With Gov. Newsom’s appointment of Laphonza Butler to temporarily fill Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat, the question now becomes: Will Butler run for a full term in 2024?
The death of California Sen. Dianne on Friday and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s selection of longtime political operative Laphonza Butler as her short-term replacement have thrust two critical questions to the forefront of the state’s political scene:
Will Butler run for a full term in the Senate in next year’s election? And if she does, how seriously will she shake up the race that is well underway?
The first question remains unanswered; Butler hasn’t said if she plans to run.
“Politics can wait,” Matt Wing, a spokesman for Butler, told The Times in a written statement.
“This week Laphonza is focused on respecting and honoring Sen. Feinstein’s legacy and getting ready to serve the people of California in the Senate.”
The second question had political experts divided as they digested the news of her appointment Monday. Whether Butler will serve 15 months and then step down, or enter the race herself, could upend the campaign strategies of the three prominent Democrats already running for Senate: Reps. Barbara Lee of Oakland, Katie Porter of Irvine and Adam Schiff of Burbank. Butler has deep ties to organizations that could help her mount a serious fundraising operation.
“I think Butler would be a very formidable candidate who’s capable of making it into the top two,” advancing from the primary to the general election, said Feinstein’s 2018 campaign manager Jeff Millman, citing her fundraising prowess.
But that’s if she plans to run.
“Most people believe that this race is too far along and that to run would be so violative of the democratic process,” said former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who ran unsuccessfully for California governor in 2018.
“I don’t expect that she will,” he said. “I do think she’ll do a very good job filling the shoes of a trailblazer.”
Feinstein broke barriers as the first woman elected to represent California in the Senate, and Butler will be the first LGBTQ+ senator from the state.
This comes after Newsom said last month he’d like to see a caretaker in the role, only to backtrack later after criticism from progressives. Lee, who is Black, ripped into the governor, saying that choosing a Black woman for a short-term appointment is “insulting.” On Sunday, hours before Butler’s appointment was announced, a Newsom administration official told The Times that if his appointee “decides she wants to seek a full term in 2024, then she is free to do so.”
Newsom committed in 2021 to appointing a Black woman if Feinstein’s seat ever came open, an effort to placate frustration by Black leaders after he appointed Sen.
