Padilla will fill Senate seat
Newsom: ‘California is gaining a tested fighter in their corner who will be a fierce ally in D.C.’
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday appointed Secretary of State Alex Padilla — a California native and self-made political success story — as the state’s new U. S. senator, filling the seat left by Vice President- elect Kamala Harris and becoming the state’s first Latino to serve in the post.
As the child of Mexican immigrants who grew up in Pacoima, a working-class neighborhood of Los Angeles, Padilla’s rise is a historic nod to the growing Latino constituency in a state where it has grown to nearly 40% of the population and an everincreasing share of the leadership clout.
He’s regarded by his peers as ambitious, laser-focused, analytical, intensely wonkish when it comes to the inner workings of government, and brilliant — he was an engineer long before he was elected, earning a degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“Through his tenacity, integrity, smarts and grit, California is gaining a tested fighter in their corner who will be a fierce ally in D.C., lifting up our state’s values and making sure we secure the critical resources to emerge stronger from this pandemic,” Newsom said in a statement.
With Padilla’s pending job change, that means Newsom needs to fill the secretary of state position.
Tuesday afternoon, the governor announced he would nominate San Diego Assembly member and chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, Dr. Shirley N. Weber, to fill the position.
“Dr. Weber is a tireless advocate and change agent with unimpeachable integrity,” Newsom said. “The daughter of sharecroppers from Arkansas, Dr. Weber’s father didn’t get to vote until his 30s and her grandfather never got to vote because he died before the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965. When her family moved to South Central Los Angeles, she saw as a child her parents rearrange furniture in their living room to serve as a local polling site for multiple elections. Now, she’ll be at the helm of California’s elections as the next Secretary of State — defending and expanding the
right to vote and serving as the first African American to be California’s Chief Elections Officer.”
In the quiet race to replace Harris that many pundits thought may have been headed for a headturning surprise, Padilla was, well, no surprise.
He was always thought to be on the short list. But that list also was thought by many to be a logjam of other names in a behindthe-scenes skirmish among Latino and African American constituencies vying for Newsom’s attention.
Folks who many believed carried those res p e c t ive demo g r aph ic banners were another Los
Angeles icon, Rep. Karen Bass — a forger of consensus who was among the finalists to be Presidentelect Joe Biden’s running mate — and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia, a charismatic, openly gay up - and- comer in state politics. Meanwhile, Oakland- area Rep. Barbara Lee was regarded as the most likely hopeful in the northern half of the state.
Attorney General Xavier Becerra, however, was regarded by many to be Padilla’s “co-front-runner” for weeks. But when Becerra got Biden’s call to become the next health and human services secretary, it appeared to have left Padilla atop the list.
In the end, Newsom took someone he is most familiar with, someone he regarded as a peer and a
partner in running the state. Newsom also gets to play a key role in determining who gets to replace Padilla in Sacramento, which also may have figured in his decision.
“I am honored and humbled by the trust placed in me by Gov. Newsom, and I intend to work each and every day to honor that trust and deliver for all Californians,” Padilla said in a statement.
Padilla has been California’s top elections official since 2015. In that position, he’s overseen the state’s vast elections apparatus, including the rollout of a more robust voteby-mail system. In public sessions, he speaks about the elections process with gusto and precision, like a mechanic who knows every tiny moving part of a com
plex machine.
With the elections process itself facing unprecedented slings and arrows from an administration that vehemently declares the November vote a fraud, Padilla was among the system’s most ardent and eloquent defenders.
Padilla aimed specific scrutiny at the multimiliion- dollar Los Angeles County elections makeover, which a dva nced from a troubled primary vote marred by gaffes and long Election Day lines to a smooth-running, nearly f lawless November experience.
The 47-year- old, already a veteran of various elected posts, will hold the Senate seat through 2022, when he will have to run for reelection.
Harris hasn’t given a
date for her resignation, but she will be inaugurated as vice president on Jan. 20.
As the appointment rippled through Padilla’s Los Angeles hometown, local leaders celebrated the moment for L. A. — and for Latinos.
“T his is a huge, historic day, not just for California, but for Los Angeles and the Latino, Latina community,” said L. A. County Democratic Chair Mark Gonzalez, who noted Latinos’ strong political voice, given a population of 40% in the state that has “had the governor’s back.” “This is a huge deliverable that the governor has made.”
On Tuesday, L at ino g roups applauded the choice. Hispanas Organized for Political Equal
ity said the group was “thrilled.”
“A s a lon g s t a nd i n g champion of education e qu it y, env i ron ment a l justice and civic participation,” the group said in a statement, “and a dedicated public servant, we are certain that Secretary Padilla will serve as the United States Senator for California with the strong leadership and steadfast commitment to equit y and justice that is needed to move our country forward.”
“I think it was one of the easier calls for the governor, although it came with some difficulty,” said Jaime Regalado, professor emeritus of political science at Cal State Los Angeles.