Now that Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-CA) has been sworn in as California's newest senator, two questions are on the minds of voters and lawmakers: Will Butler choose to run for a full term and how will that affect the 2024 election?
Butler was officially sworn in on Tuesday, replacing the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein , who died on Sept. 29 at the age of 90. Gov. Gavin Newsom fulfilled the promise he made in 2021 that the next senator he appointed would be a black woman. Butler is a political operative and strategist who served on Vice President Kamala Harris's 2020 presidential campaign and, until Tuesday, was the president of EMILY's List, a national Democratic PAC.
“I genuinely don’t know,” Butler said. “I want to be focused on honoring the legacy of Senator Feinstein. I want to devote my time and energy to serving the people of California. And I want to carry her baton with the honor that it deserves and so I genuinely have no idea.” The deadline for her to decide whether she'll enter the primary is March 8, giving her a significant amount of time to have an effect in the Senate and gather allies before making that decision. However, she'd need to file a candidate statement by Nov. 15 to be included in the information guide sent out by Newsom to registered voters.
A Sept. 7 poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that Schiff and Porter led the way with 20% and 17% of the support, respectively, followed by Lee, who sat at 7%. Republicans Steve Garvey and James Bradley had 7% in the poll, and GOP candidate and attorney Eric Early sat at 5%.
Enter Butler, who could appeal to minority and LGBT voters, as well as young voters. It's likely that some of them will shift their vote to Butler, particularly if they see her make significant legislative strides for minority and women's rights in the Senate — which she claimed to want to do in her statement announcing the appointment.
“I don’t care who you are, or how attractive you are as a candidate, or as a politician, or whatever,” longtime Democratic political strategist Garry South told the Los Angeles Times. “You cannot pull together a viable statewide campaign in a state like California in five months’ time, especially with the holidays in the middle.”
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