In 2024, Californians will be asked to vote for a new U.S. Senator. Then they’ll be asked to vote again. And then again. And then again. Voters will see the Senate election twice on the March primary ballot: the regularly scheduled election for the six-year Senate term that begins in 2025, and a special election … Read more
A few lines in a Senate appropriations proposal could force U.S. officials to confront a deadly threat they ignored for years: Counterfeit, fentanyl-laced painkillers sold at pharmacies in Mexico. If approved, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken would have 90 days to draft a report that would — for the first time — reveal key … Read more
WASHINGTON — Just a few days after terrorists attacked America on Sept. 11, 2001, as Congress rushed to give President George W. Bush wide-ranging power to invade Afghanistan, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) faced a decision that would come to define her career. As she weighed her vote, Lee thought of a lesson she’d learned in an … Read more
Labor leader and prominent Democratic activist Laphonza Butler, who was appointed to fill Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat after the veteran California politician died, announced Thursday that she would not run for a full Senate term in 2024. Despite her successful career steeped in politics, Butler had never held public office and was relatively unknown to … Read more
Laphonza Butler has been living a whirlwind these past few weeks. Overnight she went from being a campaign strategist and behind-the-scenes operative — unknown to most, save political insiders — to a U.S. senator representing nearly 40 million residents of the most important state in the union. Even Butler was surprised Gov. Gavin Newsom tapped … Read more
Los Angeles newscaster Christina Pascucci announced Wednesday morning that she is running for the U.S. Senate vacancy created by the death of Dianne Feinstein. The 38-year-old Democrat is the latest entrant to join an increasingly crowded field for California’s 2024 Senate contest. The San Fernando Valley native argues that she offers a centrist option for … Read more
SACRAMENTO — The death of California’s venerable Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein turns attention to Gov. Gavin Newsom, who now faces the politically challenging task of appointing someone to fill the seat of his mentor. Though the moment offers a rare opportunity for the Democratic governor to shape California’s representation at the highest levels of government … Read more
WASHINGTON — Sen. Dianne Feinstein wasn’t feeling well this week, so she skipped a Thursday morning Judiciary Committee meeting, as has become her custom since her health declined in recent months. But she had told Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) that she would be available if he needed her for an important vote. He needed … Read more
After nearly two decades of statewide Republican candidates being rejected by California’s left-leaning electorate, former Dodger All-Star Steve Garvey hopes to drag the GOP back toward political relevance. Garvey announced Tuesday that he is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by the late Dianne Feinstein, a gambit by a political newcomer banking on his … Read more
Acting with dispatch, Gov. Gavin Newsom this week appointed Laphonza Butler, a veteran labor organizer and political strategist, to replace the late Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate. The move fulfilled a promise Newsom made to choose a Black woman, filling a notable void. With Vice President Kamala Harris’ exit, there were no Black women … Read more