Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will resign her Senate seat on Monday, as she and President-elect Joe Biden prepare to take the White House this week.
The California Democrat will be replaced by her home state’s current secretary of state, Alex Padilla, chosen by Gov. Gavin Newsom to succeed Harris.
Padilla will be the first Latino senator from California and has held public office for more than two decades in various roles. He was first elected in 1999 to serve on the Los Angeles City Council and went on to serve two terms in the state senate and two terms as secretary of state.
Harris will be the first black woman to hold the office of vice president. She was first elected to the Senate in 2016.
Earlier this week, Vice President Mike Pence called Harris to congratulate her in their first conversation since the closure of the 2020 election.
Harris will be sworn in on Jan. 20, with Pence expected to attend. President Trump, who long questioned the accuracy of the election, says he will not attend the inauguration. Trump is expected to leave Washington, D.C., before the events begin.
Biden and Harris’s inauguration is unprecedented, given the changes made to account for the coronavirus pandemic as well as the increased security threat at state capitols across the nation.
