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Comment
re: #236 Joe Bacon ✅
From May of this year.
Two years ago after he picked Sen. Alex Padilla to fill an empty seat, Newsom promised on MSNBC to select a Black woman for any future vacancies, which was widely understood to be a nod to Rep. Barbara Lee.
That, however, was before Lee jumped into the Senate race; before powerful Democrats like former Speaker Nancy Pelosi went all in for one of her rivals, Rep. Adam Schiff; and before some of Newsom’s own allies went to work for the third candidate in the race, Rep. Katie Porter.
“Newsom always says that he hates these” appointments, said a California Democratic strategist who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “He talks about how you make one person temporarily happy and piss off a million others. I didn’t really believe him on the others — but I do believe him on this one.
“Any decision pisses off someone important,” the strategist added. “There’s more of a downside than upside to just about anything you do.”
more recently
As three high-profile California Democrats vie to replace retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said in an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he would not appoint any of them to the seat, should it become vacant sooner than expected.
That decision could be a blow to Rep. Barbara Lee, since her allies had reason to believe she was Newsom’s first choice to fill a potential vacancy. But that was before she entered the Senate race, where she is currently trailing in polls behind better-known and better-funded fellow Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter.
In his most direct comments on the matter yet, Newsom said in the interview with Chuck Todd for NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that airs Sunday that he would instead make an “interim appointment” to replace Feinstein if necessary.
“Yes. Interim appointment. I don’t want to get involved in the primary,” Newsom said. “It would be completely unfair to the Democrats that have worked their tail off. That primary is just a matter of months away. I don’t want to tip the balance of that.”
