The first step for the candidates running in next year’s California Senate race is to quietly try to spook newly appointed Sen. Laphonza Butler into not running at all.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
But while they briefly paused public politicking until after the Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s funeral on Thursday – with Lee and Schiff flying there on Air Force 2 – they spent even this past week preparing to ramp up new endorsements and outreach that they hope will convince Butler there is not enough time to mount a credible campaign, and that she could risk being known now for her historic appointment to serve the remainder of the late senator’s term through January 2025 to being known for coming in third, fourth or even fifth in a race that has its first round on March 5.
(The top two candidates, regardless of party, move on to a November election, and the race is set to get another wrinkle next week, when former Dodgers and Padres first baseman Steve Garvey is expected to launch his campaign as a Republican.)
Butler had a meeting with a small group of advisers the day after being sworn in to do a preliminary review of polling data as part of what people familiar say is a push to make a decision by next week.
But Butler is well-known among California insiders, with top Democrats in the state telling CNN, “She does not do things that she cannot be successful at – so my guess is she would not have put herself in this spot if she didn’t think she had a shot at winning an election.”
Butler has multiple clocks ticking on her at once: She has to build a new staff out of the people who had stayed on as caretakers for the long-ailing Feinstein; she has to start making public appearances in the hopes of getting attention in a big state where her name ID is effectively zero; and she has to do it all while learning a complicated job in the middle of what could grow into a full-blown congressional crisis in the aftermath of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s defenestration, all without any prior experience in office.
Several California political insiders speculated that a fundraising disadvantage could be overcome if a few wealthy donors funded an independent expenditure effort on Butler’s behalf, especially given that even Schiff’s $32 million head start isn’t that much in a state where campaign operations and television commercials are so expensive.
The original article contains 1,970 words, the summary contains 383 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
If she actually runs it’s going to be clear that this was all meant to stop Barbara Lee from winning.
Silly progressives. Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?
Not everything, but the Senate position for the most progressive state in the country, that seems fair. Due to the way the Senate was designed progressives are underrepresented. There are probably more progressives in California then the whole population of a couple smaller states combined, and they get no representation. Harris at least gave a little before she shifted right to try and become president, but now even she’s gone.
I feel like one of the problems of being in politics is it attracts too many people with huge egos, who want to make the story all about them. While I have no doubt she is qualified for this she was still basically given this job. It would make her a lot of enemies in the party if she went out and pushed her luck to try and win the seat outright.
She’s not even 50 yet, I don’t think there is anyone in their mid-40s who can put “former US Senator” on their resume. I bet if she declines to run, she can have any job or appointment she wants after this, particularly in California State government. And she will have at least one US Senator as an ally, too. Withdrawing now could be a path to being a Cabinet Secretary in the Harris administration, with plenty of time after that for a Congressional run.
If she wants to get into politics I think she would be foolish not to try now.
the Harris administration
Excuse me, but what the fuck did you just say? The what administration?
There is a better chance of aliens landing on my front lawn, knocking on my door, and telling me I won the publishers clearing house than there is of Kamala Harris winning a presidential election.
True, but somehow I don’t think that is the insinuation that OP was making.
There is a better chance of aliens landing on my front lawn, knocking on my door, and telling me I won the publishers clearing house than there is of Kamala Harris winning a presidential election.
This is true only if you’re stuck inside the Twitter bubble and refuse to step outside into real life
I think you’re confusing me for you because:
-
I’m not a Twitter / X user
-
I actually understand the state of American politics, and accept the reality that pandering to normie/centrist/independent political ideology is what wins elections
-
I care more about moving this country forward than virtue signaling about having a female president
-
I understand how uncharismatic and unpopular Kamala Harris was/is/will continue to be
I actually cannot understand how someone could be so blind to reality. Hillary Clinton already tried to play queen maker on her own behalf while being a historically unpopular candidate because she thought she was OWED her turn in line.
In the process she propped up Donald Trump as a spoiler candidate, rigged the DNC against Bernie Sanders, and fucked this country into the timeline we have been stuck in for the last (almost) decade.
I’m not laughing because I know this brand of identity politics camouflaged as faux progressivism leads to failure. I care about political results in the real world, and if you think I’m the one in the bubble you need to wake up and smell the napalm.
You got me, I was trolling, but only a little bit.
As the sitting VP, she is the next one in line in the Democratic Party apparatus. So all the same folks who made sure Hillary got it in 2016 and Biden in 2020 will be pulling all the same tricks in 2028.
Generally speaking, I would agree. However, Kamala Harris in no way has the same level of institutional power that Clinton or Biden brought to the table.
Plus, she is normie poison in a general election, and we already proved that she gets eaten alive in an open primary contest, absolutely no question about that. Even Gavin will come for blood if it means getting a chance at the big chair. She has, and I mean this literally, a 0% chance of ever being elected President of the United States.
A corporate whore appointed by a peace of shit corrupt govenor
You’re free to not like them or disagree with them but don’t you think that’s a little inappropriate?
She checks many of the boxes on the identity politics ‘Bingo’ card that attract white college-educated liberal voters. She’ll also draw black votes, again, if she runs for a full term. The first constituency is more highly correlated with Porter, the latter more with Lee (who a recent LA Times poll shows at 7% versus 20% for Schiff and 17% for Porter).
Does any of that identity politics really matter in California? I’m not well versed in the Californian Republican party but is there a Republican who could beat any of the Democrats you mentioned? This could be as simple as newsom knows her and likes her or knows them and doesn’t like them. I’m not sure. Something is odd about this appointment but my gut says it isn’t purely identity politics
The initial reason Newsom chose Butler is that she wasn’t running for the seat.
See, when Harris became the VP, Newsom appointed a white mane to replace her. This pissed off a lot of people who are really interested in identify politics.
So Newsom made a promise to appoint a black woman if he had the opportunity. (Which seemed likely)
So the obvious candidate would have been Lee. A black woman who is part of the Progressive Caucus.
There are two problems that came up. First is that Nancy Peloci. Wanted to give the seat to Adam Shift.
This is an issue that can mostly be ignored, but she put the weight of the party finances behind his campaign.
The second issue is that Lee was running for the seat, but trailing in the polls.
Put those together and you have a situation where if Newsom had appointed Lee, he would have been accused of putting his thumb on the scales of the election. So he appointed Butler, likely under the impression that she would serve out the end of the term and step aside.
That she is not, is kind of scummy.
Well summarized.
Not to mention she helped Newsom bail out PG&E, advised Uber when California was trying to force gig companies to treat their employees fairly, and she worksled for the lobbying entity, Emily’s List - an organization meant to help women in races, but gave Biden heaps of money.
She’s none of the things important to progressive agendas. She’s a sham appointed by a shit bag.
I am tired of thinking the “left” in this country will do right by us. I realize we’re all in this alone.
