The first step for the candidates running in next year’s California Senate race is to quietly try to spook newly appointed Sen. Laphonza Butler into not running at all.
It’s just so fucking hypocritical and denigrating that one of two Sentators for California isn’t even from the state. She’s from Maryland and knows Maryland issues - she can’t represent the issues of the state of California. She has no legislative or elected office experience whatsoever.
Hell, Newsom as much came out and said she was appointed just because she’s so close to the Democratic Party machine.
Last election, Dr. Oz was a “carpetbagger” and evil for living in NJ and running in PA - it was a core piece of the Fetterman campaign. It resonated with voters - Fetterman won.
So, Republicans do it = bad, Democrats do it = so progressive, don’t question it.
I haven’t read one thing yet that shows she’s at all familiar with California or the issues facing the state. Just how progressive and LGBTQ and Black she is.
Yeah there’s some odd things going on here. I can’t imagine that newsom couldn’t find a better appointment. I’m starting to lean towards he doesn’t like the people in the field and he wanted someone who knows how to raise money. Hopefully there’s a good investigative journalist working the story right now.
She checks many of the boxes on the identity politics ‘Bingo’ card that attract white college-educated liberal voters. She’ll also draw black votes, again, if she runs for a full term. The first constituency is more highly correlated with Porter, the latter more with Lee (who a recent LA Times poll shows at 7% versus 20% for Schiff and 17% for Porter).
Does any of that identity politics really matter in California? I’m not well versed in the Californian Republican party but is there a Republican who could beat any of the Democrats you mentioned? This could be as simple as newsom knows her and likes her or knows them and doesn’t like them. I’m not sure. Something is odd about this appointment but my gut says it isn’t purely identity politics
I feel like one of the problems of being in politics is it attracts too many people with huge egos, who want to make the story all about them. While I have no doubt she is qualified for this she was still basically given this job. It would make her a lot of enemies in the party if she went out and pushed her luck to try and win the seat outright.
She’s not even 50 yet, I don’t think there is anyone in their mid-40s who can put “former US Senator” on their resume. I bet if she declines to run, she can have any job or appointment she wants after this, particularly in California State government. And she will have at least one US Senator as an ally, too. Withdrawing now could be a path to being a Cabinet Secretary in the Harris administration, with plenty of time after that for a Congressional run.
the Harris administration
Excuse me, but what the fuck did you just say? The what administration?
There is a better chance of aliens landing on my front lawn, knocking on my door, and telling me I won the publishers clearing house than there is of Kamala Harris winning a presidential election.
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True, but somehow I don’t think that is the insinuation that OP was making.
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You got me, I was trolling, but only a little bit.
As the sitting VP, she is the next one in line in the Democratic Party apparatus. So all the same folks who made sure Hillary got it in 2016 and Biden in 2020 will be pulling all the same tricks in 2028.
Generally speaking, I would agree. However, Kamala Harris in no way has the same level of institutional power that Clinton or Biden brought to the table.
Plus, she is normie poison in a general election, and we already proved that she gets eaten alive in an open primary contest, absolutely no question about that. Even Gavin will come for blood if it means getting a chance at the big chair. She has, and I mean this literally, a 0% chance of ever being elected President of the United States.
We said very similar things about Donald Trump in 2016, and he managed it. It’s uphill for Harris, but she will benefit from having all that time watching Biden and maybe learning how to have a personality herself in the process.
And who knows? She might also have the benefit of incumbency herself if Joe wins another term, but that term outlasts his ticker.
We said very similar things about Donald Trump in 2016, and he managed it.
Speak for yourself. I knew he was dangerous from the very beginning. I thought Hillary running would end up exactly the way it did. Everything in that election reinforced my belief that progressive populism focused around labor is the way to win back the country, and unite people.
It’s uphill for Harris, but she will benefit from having all that time watching Biden and maybe learning how to have a personality herself in the process.
Unlikely, and I think the fact they have hidden her away from the media due to her detrimental reflection on the administration speaks for itself.
And who knows? She might also have the benefit of incumbency herself if Joe wins another term, but that term outlasts his ticker.
Why would you even want that? I’m tired of the next man up bullshit. It’s time for someone to earn their keep instead of this careerist/institutionalist garbage.
There is a better chance of aliens landing on my front lawn, knocking on my door, and telling me I won the publishers clearing house than there is of Kamala Harris winning a presidential election.
This is true only if you’re stuck inside the Twitter bubble and refuse to step outside into real life
I think you’re confusing me for you because:
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I’m not a Twitter / X user
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I actually understand the state of American politics, and accept the reality that pandering to normie/centrist/independent political ideology is what wins elections
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I care more about moving this country forward than virtue signaling about having a female president
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I understand how uncharismatic and unpopular Kamala Harris was/is/will continue to be
I actually cannot understand how someone could be so blind to reality. Hillary Clinton already tried to play queen maker on her own behalf while being a historically unpopular candidate because she thought she was OWED her turn in line.
