California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) officially announced his pick to replace Sen. Kamala Harris (D), since she will be leaving to be President-elect Joe Biden's vice president in January, and some Democrats are not happy with what Newsom's pick means for representation.
Newsom picked California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to serve out Harris' Senate term. Padilla, a Latino, will be representing a state with one of the highest Latino populations in the country, but some Democrats are unhappy that it also means there will no longer be a black woman in the Senate.
So no Black women in the #USsenate.
— Leah D. Daughtry (@LeahDaughtry) December 22, 2020
Come January, there will be white women, Asian women, & Latinas in the Senate. There will be white men, Asian men, Black men, & Latinos in the Senate.
Who won't be in the #Senate? Native people and Black women. #RepresentationMatters
move up, as I wrote in @thedailybeast "the structural, cultural, and political issues that create a lack of diversity throughout the ranks of the Democratic Party as men and women of color must compete for a small number of open seats and opportunities that become available
— Karen Finney (@finneyk) December 22, 2020
It’s possible to be happy that a Latino man will be California’s first U.S. Senator and be simultaneously pissed that we will no longer have ANY Black women in Senate. Zero! But people hate nuance in politics, especially in discussing representation.
— Preston Mitchum (@PrestonMitchum) December 23, 2020
Two things can be true: California was long-overdue Latin representation in the Senate. It is an outrage that there will be NO Black women serving in the senate as Senator next year. https://t.co/uY7OxDEJKD
— Aimee Carrero (@aimeecarrero) December 22, 2020
This is long-delayed history made for California. But this also means there will once again be no Black women in the United States Senate as of January 20, 2021. https://t.co/pNAhcG5j4R
— Joy WE VOTED!! WEAR A MASK!! Reid ??) (@JoyAnnReid) December 22, 2020
"The sad reality is she was the only African-American woman in the Senate at this time,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said. "And when you think about the history of this country, of the challenges that exist for African Americans, especially African-American women in the Senate, definitely this is a real blow to the African-American community, to African-American women, to women in general, and I think it’s really challenging to put it in words."
Newsom's decision was a no-win situation for him. No matter what he chooses, liberals and progressives are going to be upset with the pick because it was going to leave some demographic out of the picture, which is why focusing so much on skin color or gender is nonsensical. People should be getting jobs because they are qualified, not just because of one of their characteristics.
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