California Gov. Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom California Governor Goes Back into Quarantine Birx Traveled Over Thanksgiving Weekend After Warning Americans to Restrict Celebrations to Household Affairs California is appealing court injunction allowing strip clubs to stay open during pandemic (D) On Tuesday, Assemblywoman tapped Shirley Weber to serve as Secretary of State after electing Alex Padilla to join the Senate.
Weber has served on the state legislature since 2012 and is chairman of the California Legislative Black Caucus. Her nomination is because Newsom faced a lobbying campaign from various groups over whom he should elect to fill the Senate seat being vacated by the elected vice president Kamala Harris
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Black lawmakers had pressed Newsom to replace Harris, the only black woman in the Senate, with another black woman, but he ended up going with Padilla, a longtime ally and current California secretary of state. However, by choosing Weber as Padilla’s replacement, he was still able to elevate a black woman to the office of the state.
“Dr. Weber is a tireless advocate and change agent with unassailable integrity,” Newsom said in a statement. “The daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers, Dr. Weber was not allowed to vote until he was in his 30s, and her grandfather was never allowed to vote because he died before the Voting Rights Act was passed in 1965. When her family moved to South Central Los Angeles, as a child, she watched her parents rearrange furniture in their living room to serve as a local polling station for multiple elections. “
“Now she will be at the helm of the California election as the next Secretary of State – defending and expanding the right to vote and serving as the first African American to become California’s Chief Elections Officer.”
Weber, 72, is a well-connected Sacramento lawmaker who, among other things, is known for writing California’s landmark 2019 law restricting police use of force, fighting for the repeal of California’s ban on affirmative action and advocates for a range of other civil rights issues.
“I am delighted to be nominated for this historic appointment as California Secretary of State. I thank Governor Newsom for the confidence he has placed in me and for his belief that I will stand firm for California. Being the first African American woman in this position will be a huge responsibility, but I know I’m up for the challenge. Expanding the right to vote has been one of the drivers of my career and will continue to motivate me as I take on my new constitutional duties, ”said Weber.
Weber’s nomination must be confirmed by the California State Assembly and Senate within 90 days.
Her raise is just part of Newsom’s calculus, which has yet to fill the vacancy left by the state attorney general Xavier Becerra
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Newsom’s nomination of Padilla to go to Washington was also historic, giving California its first Latino senator. Latinos make up 40 percent of the California population, and Hispanic groups had lobbied the governor to use the vacancy to put one of them in the Senate.