Gov. Gavin Newsom must appoint a Black woman to replace Sen. Kamala Harris. Here’s why

In her 2020 vice president-elect acceptance speech, Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris shed light on women who paved the way for that historic moment. In particular, she focused on Black women “who are too often overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.”

In the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, there have been numerous calls to “thank” Black women for saving the Democratic Party due to their high turn-out and large Democratic vote share. These statements echoed similar claims made after the 2017 special election in Alabama where Black women also turned out in high numbers in support of the Democratic Party.

In response to tweets and calls to “thank” Black women after the defeat of Roy Moore in the 2017 Senate special election in Alabama because of their overwhelming support for Democratic candidate Doug Jones, Sen. Kamala Harris tweeted that we need to do more than “congratulate” Black women. She continued by stating “Let’s address issues that disproportionately affect Black women.”

While in the Senate, Harris has been responsible for introducing several bills that seek to directly address issues that Black women face. To address the racial disparity in maternal mortality, Harris, along with 13 Democratic lawmakers, introduced the Maternal Care Access and Reducing Emergencies (CARE) Act in 2018.

When it comes to the race and gender pay gap, Harris proposed a policy that would require companies to disclose pay policies and obtain an “Equal Pay Certification” from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to ensure that they are paying men and women equally for the same work.

In recent years, Harris has provided the only descriptive and substantive representation for Black women in the US Senate.

With Harris’ election as vice president of the United States, there will be a vacancy in the Senate for her seat in California. Harris is currently the only Black woman in the Senate, and only the second in US history.

The Democratic Party continuously upholds Black women as the soul of the party, but Black women continue to be underrepresented as elected officials. In 2017, DNC chair Tom Perez tweeted “Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party, and we can’t take that for granted.”

To demonstrate their stated commitment to Black women, the Democratic Party and Gov. Gavin Newsom should appoint a Black woman to fill Harris’ Senate seat. During this presidential election, Black women played pivotal roles in key states like Georgia where Black women, including Stacey Abrams, Helen Butler, Deborah Scott, Tamieka Atkins and Nse Ufot, registered 800,000 new Georgia voters.

Similarly, in the state of California, Black women have been at the forefront of important political battles for decades. Black women are valuable to the party when it comes to voting, and they must also be valued as appointed and elected officials.

When it comes to considering who might replace Harris in the Senate, Newsom has a long list of exceptionally qualified Black women candidates to choose from, including:

▪ Congresswoman Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles)

▪ Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland)

▪ Congresswomen Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles)

▪ California State Senator Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles)

▪ San Francisco Mayor London Breed

▪ California State Assembly Member Shirley Weber (D- San Diego), and

▪ California State Board of Equalization Member Malia Cohen.

This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 10:25 AM.