Big California donors want to fill Kamala Harris's Senate seat with a woman of color

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Some of California’s biggest political donors are urging Gov. Gavin Newsom to choose a woman of color to fill the seat of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Given how rare it has been for a Senate seat in the country’s largest state to become vacant, California leaders have been hard at work trying to lobby Newsom ever since Harris was chosen for the Democratic ticket this summer. And now the lobbying is becoming more public.

On Monday, about 150 of the state’s biggest women donors will ratchet up the pressure with a public letter to Newsom saying that he should not replace Harris with a white woman, never mind a man.

“We urge you to continue this Californian tradition by appointing a woman of color to Vice President-elect Harris’s US Senate seat,” the donors write in the letter, which will appear as a full-page ad in the state’s two largest newspapers, the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle, and was shared early with Recode. “Women of color are the core drivers of electoral progress in our country, and their voices should be heard in the nation’s highest governing body. California is fortunate to have a strong pipeline of women of color in elected office who are prepared to serve; as Californians and political supporters, we look forward to you selecting one of them.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/big-california-donors-want-to-fill-kamala-harris-s-senate-seat-with-a-woman-of-color/ar-BB1bgab0?li=BBnbfcQ&ocid=DELLDHP

[msongs]

1. prefer a most qualified candidate nt

[BlueStater]

2. Or he could just pick the best person regardless of race or gender.

If that happens to be a black woman, great. If it’s a white man, also great.

[Yavin4]

3. I would rather that he just name a plaecholder, someone who won't run for the seat in 2022.

That way no one will have the advantage of incumbency.

[DrToast]

8. Jerry Brown?

[Yavin4]

11. Yeah. Someone like him.

It would be the fair thing to do.

[BainsBane]

16. No

Not him or someone like him. It should be someone who can stay in the job.

[tinrobot]

24. Or maybe Barbara Boxer.

It used t be her seat.

[Hekate]

13. I beg to differ. There will be a tsunami of outside money on behalf of a Republican...

We are in a war, and I don’t want there to be any quarter given in that direction, no gentlemanly agreements, no placeholders. The gov has a plethora of excellent Dems to choose from, of all races, genders, and ages. Anybody he picks will make me happy, and the advantage of incumbency is all to the good afaic.

Eventually DiFi is going to have to retire, and GOPers are going to lust for her seat as well. Expect bloodshed.

[Yavin4]

14. I don't think that it's fair to give someone an incumbency advantage who was not elected to the seat

Not too worried about corporate money coming in for Republicans.

[Hekate]

17. Uh-huh. I notice the usual tropes are on display in this thread: quotas, identity politics, ...

...and should only choose a woman if she happens to be the most qualified person in the known universe. It was exactly the same when Obama announced he was going to select a woman for the SCOTUS vacancy.

It’s instructive that when a couple of dozen candidates are presented who are all white men, nobody brings up identity politics, or quotas, or needing to be the most qualified candidate in the known universe.

Why is that, I wonder?

[dsc]

4. I would prefer the people of California pick someone

with him picking a placeholder. George Takei would be a great idea honestly but any placeholder would do for me. I just would prefer it to be a placeholder so the people can pick a senator on an even playing field.

[LuvNewcastle]

5. Democrats shouldn't be picking spokesmodels

for office. When you get to high offices like U.S. Senator, it's about who has a proven record of serving their constituents the best. If that's a woman of color, a white woman, a man, it does not matter. Most Americans don't like it when interest groups get pandered to. That sort of thing turns a lot of people off to Democrats.

[Demsrule86]

6. Pick the best person for the job...someone the GOP can't knock off in a statewide race...

[FreeState]

9. It's fairly hard for the GOP to win statewide in CA

Last edited Mon Nov 23, 2020, 12:10 AM - Edit history (1)

There hasn’t been a republican senator in nearly 30 years from CA.

[Hekate]

18. We are the state that brought you Duncan Hunter, Darryl Issa, and Devin Nunes, among other....

....Republican luminaries.

As noted, incumbency is powerful, and Boxer and Feinstein got in and stayed in. There’s your 30 years.

[FreeState]

21. House races are not statewide

Klantee/El Cajon and the Central Valley don’t have enough power to send a republican to the senate. Statewide the GOP has 7 of 46 federal house seats.

State wide registration by party:

Democratic: 44.6%
Republican: 25.4%
No Party Preference: 25.0%

[Ace Rothstein]

25. Congressional districts aren't close to statewide races, especially in CA.

[Raine]

7. BIG donors ... how about the people of California???

We might like a say in who represents us!

[Yavin4]

12. This is another reason why Newsom should select a placeholder.

Big donors would give too much of an advantage to an incumbent.

[TexasTowelie]

10. I agree with most of the other posters before me.

Pick the best qualified person regardless of race or gender rather than meeting a quota.

[BainsBane]

15. Interesting how people assume a woman of color

wouldn't be the most qualified or would be a "spokesmodel." Women of color have to work 4x as hard as anyone else to get ahead.

[Hekate]

19. See my post #17 above

[PTWB]

20. BARBARA LEE is the best choice hands down.

She’s incredible and puts up with zero bullshit.

[Polybius]

22. We've had both CA seats held by women since 1992

It doesn't have to stay like that for life. Just pick whoever is the most qualified.

[Retrograde]

23. What tradition?

The last two senators I can find from California who were appointed to the office were white men, and Republicans. Now, women have held both Senate seats since 1992, but AFAIK they were the first to hold the office from this state. The women holding the seat - Feinstein, Boxer, and Harris - are all from the Bay Area, so if Newsom wants to appoint another women from here that's fine with me.

Personally, I'd like to see either Padilla, Becerra, or De Leon in the seat, even though they're from down south. And men.

BTW, the only person of color other than Harris to hold the office of senator from California seems to be S.I. Hayakawa, from 1977-83. While he won the election, the sitting CA senator, a Democrat, resigned 2 days early so he could have more seniority.

[Indykatie]

26. I Think It Should Be A Woman

I'm sure there are some women of color that are qualified. I think POC and Latinos will feel overlooked if Biden choses a White woman with little congressional experience like like Porter. We talk about our commitment to diversity. We need to take advantage of the limited opportunities that come along to expand the diversity in the Senate caucus. There has been talk of Feinstein stepping down before the end of her term so that would be another opportunity.