Special to the Vanguard
A trusted adviser to Vice President Harris and leader of the nation’s largest organization dedicated to electing women, Butler will make history as California’s first openly LGBTQ United States Senator and the first Black lesbian to openly serve in Congress in American history
Sacramento, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom late on Sunday announced the selection of Laphonza Butler — the President of the nation’s largest organization dedicated to electing women, EMILY’s List — to complete the United States Senate term of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein, which runs through 2024.
Butler, a longtime senior adviser to Vice President Kamala Harris, labor leader, and advocate for women and working people, will be the first openly LGBTQ person to represent California in the Senate. She will also be the first Black lesbian to openly serve in Congress in American history and the second Black woman to represent California in the Senate following Vice President Kamala Harris.
“An advocate for women and girls, a second-generation fighter for working people, and a trusted adviser to Vice President Harris, Laphonza Butler represents the best of California, and she’ll represent us proudly in the United States Senate,” said Governor Newsom. “As we mourn the enormous loss of Senator Feinstein, the very freedoms she fought for — reproductive freedom, equal protection, and safety from gun violence — have never been under greater assault. Laphonza will carry the baton left by Senator Feinstein, continue to break glass ceilings, and fight for all Californians in 
Washington D.C.”
Butler comes from a working-class family. Her father — a small-business owner — was diagnosed with a terminal illness and died when Butler was 16 years old. Her mother was the household’s sole provider, working as a classroom aide, a home care provider, a security guard and a bookkeeper to provide for Butler and her two siblings.
With her selection to the Senate, Butler will step down from her role as president of EMILY’s List, where she was the first woman of color and mother to lead the organization. Prior to joining EMILY’s List, Butler ran political campaigns and led strategy efforts for numerous companies, organizations, and elected leaders — including for Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Butler was a key leader of Vice President Harris’s presidential campaign. For more than a decade, she served as the president of the largest labor union in California — SEIU Local 2015 — a union representing more than 325,000 nursing home and home-care workers throughout the state.
Previously, Butler served as President of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers (ULTCW) and also as SEIU’s Property Services Division Director, in which she was responsible for the strategic direction of organizing on behalf of more than 250,000 janitors, security officers, window cleaners, and food service workers across the country. Butler also served as an SEIU International Vice President and president of the SEIU California State Council.
Butler was the former director of the Board of Governors of the Los Angeles branch of the Federal Reserve System. In 2018, she was appointed to the University of California Board of Regents by Governor Jerry Brown, where she served until 2021. She served in various other roles, including as a board member for the National Children’s Defense Fund, BLACK PAC, and the Bay Area Economic Council Institute, and as a fellow for the MIT Community Innovators Lab.
Butler was named a “Champion for Change” by President Barack Obama.
Butler received a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Jackson State University. Butler is married to her wife, Neneki, and together they have a daughter, Nylah.
Being she’s a member of the LGTBQ+ community is it okay to call her a “woman’?
There are people already stating that Maryland now has three Senators being that she currently lives in Maryland and is not registered to even vote in California.
Butler has residences in both California and Maryland, the latter being where she works with “EMILY’s List”. The Governor’s office has announced that she will register to vote in California before she’s sworn in. Incidentally, Keith’s thumbnail photo attached to his DV comments shows what appears to be a woman’s visage. Is it okay to call “him” a man? Where is the moderator when we need him!?
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2023/oct/2/gavin-newsom-ripped-tapping-marylands-laphonza-but/
“The Constitution sets three qualifications for service in the U.S. Senate: age (at least thirty years of age); U.S. citizenship (at least nine years); and residency in the state a senator represents at time of election.”
So as long as she establishes her residency at the time when she is formally appointed, it’s lawful.
So Newsom could’ve picked anyone from any state who was at least 30 years old, a U.S. citizen as long as they establish residency when appointed?
How does everyone feel about that?
Legally yes. In this case, however, it is someone who fairly recently served as a UC Regent. So I think this is a search for a problem.
California has @40 million residents. Couldn’t Newsom have found a qualified person that actually currently lives and was currently registered to vote in California at the time of his selection? And how about Newsom saying he was only going to pick a black woman? Are you okay with that David? Choosing someone based on gender and race as a qualifier?
I don’t have a problem with any of it. It’s a one-year, one-time appointment.
Yes, she identifies as a woman. Don’t do this again.
The polite way to phrase it is: what is Butler’s gender pronouns? In every article I have seen, Butler is referred to as “she”. Hope that helps.
Yes that helps David. One has to be very careful these days. Thank you for the heads up.
As expected, Butler will not run for the seat.