LOS ANGELES (AP) California is getting its first Latino U.S. senator. For Gov. Gavin Newsom, it’s a political gamble.
The Democratic governor Tuesday named Secretary of State Alex Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. When Padilla goes to Washington, the former state legislator will become California’s first Latino senator since the state’s founding 170 years ago.
In picking a personal friend and fellow Democrat, Newsom had his eye on history and pragmatism he turned to someone he could trust with a year of uncertainty looming, including a possible recall election targeting the governor while the pandemic rages unabated.
LOS ANGELES (AP) California is getting its first Latino U.S. senator. For Gov. Gavin Newsom, it’s a political gamble.
The Democratic governor Tuesday named Secretary of State Alex Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. When Padilla goes to Washington, the former state legislator will become California’s first Latino senator since the state’s founding 170 years ago.
In picking a personal friend and fellow Democrat, Newsom had his eye on history and pragmatism he turned to someone he could trust with a year of uncertainty looming, including a possible recall election targeting the governor while the pandemic rages unabated.
California gets Latino US senator, some Black leaders angry
By MICHAEL R. BLOODDecember 23, 2020 GMT
LOS ANGELES (AP) California is getting its first Latino U.S. senator. For Gov. Gavin Newsom, it’s a political gamble.
The Democratic governor Tuesday named Secretary of State Alex Padilla, the son of Mexican immigrants, to fill the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. When Padilla goes to Washington, the former state legislator will become California’s first Latino senator since the state’s founding 170 years ago.
In picking a personal friend and fellow Democrat, Newsom had his eye on history and pragmatism he turned to someone he could trust with a year of uncertainty looming, including a possible recall election targeting the governor while the pandemic rages unabated.
(California Assembly photo)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed Secretary of State Alex Padilla, left, to the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Assembly member Shirley Weber, right, will take Padilla’s spot as the Golden State’s elections chief.
(CN) California’s new election chief Shirley Weber had a story to tell Wednesday as she was introduced to the state’s 40 million residents, save the San Diego County constituents she represents in the Assembly: Her grandfather never voted because he lived in Arkansas during Jim Crow, before the Voting Rights Act.
Her father fled Hope, Arkansas, because he was imminently in peril of being lynched. But once safely ensconced in California in the 1950s, Weber said one of the first things he did was vote because he finally had the opportunity to do so.
California gets Latino U.S. senator, some Black leaders angry By MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AP Political Writer
Published: December 23, 2020, 8:20am
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4 Photos FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2019, file photo, California Secretary of State Alex Padilla talks during a news conference at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Secretary of State Alex Padilla on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, as the state s next U.S. senator to fill the seat being vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File) Photo Gallery
LOS ANGELES California is getting its first Latino U.S. senator. For Gov. Gavin Newsom, it’s a political gamble.