California Gov. Gavin Newsom, facing the real-life, identity politics version of the fictitious Kobayashi Maru no-win sceanrio from “Star Trek,” has chosen a Latino man to replace Kamala Harris in the U.S. Senate:
NEWS: California Gov. @GavinNewsom has tapped Secretary of State @AlexPadilla4CA to serve out the remaining two years of Vice President-elect @KamalaHarris’ term in the U.S. Senate pic.twitter.com/QFsg7Mz61I
— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) December 22, 2020
Padilla, who will serve out the remainder of Sen. Harris’ term, will be the first Latino to represent California in the Senate:
BREAKING: @GavinNewsom picks @AlexPadilla4CA to fill the remaining two years of @KamalaHarris' term in the U.S. Senate. Padilla, California's top elections officer, will become first Latino senator in state history. Details via @philwillon https://t.co/YfofTfBG4K
— John Myers (@johnmyers) December 22, 2020
But this now means there will be no U.S. Senators who are Black women:
Gov. Newsom of CA has selected Alex Padilla to serve the final two years of VP-elect Kamala Harris’s senate term. Padilla will be the first Latino senator to represent CA.
This choice also means there will be no black women serving in the Senate.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) December 22, 2020
The no-win scenario at work and Black women are noticing:
Gavin Newsom didn’t #keeptheseat. So now, Black women are not in the U.S. Senate. #BlackWomenWontForget when you make your presidential run, Newsom. And don’t come over here with the POC solidarity stuff, folks. POC solidarity cannot happen at Black women’s expense. That is all.
— Dr. Crunk (@ProfessorCrunk) December 22, 2020
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Sen. Harris herself made it clear she wanted a woman of color to replace her:
VP-elect Kamala Harris on whether @GavinNewsom should choose a black woman to replace her:
"There are 100 US Senators, this should not just be about California.. We should be saying this across the nation because there are so many talented black women and women of color, period" https://t.co/lDL8mZxqOs
— Tim Perry (@tperry518) December 22, 2020
As did others in California:
“Why would you replace the only Black women with somebody other than a Black person? Racial minorities should know they should not try to fill each other's vacancies.”
Fmr SF Mayor Willie Brown on why he’s urging Newsom to replace Harris w a Black woman:https://t.co/O1s6Ov0jzC
— Liz Kreutz (@ABCLiz) November 24, 2020
Oh, well. There’s always the primary.
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