Senator Dianne Feinstein’s weeks-long absence from Washington, as she recovers from shingles, not only sparked calls for her retirement, it refocused attention on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pledge to nominate a black woman as one of California’s U.S. Senate seats becomes vacant.

As Feinstein pledged on Wednesday to return to the U.S. Capitol before retiring at the end of her term in early 2025, black leaders in California are questioning whether the governor’s candor will last. Fueling doubts: Newsom has been silent about who he supports in the 2024 state senate race to succeed Feinstein, even

although

though the field includes only one formidable black female candidate: Democrat Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland.

Keeping a commitment is serious business for the Democratic Party’s most discerning voters, said Aimee Allison,

the

founder and president of She the People, who urged an advocacy group to get more women of color into elected office. The governor could complicate his legacy and lead black women, who form an important and critical voting bloc in this state, to view him skeptically as someone who will not support us when it comes down to it.

The 100-member Senate does not contain a single black woman, a void left when Kamala Harris, President Biden’s 2020 running mate, was sworn in as vice president and vacated her California seat.

Despite pressure on Newsom to nominate a black woman to take the Harris seat, the Democratic governor instead tapped then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla, a longtime political ally who made history as the first Latino senator of California. To deflect criticism, Newsom promised to nominate a black woman if another Senate seat became vacant, not a far-fetched possibility given reports that Feinstein, now 89, was suffering from declining cognitive abilities.

With Feinstein’s retirement plans already cemented, some black elected leaders and political activists are wondering why Newsom hasn’t already backed Lee. The liberal icon takes on two Democratic colleagues, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), who have

raised more money than Lee

and do better in the polls.

“We still don’t have a black female senator in those halls.

“

[Newsom] could be part of history. Right?” said Representative Sydney Kamlager (D-Los Angeles), who endorsed Lee along with Schiff in the primary. “It’s very curious.”

If Feinstein were to resign before November 2024, Newsom would have the power to designate someone to fill the seat until the 2025 election. With Democratic control of the Senate resting on a narrow majority, Newsom would come under intense pressure to standing to immediately appoint a successor.

In that scenario, whoever Newsom

would

would have an immediate advantage over the other candidates

in the race

datum

in the

raised

public profile

and fundraising abilities of sitting Senate members. After being appointed by Newsom, Padilla cleared the Democratic field last year when he ran for his first full term and won over a Republican rival.

As in As with

last year’s Los Angeles mayoral race, Newsom seems content to stay on the sidelines for now as Lee, Schiff and Porter

compete

.

“There are three highly qualified candidates in the race who have shown the courage it takes to fight for California’s values ​​in Washington, DC,” said

lindsey kobia,

Newsom’s senior political aide. “At this time, the governor will not be weighed in the race.

A spokeswoman for the Lee campaign declined to comment on Newsom’s decision, but said Lee’s “first concern is the health of Senator Feinstein. She wishes the Senator a full and speedy recovery.

in 2020,

Kamlager, then a senator,

and a host of other black elected leaders sent letters to Newsom urging him to nominate Lee or Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who was serving in Congress at the time, to replace Harris. Harris was only the second black woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate,

anus

Senator Carol Mosley Braun (D-Ill).

Since Reconstruction, only six black people of either sex have been elected to the Senate.

Despite Newsom’s decision to appoint Padilla instead, both Lee and Bass threw their political organizing power behind them

the governor

while successfully fending off a recall attempt in 2021.

Newsom didn’t return the favor when Bass launched her campaign for mayor, running against Democratic businessman Rick Caruso,

an ex-Republican

. The governor said he did not want to get involved in Democrat-to-Democrat contests. Some of Newsom’s top political advisers

So

worked for Caruso.

I have deep respect for both of them and I didn’t get involved in that race, Newsom said in a televised interview.

The choice of governor in the Senate election has a similar dynamic. Newsom is political

team

is spread across the campaigns of the top three Democratic candidates and the independent spending committees created to support them.

“For the second cycle in a row, he’s ignoring the viable progressive black woman. So it’s kind of strange,” said Ludovic Blain, executive director of the California Donor Table. “When he didn’t do the Karen Bass endorsement, I wondered what the promise was.”

For her part, Bass had little to say about whether Newsom should endorse Lee, telling The Times in a recent interview that “one of the things I hate as an elected official is choosing between your friends.” Still, the opportunity to make history cannot be ignored, she said.

“The fact that there are no African-American women in the Senate is significant,” she said at a recent reception for members of the Congressional Black Caucus visiting Los Angeles.

The political branch of the caucus has supported Lee, and its chairman, Representative Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), had recently been in Oakland to

Lee’s here

Senate campaign.

He said Lee is “the most qualified person sitting in the United States Senate right now,” but acknowledged the current political realities in the race to succeed Feinstein.

“No one necessarily expected the seat to be open, but because it is, everyone has the opportunity to run,”

Horsford said.

LA County supervisor Holly Mitchell also urged Newsom in 2021 to appoint a black woman to replace Harris. But now Mitchell says an open primary cannot be compared to a time when a deal was on the table. Mitchell says she intends to

make an endorsement

in the primary, but have yet to do so.

“It was huge that [Newsom] made the commitment in terms of nomination and it didn’t happen,” she said. “As I said to Ms. Lee when we spoke on the phone, I am very proud that she chose to enter the race. Whatever the outcome of California’s decision, there are black women in the wings, making moves, who will run for the U.S. Senate.”

In fundraising totals released by the candidates for

the first quarter of 2023, ship

took in

$6.5 million, Porter $4.5

million

and Lee $1.4 million.

Newsom’s national exposure and fundraising prowess could be a boon to Lee,

which lacks the firepower and voter prominence of their Democratic rivals.

a

poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies

found in February that Schiff has the support of 22% of registered voters, with 20% supporting Porter and 6% supporting Lee. The rest chose other candidates or were undecided.

At the time of the poll, no known Republican had entered the race. Attorney Eric Early, a two-time unsuccessful candidate for California Attorney General, entered the race earlier this week.

Allison,

the founder and chairman

of She the People, said she would like to see Newsom use his behind-the-scenes political clout to drive donors to Lee and noted the importance of black female voters, who have reliably led Democratic voting and tight races across the country .

In particular, Newsom’s approval ratings tend to be highest among black registered voters. In a Berkeley IGS survey conducted in February, 71% agreed with the way he does his job

as governor

.

Allison compared Newsom’s pledge to President Biden’s commitment to nominate a black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court during the 2020 presidential primaries. He followed through two years later with the appointment of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson.

We won’t be satisfied with lip service or less than,” Allison said. “We want representation in the Senate. Times staff writers Taryn Luna and Seema Mehta contributed to this report.