Alex Padilla (CA Sec of State) to replace Harris in Senate

[Gil Bang 25898]

per twitters

[bolverk 29399]

Just posted this in the Democratic Party thread. What are the thoughts of you Californians on his selection for those of us who know nothing about him?

[Gil Bang 25898]

I think he's a good guy, with a great story.  Son of immigrants, etc. 

 

 

[Pato del Muerto 52342]

16 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

I think he's a good guy, with a great story.  Son of immigrants, etc. 

 

 

Comments are as expected. Can’t tell who are trolling and who are serious with the argument that it shouldn’t be a man, even a Latino man, only another black woman. 

[Js1 85110]

11 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Comments are as expected. Can’t tell who are trolling and who are serious with the argument that it shouldn’t be a man, even a Latino man, only another black woman. 

They are serious. California has had 2 female senators for almost 30 years. And the only black woman in the Senate was replaced by a Latino man, of which there are already 4 serving, with a 5th being sworn in after being elected in 2020. 

I can absolutely understand the frustration - a critical perspective is gone and the most loyal segment of the party has no one speaking for them in the Senate anymore. 

Edited December 22, 2020 by Js1

[Pato del Muerto 52342]

But first Latino senator to the largest state population that is 40% Latino (per comments, unverified number)

[Js1 85110]

Just now, Pato del Muerto said:

But first Latino senator to the largest state population that is 40% Latino (per comments, unverified number)

I'm not saying anyone criticizing their concerns is wrong.  That's also very important, as the Latino population in California is growing.  

They'll have their shot against him in a 2022 primary or in a 2024 open seat when DiFi retires. 

[UpperWestside 6136]

2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

or in a 2024 open seat when DiFi retires. 

There is no way she is still in that seat four years from now. Four months from now seems like a stretch. 

[washparkhorn 9935]

Padilla is well-respected and has been an effective leader in California.  He was the frontrunner. He was a stabilizing leader during the 2020 Election. He is a tireless defender of government policy championing people and their needs. He is Establishment, but in California that means someone defending progressive policies against tired old fucks from the GOP.

YMMV

Padilla brings decades of governance experience to the post. That résumé helped establish him as the pick favored by much of California's Democratic establishment — a position solidified by a public endorsement from his former boss, Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Quote

 

A Democrat from Los Angeles, Padilla served in the California Legislature before becoming California's top elections official. In that role he has pursued various measures to boost voter turnout and engagement, including his advocacy for automatic voter registration and an expansion of mail voting.

Padilla has also been at the vanguard of California's opposition to President Donald Trump, regularly assailing the president's inaccurate claims about voter fraud in California. His political advocacy has at times generated controversy, as when his office awarded a $35 million voter outreach contract this year to a Biden-affiliated firm.

Padilla belongs to a generation of Latino populations who came of political age in the crucible of battles over California ballot initiatives to cut off services to undocumented immigrants and outlaw affirmative action. While the state Legislature's Latino caucus has steadily grown and produced multiple Latino legislative leaders, as has the number of Latinos in California's House delegation, no Latino had yet won a U.S. Senate seat. Former State Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, now a Los Angeles city council member, lost his intraparty challenge to Feinstein in 2018; former Rep. Loretta Sanchez lost to Harris in 2016.

In a recording of a Monday night video call in which Newsom told Padilla he was appointing him to the seat, an emotional Padilla hearkened to his background as the child of immigrants. 

“I can’t tell you how many pancakes my dad flipped or eggs he scrambled trying to provide for us, or the many, many years of my mom cleaning houses doing the same thing," Padilla tells Newsom. "That’s why I try so hard to make sure that our democracy is as inclusive in California as we’ve built, and it’s a hell of important perspective to bring to Washington."

Newsom was bound to disappoint people who wanted him to replace Harris with an African American woman like Rep. Karen Bass. Once Harris leaves for the Biden administration, there will not be a Black woman in the Senate, and the calls to replace Harris with another Black woman became increasingly public in recent days as officials like Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) weighed in.

Padilla's move to the Senate means Newsom has two additional statewide offices to fill. The governor will need to replace Padilla as secretary of state, and he is vetting contenders to replace outgoing Attorney General Xavier Becerra, whom Biden has appointed to be U.S. Health and Human Services secretary.

That game of musical chairs gives Newsom possible opportunities to satisfy groups who will be disappointed by his choice of Padilla. The governor will likely face even more intense pressure to appoint a Black woman to one of the two posts. But Asian and Pacific Islander lawmakers are urging Newsom to fill the attorney general job with someone from their caucus, while LGBT groups are also advocating for a gay or lesbian statewide appointment.

