that if Feinstein did not finish her term, he’d want to appoint someone who would not run in 2024. “That primary is just a matter of months away,” Newsom told NBC’s Chuck Todd. “I don’t want to tip the balance of that.”
He affirmed at the time that he’d choose a Black woman but essentially boxed out Lee, the only Black woman in the race, by saying he’d appoint a “caretaker.”
“The idea that a Black woman should be appointed only as a caretaker to simply check a box is insulting to countless Black women across this country who have carried the Democratic Party to victory election after election,” Lee said in a statement at the time.
On social media Sunday, Lee congratulated Butler: “I wish [Butler] well and look forward to working closely with her to deliver for the Golden State. I am singularly focused on winning my campaign for Senate. CA deserves an experienced Senator who will deliver on progressive priorities. That’s exactly what I’m running to do.”
The weekend after Feinstein, a stalwart San Francisco Democrat who was the longest-serving woman in the U.S. Senate, died, Lee supporters pushed for Newsom to choose her.
Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford wrote to the California governor in support of Lee: “She is the only person with the courage, the vision, and the record to eradicate poverty, face down the fossil fuel industry, defend our democracy, and tirelessly advance the progressive agenda,” he wrote.
The Congressional Black Caucus and Lee’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Congratulations to [Butler] on her historic appointment to the Senate as a trailblazer in the LGBTQ & African American community,” Rep. Ro Khanna wrote on social media. “I appreciate her work on reproductive rights & with Emily’s List & look forward to working with her to better the lives of all Californians.”
Khanna, D-Fremont, co-chair of Lee’s campaign, earlier on social media Sunday thanked Horsford and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus, for advocating for the Oakland Democrat. Lee headed both caucuses at points since she joined the House of Representatives in 1998.
Adam Schiff, Katie Porter leading
The frontrunner as of last month was Schiff, who led Porter slightly. Seen as more moderate than the congresswomen, his national name recognition skyrocketed when he led the first impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump.
The September Berkeley IGS poll had Schiff leading the Democratic candidates with 20% support of likely voters. Porter had 17%. Lee had 7% and tech executive Lexi Reese had 1%.
Schiff, 63, scored former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s endorsement to succeed Feinstein. He was elected to Congress in 2000.
Porter, 49, made a name for herself going after corporations. The three-term congresswoman is often praised for her pointed questions in congressional hearings, and for her whiteboards. She flipped a historically-red congressional district in 2018.
Nearly a third of California voters were undecided, according to the survey, which was conducted at the end of August.
This story was originally published October 2, 2023 at 12:58 PM.
