Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is staying out of the fraught selection process to fill her Senate seat.
A senior Harris aide told the Washington Examiner that the California Democrat has discussed the soon-to-be-vacant seat with Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is due to appoint her successor, but insists that the selection is up to him.
“She believes that it is a decision for Gov. Newsom to make. She has communicated that, and she thinks he is going to make the decision that’s best for the state, but she does believe it’s his decision,” this aide said.
Newsom has bemoaned “the stress of having to choose between a lot of friends, to choose between quality candidates — and the fact that whoever you pick, there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be upset,” and pointed to a full-throttle lobbying effort that kicked up as soon as President-elect Joe Biden tapped Harris as his running mate.
For some prominent Democrats, selecting a black woman is a priority, while a Latino candidate remains a priority for those who say it’s past time for California, a state with a large Hispanic population, to send their first Latino senator to Washington.
As only the third senator that California has had in 28 years, Harris is leaving a prized seat. She is also the only black woman in the Senate, which many have urged Newsom to consider.
Last month, close to 150 of the state’s biggest women political donors issued a public letter addressed to the governor, urging him “to continue this Californian tradition by appointing a woman of color to Vice President-elect Harris’s US Senate seat.” Among these women are some of Newsom’s most prolific political donors.
In another letter, a coalition of black civil rights leaders said choosing anyone but a black woman to fill the seat would be a “step backward.”
“Zero is unacceptable,” the letter said, pointing to Harris’s imminent departure.
California’s Legislative Black Caucus has also called for her successor to be a black woman.
“We are adamant that this position must go to an African American woman as a result of our hard work in this last election, as well as our hard work in California and representing the Democratic Party,” said Shirley Weber, chairwoman of California’s Legislative Black Caucus and a state representative from San Diego, during a recent press conference.
U.S. Rep. Karen Bass, a Democrat from California’s 33rd Congressional District, and U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, a Democrat from the state’s 13th District, are the coalition and black caucus picks.
Bass, who leads the Congressional Black Caucus, was vetted as a finalist to be Biden’s vice president and is viewed favorably by Democrats on the Left. She has advocated openly for Harris’s seat.
In a radio interview this year, former California Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat who held the seat before Harris, said Newsom has two choices: selecting either someone he believes in and who could win reelection, or he can let voters decide two years from now by selecting a placeholder candidate.
“That’s his decision. … There’s precedent for going in either direction,” Boxer said. “He could say, ‘Look, I don’t want to choose this, let the voters decide and, and just put someone who serves well for two years, or he may decide to weigh in.”
“And I think Kamala will have a lot to say about that,” she added.
Harris has not publicly shared a favored candidate for the seat.
California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has backed California Secretary of State Alex Padilla for the role.
Odds for Padilla, a longtime Newsom ally favored for the seat, further improved after Biden took a second front-runner, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, out of the race, asking him to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
If appointed, Padilla, who as state senator led Newsom’s first gubernatorial campaign, would become the first Latino senator from California.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California’s 17th Congressional District, has the support of Justice Democrats, a political action committee with ties to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the group said in a tweet.
“There’s a hundred chores that I’d prefer. I’m not kidding,” Newsom has said of choosing a Harris successor. “This is not something that I wish even on my worst enemy because you create enemies in this process, you know, not just friends. And it’s a vexing decision. It’s a challenging one.”
Newsom faces headwinds in his own political future.
Midway through his term, he is facing a possible recall stemming from discord over the coronavirus lockdowns in his state and news that he breached COVID-19 protocol during a private dinner at the Napa County three-Michelin-star rated restaurant, The French Laundry.
Another potential pick, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who is black, attended an event at the same restaurant just one day later, sparking further outrage.
On top of Harris’s senate seat, which must be filled by Jan. 21, 2021, Newsom needs to fill the attorney general position being vacated by Becerra.
