Alex Padilla has been selected to replace Kamala Harris in the Senate. He will be the first Latino to represent the state of California.
What We Know:
- California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that he had chosen the state’s secretary of state, Alex Padilla, to fill the Senate seat being vacated by Kamala Harris, who will be sworn in as vice president next month. He is the first Latino senator of the largest Latino populated state in the country. There are more than 15.5 million Latinos in California, or 39.4% of the state’s population, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.
- Newsom said that Padilla, a Democrat whose parents were Mexican immigrants, had worked his way up from humble beginnings to the halls of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Los Angeles City Council, and the state Senate. He has been in public service since 1999, when he won a seat on the Los Angeles City Council at age 26 and later became the youngest L.A. city council president.
- Padilla has served as California’s secretary of state since 2015. He was considered by many Democrats in the state a shoo-in for the job, given that he and Newsom have known each other for decades.
- Some activists and lawmakers had called for Newsom to select a Black woman to replace Harris, who was only the second Black woman elected to the Senate. Two Black women in the House, Karen Bass, and Barbara Lee, were also considered. According to NBC News, some Black civil rights leaders had urged Newsom to choose one of them because, with Harris moving to the White House, there will be no Black female senators after Padilla is sworn in.
- Gavin Newsom called Padilla on video chat to ask him if he would like the position. He tearfully accepted Newsom’s offer and said he is “humbled” by the effort his Mexican immigrant parents put in to provide for him and allow him to rise to this position in life. You can watch the video here.
Padilla will serve out Harris’ term, which ends in 2022, and can then run again for a full six-year term.
