HERTFORDSHIRE, United Kingdom (VOICE OF NAIJA) –The Governor of California State, Dianne Newson, will appoint 44-year-old abortion rights activist and president of EMILY’s List, Laphonza Butler to replace late Dianne Feinstein.
Feinstein is the longest-serving female senator, who died last week.
Feinstein, regarded as the trailblazer for female politicians in the United States died at the age of 90.
To fill her vacuum, Newson appointed Butler, a strategist who runs an organisation devoted to electing Democratic women who support abortion rights, BBC said.
Butler will become the first lesbian Black woman to join Congress in US history, according to Newsom. She will also be the sole Black female senator serving in Congress and only the third in US history.
Under Californian law, the Governor can appoint a senator until the next statewide election.
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The selection of Butler, first reported by Politico, comes as Democrats hold a narrow Senate majority and uncertainty looms over New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez’s political future amid outcry from his Democratic colleagues over his federal indictment.
Butler has been the president of EMILY’s List, which works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, since the group’s board of directors appointed her in 2021, when she became the first woman of color to lead the organization.
Before she started the role in 2021, she was a senior campaign adviser to US Vice President Kamala Harris during her 2020 presidential bid.
She has also worked as Director of Public Policy at Airbnb and as a union leader.
Last month, prior to Feinstein’s death, Newsom pledged to appoint a black woman to serve the remainder of Feinstein’s term – until elections take place in November 2024 – should the post become vacant.
However, he said he hoped that it was a decision he would not have to make.
“As we mourn the enormous loss of Sen. Feinstein, the very freedoms she fought for – reproductive freedom, equal protection, and safety from gun violence – have never been under greater assault. Laphonza has spent her entire career fighting for women and girls and has been a fierce advocate for working people,” Newsom said in a statement on X.
This is Newsom’s second Senate appointment. After the 2020 election, the governor appointed Alex Padilla, then California’s secretary of state, to succeed Kamala Harris following her election to the vice presidency. Padilla became the first Latino senator from California, but Newsom was criticized for not choosing a Black woman, leaving the chamber without a Black female senator. He later appointed Shirley Weber, a Black woman, to succeed Padilla as secretary of state.