 

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by washparkhorn

[shakahorn 1627]

But first Latino senator to the largest state population that is 40% Latino (per comments, unverified number)

The number is reasonably correct. At least if you’re rounding to the nearest 5%.

[Ghost of LL 15492]

3 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

There is no way she is still in that seat four years from now. Four months from now seems like a stretch. 

I think that's right.  I can easily see her retiring at some point in 2021.

[tantric superman 4667]

So I take it some of his people may be good people?

[Js1 85110]

22 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

I think that's right.  I can easily see her retiring at some point in 2021.

If Dems don’t get the majority, I could see her stepping down.  

[Orale 1087]

CA is 39% latino to 6% black and has never had a latino senator. He's an obvious choice. Democrats lost some ground with latinos nationally this time around, so this may have some small impact shoring up that vote. As noted, a black woman can take over Feinstein's seat. Hopefully much sooner than later. 

[Gil Bang 25898]

I'd take a random black woman off the fucking street over Feinstein's senile ass. 

Seriously, just drive up Vermont Ave, and give the job to the first sister that you see. 

[MagicSoccerSpray 1725]

8 hours ago, Js1 said:

I can absolutely understand the frustration - a critical perspective is gone and the most loyal segment of the party has no one speaking for them in the Senate anymore. 

 

Only Black people can be spoken for by black people? Harris is mixed by the way.

 

[burntorangebongos 10681]

I was hoping for Katie Porter. She isn't black but she has a pussy. I understand why he went with this guy. He does have a good story and it was a good pick. Hopefully, Katie steps up for Feinstein's seat.  

Edited December 23, 2020 by burntorangebongos

[Gil Bang 25898]

10 minutes ago, burntorangebongos said:

I was hoping for Katie Porter. She isn't black but she has a pussy. I understand why he went with this guy. He does have a good story and it was a good pick. Hopefully, Katie steps up for Feinstein's seat.  

I disagree.  Porter is a star, but she would get shit for committee assignments in the Senate.  She's in a great spot right now.   She'll grow into bigger and better.

[Js1 85110]

1 minute ago, Gil Bang said:

I disagree.  Porter is a star, but she would get shit for committee assignments in the Senate.  She's in a great spot right now.   She'll grow into bigger and better.

She’s a star but not sure her district is safe yet if she didn’t run (see: CA-25 and Katie Hill). So hard for Newsom to justify taking out another House member in a not safe Dem district. 

Plus we all know she’s running in ‘24 for that seat. Whether it’s as an appointed incumbent or in a jungle primary. 

[Satchel 6908]

The Padilla pick is a good one. My guess is most progressive Californians, including black people, will support this choice.

[washparkhorn 9935]

2 hours ago, burntorangebongos said:

I was hoping for Katie Porter. She isn't black but she has a pussy. I understand why he went with this guy. He does have a good story and it was a good pick. Hopefully, Katie steps up for Feinstein's seat.  

We need her to keep watch over the House so badly. But the Senate needs a boot strapping.

Why not both? 

 

[We’reTexas 1468]

I think he’s a good choice and it makes sense. While I understand their disappointment, as a San Franciscan I am upset by the tone of Willie Brown’s and London Breed’s reactions. Particularly with Breed, as this is the type of politics she embraces while driving SF back into shelter in place with no data for justification. 

[washparkhorn 9935]

The northern/southern california divide is broad sometimes.

California has a wonderful Vice-President elect to keep eyes on the prize. And Nancy f'ing Pelosi. That's power. 

I need to know more about Bay Area political dynamics. I lived there once. Opaque.

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by washparkhorn

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

"Latino" doesn't exist. How many Mexican American Senators have we had?

That Miami Cubans, Nuyoricans and Chuy in the Valley and, I dunno, Keith Hernandez and Rich Rodriguez are considered part of the same voting bloc is ludicrous. 

 

[Js1 85110]

3 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

"Latino" doesn't exist. How many Mexican American Senators have we had?

That Miami Cubans, Nuyoricans and Chuy in the Valley and, I dunno, Keith Hernandez and Rich Rodriguez are considered part of the same voting bloc is ludicrous. 

 

Ben Ray Lujan is Nuevomexicano. Catherine Cortes Masto is half Mexican-American. Ken Salazar as well.  Then 3 more back in the day - Larrazola, Chavez and Montoya. 

