As we’ve been reporting, California is about to have a new US Senator, even as the state continues to mourn the late Dianne Feinstein, who died Friday at age 90.

Governor Newsom made a surprise pick to finish Feinstein’s term in the Senate, appointing longtime labor leader and campaign strategist Laphonza Butler to the seat.
 
Laphonza Butler was a powerful union leader for years in California before joining the political consulting firm that has run campaigns for Governor Newsom, Kamala Harris and many of the state’s most elite Democrats. Then she left to work at Airbnb before becoming the head of Emily’s List, the organization based in Washington DC that recruits women for office and focuses on electing women who support abortion rights. She moved to Maryland two years ago to take that job, but still owns her home in Southern California and will re-establish residency in California so she can represent the state in the Senate. She could be sworn in as soon as tomorrow, when the Senate returns to session. She will be the only Black woman in the Senate, just the third in its history, the first openly gay Senator from California and the first openly LGBTQ Black person in the history of the Congress, both Senate and House. 

For more, Doug Sovern, Patti Reising and Brett Burkhart spoke with Aimee Allison of Oakland, founder and president of She The People, an organization somewhat like Emily’s List in that it works to elevate women of color to political power.