29
votes
Dianne Feinstein’s US Senate seat to be filled by Laphonza Butler
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- Title
- California Gov. Newsom will appoint Laphonza Butler to fill Feinstein's Senate seat | CNN Politics
- Published
- Oct 2 2023
Edit: This is essentially a continuation/follow-up of Feinstein’s Death Topic
The most interesting part about this to me was that Butler doesn't live in California or was registered to vote in California until her appointment.
Does that mean that she has changed her residence back to California, or she still going to be living in Maryland? I couldn't find any info on that. If she didn't then can a Senator for California live in Maryland? There doesn't seem to a restriction on interim Senator Appointees. Even if there isn't anything prohibiting it, it is a strange move. I'm reminded of when Hillary moved to New York to become a senator back in 2000.
I also find it equally strange that the Governor isn't picking one of the 2024 senate candidates
I understand and actually appreciate the desire to not appoint one of the 2024 candidates or anyone else wanting to seek re-election in the office.
As we've seen this is an incredibly safe district with a ton of incumbent advantage in the past, giving any singular candidate an advantage in the 2024 race by appointing them beforehand could come across as bypassing democracy and entrenching an appointed senator for many years to come. I actually give him major props for this if his reasoning is what I think it is.
Primary residence is what matters. She probably has residences in both states and just switched which one was her "home" address.
This is pretty common with senators honestly. Some of them have houses in or around DC and their families live there, but they maintain residences in their home districts for appearances. They still commute back and forth all the time for constituent services and to maintain contact though.
Sorry should have phrased that better.
I meant I couldn't find anything on her changing her primary residence back to California.
I was unsure if there was any rule/law forcing her to change or if she can keep her primary residence in Maryland as an appointee senator.
It makes more sense, if you assume Gavin doesn't want to anoint the next senator.
I think he picked an unknown, in order to let the voters decide.
I'm not so confident about that after his push for Alex Padilla. I know she's old, but I would have loved to see Barbara Lee take the seat. Or if they were pushing for a younger candidate Katie Porter has a lot of support. This feels like a way to get a squarely moderate democrat into the seat.
Getting appointed is a big step up towards winning the election, so appointing someone you didn't like would be a risky strategy. It would only make sense if you knew they didn't want to be senator for long (some kind of caretaker position).
So a slightly different spin on it is that Newsom has the freedom to pick whoever he wants, and never mind if they're aren't well-known among the general public yet, they will be. And in California, even if this strategy fails, they will lose to another Democrat with almost the same policy positions, so it's low-risk.
This seems pretty much how things work in California. Politicians can become the well-known incumbent even though voters have only superficial knowledge about them. Look at Kamala Harris's career, or Newsom himself. Contrast with the genuine enthusiasm Obama had. (Or Sanders, for that matter.)
Being unknown to the general public is different from being unknown to political insiders. As long as they have more-or-less the same positions as any other Democrat, they can become the inevitable choice through getting a leg up from other Democratic politicians while being acceptable to Democratic voters.