Some Blacks angry at choice of Latino as Calif. senator
California LOS ANGELES — is getting its fifirst Latino U.S. senator. ForGov. GavinNewsom, it’s a political gamble.
The Democratic governor Tuesday named Secretary of State Alex Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, to fifill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Vice President- elect Kamala Harris. When Padilla goes to Washington, the former state legislator will become California’s fifirst Latino senator since the state’s founding 170 years ago.
In picking a personal friend and fellowDemocrat, Newsom had his eye on history and pragmatism — he turned to someone he could trust with a year of uncertainty looming, including a possible recall election targeting the governorwhile the pandemic rages unabated.
Newsom also rejected pleas from a host of prominentBlack leaders to replace Harris, the Senate’s only Black woman, with another African American woman, suchasU.S. Reps. KarenBass or Barbara Lee.
About six hours after the Padilla announcement, Newsom’s offiffice said he would nominate Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, who is Black, to be the next secretary of state. If confirmed, she wouldbecomethefifirstBlack woman to hold the offiffice, giving Newsom two history-making picks in one day.
Giventhetiming, however, it appeared the choice was intended at least partly to quell criticismfor not choosing aBlackwomanto replace Harris.
“Many people believe the governor will pay a political price,” Kerman Maddox, a Democratic consultant and fundraiserwho is Black, said in an email. “It’s a terribly insensitivedecision” withthe nation in the midst of a reckoning over racial injustice.
“If Governor Newsom thinks our disappointment with the Kamala Harris replacement will be tempered by appointing an African American woman to be California secretary of state, he clearly does not know this constituency,” Maddox added. “When I heard the news about the secretary of state appointment, my angermeter went fromdisappointment to being downright angry.”
BlackSanFranciscoMayor
LondonBreedcalledtheSenate decision “a real blow to the African American community.”
The hectic day of political maneuvers only underscored the risks that came with them.
The mannerly, soft-spoken Padilla will begin his truncated term facing the prospect of a tough reelection fifight in 2022, when he is likely to see challengers fromwithin his own party in theheavilyDemocratic state.