[Guest Lobo]

13 hours ago, Orale said:

CA is 39% latino to 6% black and has never had a latino senator. He's an obvious choice. Democrats lost some ground with latinos nationally this time around, so this may have some small impact shoring up that vote. As noted, a black woman can take over Feinstein's seat. Hopefully much sooner than later. 

Instead of waiting another election cycle, wouldn't it be faster to just tell Diane Feinstein she's a black woman?  

[RDCanecutter 26276]

5 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

"Latino" doesn't exist. How many Mexican American Senators have we had?

I long for the day when all Indo-Europeans see their common brotherhood, for only then will we escape the lash of Basque persecution.

[Guest Lobo]

Are you really Basque?  

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

1 hour ago, Lobo said:

Are you really Basque?  

Though his avatar might suggest otherwise, and after having visited Canecutter and his folks in their Alabama homelands, I feel free to answer for him and say no, unless there is a Basque in the woodpile somewhere way back that neither he nor his mama wanted to tell me about. 

[washparkhorn 9935]

basque food . . . yum . . . 

 

[RDCanecutter 26276]

3 hours ago, Lobo said:

Are you really Basque?  

If I am I have to tell you.

[Guest Lobo]

No, I know from living in Spain...they are like vegans or cross-fit people.  They bring it up constantly, but I don't mind it now because I think I only meet one in Texas about once every five years or so.  It's a bloodline that I find fascinating because of how little procreation they've done with non-Basques over millennia.  It's a legitimately 'time-capsuled' heritage/ancestry. 

[956 Worldwide 34443]

10 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

"Latino" doesn't exist. How many Mexican American Senators have we had?

That Miami Cubans, Nuyoricans and Chuy in the Valley and, I dunno, Keith Hernandez and Rich Rodriguez are considered part of the same voting bloc is ludicrous. 

 

What about Latinx though, does that exist? 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

7 minutes ago, 956 Worldwide said:

What about Latinx though, does that exist? 

No but you do have Meskinx 

[Pancho 44479]

This was a solid choice and who I was hoping for.

I’ve seen a lot of people Twitter angry because it wasn’t Lee or Bass, but this is where Dems need to fucking demand Feinstein retire. 

[RDCanecutter 26276]

2 hours ago, Lobo said:

No, I know from living in Spain...they are like vegans or cross-fit people.  They bring it up constantly, but I don't mind it now because I think I only meet one in Texas about once every five years or so.  It's a bloodline that I find fascinating because of how little procreation they've done with non-Basques over millennia.  It's a legitimately 'time-capsuled' heritage/ancestry. 

Well, yes and no. It may be that the people currently in the Basque country are a different sort, I dunno. But as for leaving that place and producing children elsewhere, apparently there was a fair bit of that too. I vaguely remember some article I read at the last minute while cobbling together a paper at UT that said the Basque and Navarrese (which seems to be Methodists to the Basques Baptist) spread all through Spain southward as the Reconquista progressed.

Then when it came time to settle South America, all the poor mountainous parts (granted, that's 80%) of Spain doubled down, Basques included.

The coolest factoid I ever learned about isolated mountain folk is "languages go uphill, people go downhill", it was about the Caucasus but works elsewhere with Basque, Welsh, wherever.

[RDCanecutter 26276]

And txakurri is Basque slang for cops. TX pronounced like Spanish CH. Means "dogs" according to my source. I axed if the txakurri didn't mind being called txakurri, but he said "son andaluces." I still reckon they've figured it out.

[Gil Bang 25898]

I used to bang a basque chick.  "Manuella".   Her sisters were "Begonia" and "Candida".   All pretty cute girls, but they tended to be on the hairy side.  Lots of bush (nobody shaved or waxed back then), lots of arm hair, etc.    A bit of a turnoff, tbh. 

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

There are a ton of very Brown Uriosteguis and Echevarrias in Houston....Many a Mexican Basques wasn't too picky when looking for a place to stick his zakil. 

Back in my wanderlust days I was happy to come into Spain from France, where my language skills were minimal. Back then I was conversational in Spanish, even while drunk, so I was raring to loose my skills on the senoritas in Spain. Trouble was I came into Spain via San Sebastian, deep in the Basque Country, and they did not want to speak Spanish even a little bit. They preferred English and didn't even appreciate you making the effort of Spanish. So my days as Don Juan MaC had to wait. (And ended up with me in bed with an Englishwoman who later became my first wife and babymama twice over.)

