By Paul Rogers, Bay Area News Group
When Dianne Feinstein died Thursday night, she left not only a long legacy of public service, but 15 months remaining in her term.
Under California law, the governor appoints a successor if a U.S. senator dies or resigns while in office. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, is virtually guaranteed to choose another Democrat, and probably very soon. Democrats have held a razor-thin 51-49 majority in the Senate over Republicans over the past two years.
With Feinstein's death, control of the chamber narrows to 50-49, political math that has been complicated in recent days by calls for Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey to resign after he was indicted on bribery charges.
After former U.S. senator Kamala Harris was elected vice president in 2020, Newsom selected Alex Padilla, a former Los Angeles city councilman, state senator and California secretary of state, as her successor.
Padilla became California's first Latino U.S. Senator. Latinos make up roughly 40% of California's population, and the selection was cheered by some leaders for its ground-breaking nature. But some black leaders were disappointed, saying Newsom should have chosen another African-American woman, since Harris was the only one in the U.S. Senate.
Newsom promised that if the occasion arose, he would name a Black woman as senator next.
There have been only two Black women in the U.S. Senate in American history: Harris, who served from 2017 to 2021, and former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, D-Illinois, who was elected in 1992 and lost re-election in 1998.
Newsom's appointee is expected to be a caretaker who would not run for the seat next year. A fierce race is already underway heading into the Democratic primary in March, featuring Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland.
In an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" three weeks ago, Newsom said he would choose an "interim appointment," dashing the hopes of Lee and her supporters that he might choose her, giving her the advantage of incumbency heading into next year's election.
"I don't want to get involved in the primary," Newsom said. "It would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away. I don't want to tip the balance of that."
Here are some of the people who have been mentioned as potential successors for Feinstein's seat:
1) Shirley Weber
When Newsom named Padilla to fill out the rest of Kamala Harris' senate term, that left a vacancy for California secretary of state, the position that oversees state elections, business filings, lobbying and campaign spending reports, state archives and other issues.
He chose Shirley Weber. Weber, 75, the daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers, earned a PhD in communications from UCLA. She worked as a professor at San Diego State University, then was elected to four terms in the California Assembly representing San Diego. She also led the California Legislative Black Caucus.
Weber, 75, was re-elected for a full term last November.
Among many political observers, she is considered the most likely choice.
2) London Breed
London Breed is currently the most high-profile potential successor, having served as the mayor of San Francisco since 2018.
Breed, 49, grew up in public housing in San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood, and earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco in 2012. She worked in the Office of Housing and Neighborhood Services for former Mayor Willie Brown, then became the executive director of the African American Art & Culture Complex, and was named to the city's redevelopment commission.
She ran for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2012, became its president, and then became acting mayor of San Francisco due to that role when former Mayor Ed Lee died in 2017. During her time in office she has been known as an advocate for more funding for transit and more construction of housing.
But she has come under increasing criticism for homeless encampments, retail crime, auto break-ins and the decision of several major businesses to leave the city in recent years. This week, Daniel Lurie, a Democratic philanthropist and heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, announce he would challenger her for re-election next year, promising to hire more police and clean up encampments.
3) Holly Mitchell
A member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors who represents downtown Los Angeles, Carson, Compton, Inglewood, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach, Mitchell, 59, has served in state and local politics for more than a decade. Most recently, she was a state senator representing Los Angeles from 2013 to 2020. Before that, she was a state assemblywoman from Los Angeles.
After graduating from the University of California-Riverside with a degree in political science, she went to work for former State Sen. Diane Watson. Mitchell also worked as the CEO of Crystal Stairs, a non-profit organization that advocates for child care and education programs.
During her time in office, she has advocated for increased funding for homeless services and the poor, a ban on urban oil drilling in Los Angeles, and led efforts to pass a state law that prohibiting racial discrimination or dress codes in schools or employment based on hairstyles such as braids, corn rows or afros.
4) Karen Bass
Karen Bass is the current mayor of Los Angeles. She was elected last November, defeating developer Rick Caruso.
Bass, 69, had served in the U.S. House of Representatives before that from 2011 to 2022, becoming chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.
A former physician's assistant in Los Angeles who became involved in non-profit groups seeking to improve health care and reduce crime, she ran for state Assembly and was elected in 2004, eventually becoming speaker of the Assembly.
During the 2020 presidential election she was mentioned as a potential running mate for Joe Biden.
Because Bass has been mayor of the nation's second-largest city for less than a year, she is considered less likely to accept a 15-month term as interim U.S. senator.
Other names have been mentioned also, including Angela Glover Blackwell, an Oakland civil rights lawyer, and even billionaire media mogul Oprah Winfrey, a Montecito resident. In May, however, a representative for Winfrey told the Los Angeles Times that she "is not considering the seat should it become vacant."
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