Senator Dianne Feinstein passed away last week at the age of 90, and California’s governor Gavin Newsom was immediately put on the spot to appoint her replacement. But instead of picking one of the people currently running for Feinstein’s seat, he chose someone with ties to powerful California politicians. Mike Papantonio & Farron Cousins discuss more.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Mike Papantonio: Senator Dianne Feinstein passed away last week at the age of 90, and California’s governor Gavin Newsom immediately put on the spot to appoint a replacement. But instead of picking one of the people currently running for Feinstein’s seat, he chose someone with ties to powerful California politicians. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins joins me to talk about why, along with a lot of other topics. Farron, when I look at this, all I see is this is a decision that furthers Gavin Newsom’s career. He makes this pick that she’s tied into all the money. I mean, she has the ability to raise huge money for him, and it’s just a sign of what he intends to do, isn’t it?
Farron Cousins: Right. And of course she worked side by side with Vice President Kamala Harris. So she has those connections to the White House, kind of cozying up that deal a little bit. But Newsom screwed the pooch here.
Mike Papantonio: I think he did too.
Farron Cousins: I mean, look, we’ve got three Democrats running for Feinstein’s Senate seat, Schiff, Porter and Lee. Those three seats will be gone from those people in that California Senate race. Because you cannot run for both. So Porter’s seat is in a district that is a bit of a swing district.
Mike Papantonio: Yes, a Republican can win there.
Farron Cousins: Absolutely. Especially if they’re not running against Katie Porter. Barbara Lee, it’s a little bit safer district, but still a risk. Schiff’s district I think is fairly safe. But either way, three people that the public likes and Gavin Newsom could have put an end to that Senate fight, saved two of those seats for pretty good lawmakers. But he said, nope, I’m gonna pick somebody else because I don’t wanna get involved. And now the woman he picked, Laphonza Butler, Senator Laphonza Butler, she says, maybe I’ll run next year.
Mike Papantonio: Of course.
Farron Cousins: So his whole thing just blew up in his face.
Mike Papantonio: There’s no promise that she’s not gonna run again. Okay.
Farron Cousins:: Right. I would.
Mike Papantonio: There wasn’t any kind of agreement. Although he made the statement, she’s a placeholder, which of course, offended the woman, said, no, I’m not a placeholder. Don’t put me down as a placeholder. But her ties to Emily’s List, huge ability to raise money. The labor movement, she’s one of the leaders in California, and that’s what it’s all about. She sees that that’s where he’s going to have her in his political structure going forward. Schiff does nothing, does absolutely nothing for Newsom. I don’t know, Barbara Lee probably looking at things probably does the most for him. Katie Porter does nothing for him because of the district she’s in. So, look, it’s all about his political future and I think that’s what this comes down to.
Farron Cousins: It really is. And even Barbara Lee, who was angling to be appointed, and I think she’d do pretty good, but she pointed out that, look, Newsom already told us a month ago, he said, I’m gonna pick a black woman. And Barbara Lee, as a black woman said, that’s offensive. Like, this is ridiculous. You’re not picking somebody based on merit, you’re pandering.
Mike Papantonio: I loved to see her come out like that and say, what the hell? Have we really come down to where you’re just gonna pick on color rather than experience and ability? She was pretty vocal on that and it was great to hear, that was refreshing to hear her say that. Frankly, I think she’s a good pick. I think she’ll be a good senator for California. I don’t know if she’d be a good senator in most states, but she’d be a good senator for California, and the chances of her not running again almost are zero. They’re almost zero. And so as you point out, they’re gonna split the ticket four ways, which could create a runoff. Right? Create a runoff, a Republican could win. I mean, that’s where this is all headed, but only time will tell.
