⏩ Replacement: Governor taps Black assembly woman for secretary of state.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday that he will nominate Assembly member Shirley Weber, a San Diego Democrat who chairs the California Legislative Black Caucus, to replace Alex Padilla as secretary of state.
Weber, 72, spent 40 years teaching Africana studies at San Diego State University before winning election to the Assembly in 2012. She would be the first Black person to serve as secretary of state.
Her nomination must be confirmed by the Assembly and Senate.
“Dr. Weber is a tireless advocate and change agent with unimpeachable integrity,” Newsom said in a statement. “Now she’ll be at the helm of California’s elections ... defending and expanding the right to vote.”
In the Legislature, Weber has been a longtime advocate for civil rights and police reform.
“I am excited to be nominated for this historic appointment,” Weber said in a statement. “Expanding voting rights has been one of the causes of my career.”
Earlier Tuesday, Newsom named Padilla to replace Sen. Kamala Harris, the vice presidentelect. Padilla’s term as secretary of state will expire in 2022.
Weber was born on a farm in Hope, Ark., where her father was a sharecropper. Living in the rural South, her father didn’t vote until he was in his 30s. Her grandfather never was able to cast a ballot because he died before the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965.
Weber’s family moved to Los Angeles in 1951. She received a doctorate from UCLA in 1976 and began a decadeslong teaching career. At San Diego State University, she was one of the founders of its Africana studies department. She was also a member of San Diego Unified School District’s board.
As a legislator, she has been deeply involved in civil rights issues. Earlier this year, following nationwide protests against police brutality, she carried bills to reinstate affirmative action in colleges and state agencies and to create a task force to recommend plans to
“Expanding voting rights has been one of the causes of my career.”
Assembly member Shirley Weber, DSan Diego
grant reparations to African Americans to counteract enduring inequities stemming from slavery.
Both passed and were signed by Newsom, although the effort to restore affirmative action, Proposition 16, was rejected by voters in November.
“Every incident brings me back to the same spot,” Weber said at the time. “This country has taught itself to hate African Americans and to deny the history that has brought us here.”
Newsom’s selection of Weber might take some of the sting out of criticism by some African Americans that the governor didn’t name a Black woman to replace Harris. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Tuesday that Padilla’s selection was “a real blow to the African American community, African American women, to women in general.”
Former San Francisco Supervisor Malia Cohen was among the candidates being
mentioned as a possible replacement for Padilla, who oversees the state’s election system for its more than 22 million registered voters.
Cohen, 43, is a member of the San Francisco Police Commission and state Board of Equalization. She was an aide to Newsom when he was San Francisco’s mayor and served eight years as a supervisor from District 10, which includes the BayviewHunters Point, Potrero Hill, Dogpatch and Portola neighorhoods, before being termed out in 2019.
But Cohen and Weber were far from the only candidates Newsom had to choose from. Five Democrats have already signed up to run for Padilla’s job in 2022.
Assembly member Evan Low, former mayor of Campbell, and state Sen. Bob Wieckowski, a veteran legislator from Fremont, are two Bay Area politicians seeking the seat. They are joined by Assembly member Lorena Gonzalez of San Diego and state Sen. Richard Pan of Sacramento.
Gonzalez, however, said in a statement Tuesday: “I feel very strongly about voting rights, which is why I was running for secretary of state. While I would’ve loved the opportunity to serve in that role, I fully appreciate the need to amplify
Black women in our state. Shirley Weber is an icon and will serve California well as secretary of state.”
Former state Sen. Holly Mitchell, DLos Angeles, also filed to run for secretary of state, but that was before she was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in November.
If Weber decides to run for a full fouryear term in 2022, she will have a jump on potential opponents. That’s one reason some of the current candidates already have a Plan B.
Low, for example, has filed to run for reelection to his South Bay Assembly district, while Pan, who is termed out of his Senate seat, is also considering a run for state controller.
Like Gonzalez, Low appeared to be backing away from a possible run for secretary of state after Weber’s nomination was announced. “Our elections will be safe in her hands,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to working with our next secretary of state to modernize our voting systems while ensuring the voices of all California voters are heard.”