Alex Padilla (Ap)
Usa, who after Kamala Harris in the Senate for California?
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December 22, 2020 California Governor Gavin Newsom has chosen Secretary of State Alex Padilla as the next Senator.
It is a historic appointment, because for the first time an exponent of Latin American origin will represent the state in the Upper House in Washington.
Padilla, 47, the son of Mexican immigrants, a close political ally of the governor, replaces the vice president-elect, Kamala Harris, who will have to resign from the Senate.
The neosenator will be able to reapply in 2022 for a full term of 6 years.
The appointment of Governor Padilla strengthens the influence of the Latin American component, which now represents 40% of the Californian population.
After serving as Los Angeles city councilor and state senator, Padilla was first elected California secretary of state in 2014, only to be re-elected four years later.
Its root in Southern California contributes to a rebalancing of the power map in the heavily unbalanced state in favor of the San Francisco area, where Governor Newsom, Kamala Harris and other senator, Dianne Feinstein, former mayor of San Francisco.
The nomination was criticized by the Californian Republicans.
With Padilla's choice, Newsom will now have to make two more appointments: the new secretary of state and Xavier Becerra's replacement as Attorney General, after Biden appointed him Minister of Health.