Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that he was appointing his Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Many were quick to note that Padilla would be the first Latino Senator from California — a state where Latinos make up over one-third of the total population and less than one-tenth of the population is black. But a number were critical of Newsom’s decision to not replace Harris, the only black female in the Senate, with another black woman. (RELATED: California Governor Appoints A Successor To Kamala Harris’s Senate Seat)
And only one of the six is a woman. In one go, @GavinNewsom managed to decrease the number of women overall in the U.S. Senate by one while dropping the number of Black women to zero. But who says politics is an old boys club?? https://t.co/qDfejHkGHL
— Joy WE VOTED!! WEAR A MASK!! Reid ????) (@JoyAnnReid) December 22, 2020
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
Newsom appoints Alex Padilla to fill Kamala Harris’ senate seat. He will be the first Latino senator from California but also means there will be NO black women in the U.S. senate. https://t.co/VO2iolX3A0
— Eugene Daniels (@EugeneDaniels2) December 22, 2020
I still can’t believe the Democratic Party spent so much paying lip service to Black women this election cycle, only for there to be none of us in the Senate. Again. What a joke.
— Evette Dionne (@freeblackgirl) December 23, 2020
Alex Padilla will be California’s first Latino senator, but some say it’s a step back for the hard-won representation of Black women in politics. https://t.co/a1eLdAOqGB
— The Sacramento Bee (@sacbee_news) December 23, 2020
Let me get this right: Black women were praised by the Democratic Party for organizing and registering people to vote only to.. *checks note*…not be represented by a single person in the Senate? Wow.
And this is why the @SadieCollective exists tbh. https://t.co/PzNfS15uRB
— Anna Gifty is charging (@itsafronomics) December 23, 2020
Not selecting a Black woman to replace Kamala Harris, the only Black woman in the Senate, is quite a choice.
— Michael Arceneaux (@youngsinick) December 22, 2020
“Today’s decision, unfortunately, leaves us with one less woman and now not a single Black woman in the United States Senate, chipping away at decades of progress that have been made to ensure our United States Senate looks like the America it represents.https://t.co/ANhcvz2NyD
— Aimee Allison (@aimeeallison) December 22, 2020
When Harris moves into her new role as vice president in January, only two black U.S. Senators will remain: Democratic New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and Republican South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.