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Who Will Be Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ Successor and the Next Senator from California?

Published

5 years ago

November 15, 2020

Kiki

Rep. Karen Bass

California Gov. Gavin Newsom will most probably select a replacement to fill the term of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The term will be up in 2022.

Newsom could make history by appointing the first Latinx senator from the state of California. California is 38.1% Latinx according to the 2010 Census and 5.8% Black.

Harris was the second Black woman in the history of the United States to be a senator: Carol Mosely Braun (D-Illiniois) was the first from 1993-1999. Currently, Harris is the only Black woman senator.

Another choice Newsom could make would be to appoint a candidate who would be the first senator from California who is openly gay.

Newsom could also side-step the appointment and call for a special election or a placeholder until the 2022 election.
Candidates on the short list:
Black women:
U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles)
Bass, 67, was on the short list as Biden’s VP pick and is the head of the Congressional Black Caucus. She was also speaker of the California Assembly prior to her election to Congress in 2010.

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland)
Lee, 74, has been in Congress since 1998 and is the former chair of both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus. She worked for the late Ron Dellums and served in the California Assembly and State Senate.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed

Before becoming the first Black woman mayor of San Francisco, and only the second woman mayor, 46-year-old Breed served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Latinx possible candidates:
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
Becerra, 62, was appointed to fill the remainder of Harris’ term as attorney general of California when she won the election for senator in 2016. Once a congressman from the Los Angeles area, Becerra was the first Latino member of the U.S. House of Representatives to sit on the Ways and Means Committee and to chair the House Democratic Caucus. During his term tenure as attorney general, Beccerra has filed more than 100 lawsuits against the federal government on immigration, healthcare, the environment, and civil rights.

Mayor Robert Garcia of Long Beach, California
Garcia, 42, is the youngest and first Latinx, and first gay mayor of Long Beach. Newsom endorsed him for mayor and Garcia was an early supporter of Newsom’s run for governor.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla
Padilla, 47, is currently the Secretary of State of California and served in the California State Senate.

Others:
Libby Schaaf, 55, mayor of Oakland, California, former member of the Oakland City Council.

Toni Atkins, 58, president pro tempore of the California State Senate, former Speaker of the California State Assembly, is a lesbian.

In a press conference on Monday, Newsom said: “[n]o timeline has been established. The process is just beginning to unfold. We are working through the cattle call of considerations related to what’s the profile, the right choice to replace Sen. Harris.”

Kiki

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Oakland Post: Week of July 2- 8, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 2 – 8, 2025

Published

1 day ago

July 7, 2025

Oakland Post

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Trump Set to Sign Largest Cut to Medicaid After a Marathon Protest Speech by Leader Jeffries

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S.

Published

4 days ago

July 3, 2025

Oakland Post

By Lauren Burke

By a vote of 218 to 214, the GOP-controlled U.S. House passed President Trump’s massive budget and spending bill that will add $3.5 trillion to the national debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S. With $175 billion allocated in spending for immigration enforcement, the money for more police officers eclipsed the 2026 budget for the U.S. Marines, which is $57 billion. Almost all of the policy focus from the Trump Administration has focused on deporting immigrants of color from Mexico and Haiti.

The vote occurred as members were pressed to complete their work before the arbitrary deadline of the July 4 holiday set by President Trump. It also occurred after Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries took the House floor for over 8 hours in protest. Leader Jeffries broke the record in the U.S. House for the longest floor speech in history on the House floor. The Senate passed the bill days before and was tied at 50-50, with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski saying that, “my hope is that the House is gonna look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet.” There were no changes made to the Senate bill by the House. A series of overnight phone calls to Republicans voting against, not changes, was what won over enough Republicans to pass the legislation, even though it adds trillions to the debt. The Trump spending bill also cuts money to Pell grants.

“The Big Ugly Bill steals food out of the hands of starving children, steals medicine from the cabinets of cancer patients, and equips ICE with more funding and more weapons of war than the United States Marine Corps. Is there any question of who those agents will be going to war for, or who they will be going to war against? Beyond these sadistic provisions, Republicans just voted nearly unanimously to close urban and rural hospitals, cripple the child tax credit, and to top it all off, add $3.3 trillion to the ticking time bomb that is the federal deficit – all from a party that embarrassingly pretends to stand for fiscal responsibility and lowering costs,” wrote Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) in a statement on July 3.

“The Congressional Budget Office predicts that 17 million people will lose their health insurance, including over 322,000 Virginians. It will make college less affordable. Three million people will lose access to food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And up to 16 million students could lose access to free school meals. The Republican bill does all of this to fund tax breaks for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations,” wrote Education and Workforce Committee ranking member Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) in a statement. The bill’s passage has prompted Democrats to start thinking about 2026 and the next election cycle. With the margins of victory in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate being so narrow, many are convinced that the balance of power and the question of millions being able to enjoy health care come down to only several thousand votes in congressional elections. But currently, Republicans controlled by the MAGA movement control all three branches of government. That reality was never made more stark and more clear than the last seven days of activity in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.