The appointee to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died last week, seems to check all the boxes that California Gov. Gavin Newsom promised when he talked about who would fill Feinstein’s seat were she to pass.
He promised that the replacement would be a black woman, according to ABC News. Lo and behold, Laphonza Butler is.
He also promised that she would be none of the three top contenders for the seat in 2024 — California Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. Obviously, she’s none of them.
Butler also carries far-left bona fides, having been the president of Emily’s List, a political action committee that backs pro-abortion candidates for higher office.
If only she were, you know, actually a Californian.
Yes, it seems that Newsom’s appointment — while indeed a great pick for the left-leaning faction of the California Democratic Party — has hit a bit of a snag given that Butler is a resident of Maryland, according to her bios on social media and the Emily’s List website.
“Laphonza grew up in Magnolia, MS, and attended one of the country’s premier HBCUs, Jackson State University,” the profile read. “She lives in Maryland with her partner Neneki Lee and their daughter Nylah.”
It appears EMILY’s list has removed the final line in Laphonza Butler’s bio that states she lives in Maryland. pic.twitter.com/6wYYYJEqoE
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) October 2, 2023
This, meanwhile, was her social media profile before and after:
Oh hey, look who remembered to remove the Location data from her bio overnight! It’s California’s newest Senator! pic.twitter.com/x90OxXoSd6
— Enguerrand VII de Coucy (@ingelramdecoucy) October 2, 2023
While both have been changed to scrub any mention of her Maryland ties, Fox News noted that Butler would have to re-register to vote in California, where she owns property, if she wishes to run for the seat in the general election — indicating her voter registration is not in the Golden State.
A filing with the Federal Election Commission on Aug. 31 listed her address as being in Silver Spring, Maryland, a suburb of Washington.
“Newsom’s office told Fox News Digital that Butler moved to the suburbs near Washington, D.C., when she became EMILY’s List president in 2021, and that she has a house in California,” the outlet reported. “The governor’s office added that Butler will re-register to vote in California before she is sworn in.”
However, California GOP Rep. Darrell Issa is questioning whether the interim office is permissible under California law.
He told Fox News he planned to send a letter to Newsom, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and California’s other member of the upper chamber, Democrat Sen. Alex Padilla, expressing his concern over the appointment.
“We’re not talking about the question of majority, we’re talking about 38 million Californians who have an absolute right to have somebody who puts California first — not who puts the District of Columbia first or Maryland, where she’s a resident, first,” Issa said on Monday.
“It’s not that he couldn’t find somebody,” he added.
“Instead, [Newsom] chose the most progressive African-American woman he could find, seemingly for political purposes.”
“The quid pro quo of agreeing to pay your California taxes in return for becoming a senator is not an acceptable bargain,” Issa continued. “That’s a privilege the rest of us don’t get.”
Furthermore, Butler hasn’t pledged to stay away from the 2024 primary for Feinstein’s seat, nor has Newsom requested that of her.
“I have an incredible appointee and she’ll make a decision with no constraints, no expectations,” he said, according to The New York Times.
Thus, instead of keeping his pledge that he didn’t “want to get involved in the primary” and wouldn’t pick Lee — a black woman — because of the fact she’s running, he’s already picked a black woman who has a leg up by dint of already being a sitting senator, albeit one who hasn’t won an election. And he’s picked a Maryland resident to fill the role, to boot.
Lee had already said she was “troubled” by Newsom’s pledge before he picked Butler, saying, “The idea that a black woman should be appointed only as a caretaker to simply check a box is insulting to countless black women across this country who have carried the Democratic Party to victory election after election.”
Well, just imagine how she feels now that the governor has picked a black woman from, quite literally, across the country to fill a seat she wants.
Aside from throwing a sop to the rabid pro-abortion contingent among the California Democrats, it’s hard to imagine anyone in Golden State politics — Republican or Democrat — who’s going to be thrilled with going so far out-of-state to find Feinstein’s replacement.
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