In the process she propped up Donald Trump as a spoiler candidate, rigged the DNC against Bernie Sanders, and fucked this country into the timeline we have been stuck in for the last (almost) decade.
I’m not laughing because I know this brand of identity politics camouflaged as faux progressivism leads to failure. I care about political results in the real world, and if you think I’m the one in the bubble you need to wake up and smell the napalm.
I wasn’t referring specifically to you but I also can’t take you seriously with that absurd “rigged the DNC” nonsense. You sound like trump.
Oh, sick burn 🔥 You really showed me with that zinger ☠️
Just because Donald Trump is an authoritarian asshole doesn’t mean that he can’t also call a spade a spade when it suits his interests. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.
Now for the rest of the people who need a refresher course on the 2016 election, here are some either liberal leaning or non-partisan sources to back up the claim that the Clinton campaign was definitely manipulating the DNC via Debbie Wasserman-Schultz as well as other means as far back as 2015.
Lastly:
I wasn’t referring specifically to you
Yes you fucking were, but you clearly lack the courage of your convictions. Which, quite frankly, I find to be in no way surprising.
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If she wants to get into politics I think she would be foolish not to try now.
Right, but it doesn’t have to be in this particular job…
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Because politics is all about relationships, as Kevin so rudely found out this week. She can do more for her career by not running for this office:
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The public reason the Governor gave for picking her was that he did not want to give any of the announced candidates the further benefit of incumbency. So if she goes ahead and runs anyway, it makes him look bad, and less likely to trust her with another appointment.
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the announced candidates all have their own supporters, and if she comes into the race, she is bound to pick off some of the other candidates existing supporters. Even if she doesn’t win, she might siphon off enough votes to change the outcome in the primary.
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she might want to build her political career on her own credentials, and not on any advantage granted by the Governor.
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Why do people need to be close to death in order to be eligible?
That’s not what they said.
If she actually runs it’s going to be clear that this was all meant to stop Barbara Lee from winning.
Silly progressives. Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?
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🙄
The problem isn’t old people, it’s old people with bad politics.
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There are old people who support LGBTQ+ people and causes. There are young people who oppose them. That is what matters.
I dgaf how old someone is if they vote the way I want them to. This is ageism.
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Ageism is idealistic.
Young people aren’t inherently better than old people, you’re completely misunderstanding the problems with American politics. The old people in power now were in power when they were young and they were bad back then too! We need better politics, not better blood.
People like you vote for losers like Pete Buttigieg lol
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Maybe. I don’t know. That’s definitely possible. Butler was an odd choice that’s for sure.
Why do progressives think they’re entitled to everything though?
Not everything, but the Senate position for the most progressive state in the country, that seems fair. Due to the way the Senate was designed progressives are underrepresented. There are probably more progressives in California then the whole population of a couple smaller states combined, and they get no representation. Harris at least gave a little before she shifted right to try and become president, but now even she’s gone.
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You misspelled boomers
I mean Barbara Lee is a boomer…
I wish.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
But while they briefly paused public politicking until after the Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s funeral on Thursday – with Lee and Schiff flying there on Air Force 2 – they spent even this past week preparing to ramp up new endorsements and outreach that they hope will convince Butler there is not enough time to mount a credible campaign, and that she could risk being known now for her historic appointment to serve the remainder of the late senator’s term through January 2025 to being known for coming in third, fourth or even fifth in a race that has its first round on March 5.
(The top two candidates, regardless of party, move on to a November election, and the race is set to get another wrinkle next week, when former Dodgers and Padres first baseman Steve Garvey is expected to launch his campaign as a Republican.)
Butler had a meeting with a small group of advisers the day after being sworn in to do a preliminary review of polling data as part of what people familiar say is a push to make a decision by next week.
But Butler is well-known among California insiders, with top Democrats in the state telling CNN, “She does not do things that she cannot be successful at – so my guess is she would not have put herself in this spot if she didn’t think she had a shot at winning an election.”
Butler has multiple clocks ticking on her at once: She has to build a new staff out of the people who had stayed on as caretakers for the long-ailing Feinstein; she has to start making public appearances in the hopes of getting attention in a big state where her name ID is effectively zero; and she has to do it all while learning a complicated job in the middle of what could grow into a full-blown congressional crisis in the aftermath of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s defenestration, all without any prior experience in office.
Several California political insiders speculated that a fundraising disadvantage could be overcome if a few wealthy donors funded an independent expenditure effort on Butler’s behalf, especially given that even Schiff’s $32 million head start isn’t that much in a state where campaign operations and television commercials are so expensive.
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A corporate whore appointed by a peace of shit corrupt govenor
You’re free to not like them or disagree with them but don’t you think that’s a little inappropriate?
No, I don’t. When you fuck over the people of your state and the people you are supposed to be representing, you can get fucked.
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Your mom?
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Ok. Yes. You burnt my biscuits. But thanks for acknowledging that you are the a-hole. I appreciate it. You can change. You can be a better person. I believe in you!