Anyway... 

Yeah, re languages going uphill and people down. what they speak at the top of Appalachia and what you hear in the flatlands is not the same. 

[Gil Bang 25898]

2 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

There are a ton of very Brown Uriosteguis and Echevarrias in Houston....Many a Mexican Basques wasn't too picky when looking for a place to stick his zakil. 

Back in my wanderlust days I was happy to come into Spain from France, where my language skills were minimal. Back then I was conversational in Spanish, even while drunk, so I was raring to loose my skills on the senoritas in Spain. Trouble was I came into Spain via San Sebastian, deep in the Basque Country, and they did not want to speak Spanish even a little bit. They preferred English and didn't even appreciate you making the effort of Spanish. So my days as Don Juan MaC had to wait. (And ended up with me in bed with an Englishwoman who later became my first wife and babymama twice over.)

Anyway... 

Yeah, re languages going uphill and people down. what they speak at the top of Appalachia and what you hear in the flatlands is not the same. 

that name rings a bell.  

[RDCanecutter 26276]

1 minute ago, Gil Bang said:

I used to bang a basque chick.  "Manuella".   Her sisters were "Begonia" and "Candida".   All pretty cute girls, but they tended to be on the hairy side.  Lots of bush (nobody shaved or waxed back then), lots of arm hair, etc.    A bit of a turnoff, tbh. 

The first Basque female I ever met was named Begonia. We may be mammoth-hunter brothers.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

I came close to banging a half-Basque from California in Nashville's Opryland Hotel, where we were both a music convention. I think the other half was Irish, but she had an interesting look: deep black eyes, freckles, and that sort of but not quite red brown hair so common among the Irish...

[RDCanecutter 26276]

4 hours ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

Though his avatar might suggest otherwise, and after having visited Canecutter and his folks in their Alabama homelands, I feel free to answer for him and say no, unless there is a Basque in the woodpile somewhere way back that neither he nor his mama wanted to tell me about. 

According to 23andMe, which routinely sends my photos of hot chicks in my New Relatives feed, the Canecutters are a combo of people who once accepted bribes from smugglers along Hadrian's Wall, and a mixed lot of impulsive sorts who sailed between Spain and Ireland in glorified buckets.

All of which gives me the right to buy a Happy Meal at the standard price.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

2 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

According to 23andMe, which routinely sends my photos of hot chicks in my New Relatives feed, the Canecutters are a combo of people who once accepted bribes from smugglers along Hadrian's Wall, and a mixed lot of impulsive sorts who sailed between Spain and Ireland in glorified buckets.

All of which gives me the right to buy a Happy Meal at the standard price.

Yeah in the latest revision they migrated my small allotment of Italian over to Spain / Portugal, which is probably ancient DNA from the caveman days. If Africa is the cradle of humanity, Spain is the same for Western Europe. There was some Lucia there we all come from...I've got my ten percent coonass intact and the rest is British Isles border trash. I am almost certain we are kin. 

[RDCanecutter 26276]

 

2 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

I am almost certain we are kin. 

I am sorry if I hurt you but it was already that way when I got here.

[Bullneck 18987]

On 12/22/2020 at 2:06 PM, Js1 said:

They are serious. California has had 2 female senators for almost 30 years. And the only black woman in the Senate was replaced by a Latino man, of which there are already 4 serving, with a 5th being sworn in after being elected in 2020. 

I can absolutely understand the frustration - a critical perspective is gone and the most loyal segment of the party has no one speaking for them in the Senate anymore. 

Yeah, I saw some of the comments.  If the seat were to go to a black woman, who were the choices?

[Js1 85110]

1 minute ago, Bullneck said:

Yeah, I saw some of the comments.  If the seat were to go to a black woman, who were the choices?

Barbara Lee

Karen Bass

London Breed

Any of the qualified Assemblywomen that are too numerous to name 

[Bullneck 18987]

2 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Barbara Lee

Karen Bass

London Breed

Any of the qualified Assemblywomen that are too numerous to name 

OK.  

Newsome seems to do some things sometime that aren't very well thought out. 

Spoiler

 

[Js1 85110]

Harris has resigned, effective in one hour 

Padilla will most likely be sworn in on Wednesday or Thursday by VP Harris, along with Ossoff and Warnock, as GA expects to certify results tomorrow. 

Padilla gets seniority over the 2 Georgia Democrats bc CA population > GA population 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23356]

When is the special election?