Congress: Padilla will be first Latino to represent state in upper chamber
SACRAMENTO — Alex Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants who rose over two decades in politics to become California secretary of state, will be the first Latino to represent the state in the U. S. Senate.
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Padilla, 47,a Democrat from Los Angeles and a longtime political ally, on Tuesday to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Vice Presidentelect Kamala Harris. It is a historic choice in a state where Latinos now make up the larg
est ethnic group but have rarely seen representation at the highest rungs of power.
Padilla will serve in the Senate alongside Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who hired him as an aide a quartercentury ago, launching his political career.
With Newsom quarantined for a second time after exposure to a staff member who tested positive for the coronavirus, the announcement arrived via press release, carrying little of the fanfare that would typically mark the occasion. On social media, the governor shared an excerpt of the video call Monday evening where he made the offer to Padilla.
“This is the ask, brother,” Newsom told Padilla, who said he was honored and humbled on behalf of his parents.
“I can’t tell you how many pancakes my dad flipped, or eggs he scrambled, trying to provide for us, or the many, many years of my mom cleaning houses, doing the same thing,” Padilla said, choking up. “That’s why I try so hard to make sure that our democracy is as inclusive in California as we’ve built. And it’s a hell of an important perspective to bring to Washington.”
Latino groups and politicians had been vocal, even before Harris was elected as vice president, about wanting representation in the seat. Although Latinos now make up the largest ethnic group in California, about 39% of the population, none has ever represented the state in the Senate.
The Latino Victory Fund, a political action committee that works to elect Latinos, started a digital ad campaign called “Pick Padilla” in August, after Presidentelect Joe Biden tapped Harris to be his running mate. President and CEO Nathalie Rayes, who immigrated to Los Angeles from Venezuela at age 9, said Tuesday that she was brought to tears watching the video of Newsom and Padilla and shared it with her young sons.
“I feel very emotional today, because obviously this is the American dream in its full force,” she said, adding that her organization and others would “need to continue working to ensure there is representation for all people of color” in the Senate.
State Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, the Los Angeles Democrat who chairs the California Latino Legislative Caucus, knocked on doors for Padilla when he first ran for office on the Los Angeles City Council in 1999. She said the selection of a senator who could give a national platform to “the message of immigrants, the message of Latinos, the message of hardworking cooks and house cleaners” made her proud.
“He’ll speak to people who otherwise don’t see themselves as making a difference or think that they don’t matter,” Durazo said.
African American leaders, women’s political organizations and Democratic donors had ramped up the pressure on Newsom in recent weeks to pick another Black woman to succeed Harris, arguing that Black women should be recognized for being the most reliable base of Democratic voters.
Without Harris, the 100member Senate will no longer have a Black woman member. Of the 25 remaining female senators, only three will be women of color.
Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee of Oakland and Karen Bass of Los Angeles were among the Black women mentioned as possible replacements for Harris. In a statement Tuesday, Lee congratulated Padilla and said he would be “a powerful voice in the Senate for those who continue to be denied our country’s promise of equality.”
Bass called him “another champion following a distinguished line of individuals who have shattered glass ceilings and hurdled obstacles in their way.”
Others were disappointed. San Francisco Mayor London Breed, whose name had been floated early on as a potential successor to Harris, called Padilla’s appointment “a real blow to the African American community, African American women, to women in general.”
“It’s really challenging to put it into words, but it was definitely a surprise,” Breed said at a news conference. “It’s an unfortunate situation as we’re trying to move this country forward and make sure Black lives truly matter and that African Americans have a seat at the table.”
Later Tuesday, Newsom said he would nominate Assembly Member Shirley Weber, a San Diego Democrat who chairs the California Legislative Black Caucus, to replace Padilla as secretary of state. She would be the first African American to hold the position.
Among those who congratulated Padilla was Feinstein. who publicly endorsed his appointment this month. Some progressives had begun to call for the state’s senior senator to resign, particularly following a recent story in the New Yorker suggesting she is struggling with declining mental acuity. Having two open Senate seats would have allowed Newsom to appoint both a Latino and Black woman. But in a statement Tuesday, Feinstein, 87, sounded like she had little intention of stepping down anytime soon.
“I very much look forward to working closely with Alex and I believe that together we can be a strong team for California’s benefit,” she said.
Harris tweeted her congratulations to her “dear friend” Padilla, saying, “Alex and I have long served the people of California together, and I know he will continue fighting for our state as California’s first Latino senator.”
Newsom did not specify when Padilla would take over for Harris, who has yet to resign her seat. Her office declined to comment Tuesday on when she might do so — the new Congress will be sworn in Jan. 3, but Harris will not take office as vice president until Jan. 20. Padilla will serve out the remainder of her Senate term, which ends in 2022, and will have to run then to win a full sixyear term.
The campaign is likely to begin immediately, as Padilla has little time to bolster his name recognition statewide before facing the voters. He filed his statement of candidacy Tuesday before the appointment was even made public.
The last California senator appointed by a governor, Republican John Seymour, lost his election bid to Feinstein in 1992. Seymour was also the state’s last senator to come from Southern California, before three decades of domination by Bay Area politicians.
In his announcement, Newsom highlighted the significance of choosing Padilla following four years of attacks on immigrants and voting rights by outgoing President Trump.
After graduating from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a mechanical engineering degree, Padilla was elected to the Los Angeles City Council at 26 and became the youngestever council president. He served two terms in the state Senate, passing a statewide ban on singleuse plastic bags and streamlining transfers between community colleges and the California State University system, before being elected secretary of state in 2014. In that office, he has expanded the voter rolls by millions of people and implemented allmail elections.