Laphonza Butler Appointed California’s First LGBTQ U.S. Senator
metroweekly.comPolitico that the governor has not placed any limitations or preconditions on Butler, meaning she could potentially enter the race and run for a full six-year term next year.
The primary is in March, with the top two “runoff” in November. Butler is expected to be sworn into the U.S. Senate on Wednesday by Vice President Kamala Harris.Butler has served as a political consultant, union leader, and fundraiser for pro-choice candidates for public office.
She previously served as a senior strategist in Kamala Harris’s 2020 presidential campaign, as the director for public policy and campaigns at Airbnb, as president of the California chapter of the Service Employees International Union, and as a member of the University of California Board of Regents.At EMILY’s List, Butler sought to expand the organization’s membership and rebrand its mission following the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v.
Wade, the landmark 1973 case establishing a constitutional right to abortion. Since then, at least 15 states have complete bans on abortion, 11 more have placed severe restrictions on the practice, and eight others have some sort of limits on access, according to the Guttmacher Institute.Butler, who grew up in a working-class family in Magnolia, Mississippi, holds a political science degree from Jackson State University in Mississippi.
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