On Tuesday at 3:04 p.m., Laphonza Butler walked across the floor of the U.S. Senate, faced Vice President Kamala Harris and took the oath to defend the Constitution, making official her emergence as a powerful new figure in California’s leadership.

At the same time, on the other side of the Capitol, the fate of a

powerful

long-term

older

figure in the state

leadership in the power structure

was at stake as members debated Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s efforts to keep his post office.

McCarthy’s longtime antagonist, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, missed the debate and

the

vote, which McCarthy lost. She was in San Francisco, “mourning the loss of her dear friend Dianne Feinstein,” her spokesperson said. She is deeply saddened that she could not be there for this historic vote.”

California’s landscape evolves with earthquakes. Sometimes politics does that too.

The confluence of events surrounding Feinstein’s death last week early Friday morning, Gov. said. Gavin Newsom’s surprise choice of Butler to replace her and the conservative, hard-right uprising against McCarthy combined to create unrest that has taken on a new shape.

switch

both sides of the state’s political divide.

‘There have been more eventful weeks in the country… But politically? I don’t think so,” said James Brulte, former chairman of the California Republican Party, whose work in state politics dates to the 1970s.

A US senator died. You have a governor who is close to making a historic appointment, and now McCarthy,” he said. I just can’t remember anything like that.’

For years, California’s government seemed…

locked in amber

, with an aging group of leaders, almost all white, clinging to power over a young and increasingly diverse state. The impasse at the top began to break five years ago when Gov. Jerry Brown ended his fourth term as governor. This week it erupted, completing a generational shift in sudden, unforeseen haste.

A slip of the tongue highlighted how events had surprised the state’s public figures: Harris, who had formally introduced Butler to the Senate as the appointee for Feinstein’s “unexpired term,” instead said “unexpected.”

“Unexpected and unexpected,” she added, catching herself.

On the Democratic side, four people have dominated California politics for the last 50 years,” said former State Controller Steve Westly, pointing to former House Speaker Willie Brown, Governor Brown, Feinstein and Pelosi.

Of that group, Nancy Pelosi is the only other major figure still active, he said.

“That’s a huge changing of the guard,” he added.

On the Republican side, McCarthy “has been the most important figure in California for 20 years,” said Republican strategist Rob Stutzman.

There is a generational change in the state’s politics, said Sara Sadhwani, a professor of politics at Pomona College. I think Laphonza Butler reflects those kinds of changes, she added, pointing to recently elected Latino and Asian Republicans. “It’s refreshing to have a new face in California politics.”

A few hours after the House of Representatives voted 216 to 210 to declare the speakership vacant, with eight of his party’s Republicans abandoning McCarthy, the former congressman from Bakersfield announced he would not seek re-election as speaker . House Republican leaders plan to hold elections next week, though it remains unclear whether anyone can unite the deeply divided Republican conference. McCarthys

The elections in January only came after fifteen rounds of voting. ballots

. Until someone else gets the majority, McCarthy’s ally,

Representative Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina will serve as speaker pro tempore.

For California’s embattled Republican minority, the loss of McCarthy as chairman would be devastating, Stutzman said.

‘The party in California has been shrinking for years’

as part of the state’s electorate,

but “it would be much worse without the leadership he has exercised,” Stutzman said.

McCarthy, a prolific fundraiser and effective recruiter of candidates, has done just that

been

saw Republicans compete in a half-dozen swing seats in California and win enough to give the party a majority in the House of Representatives after the 2022 midterm elections.

He also shielded less conservative Republicans in the state from potential challenges, flying to Mar-a-Lago at one point in 2022 to ensure former President Trump would not attack Rep. David Valadao of Hanford, who won the vote the year before had voted. Trump’s impeachment.

McCarthy “prevents the crazies from gaining any more control,” Stutzman said. “I don’t think it’s widely appreciated how much worse it could be.”

McCarthys

Fellow Californians were prominent among the

G.O.P

members who unsuccessfully defended McCarthy during Tuesday’s floor debate.

If the motion passes, the House will be paralyzed, said Rep. Tom McClintock of Elk Grove. The Democrats will revel in the Republican dysfunction and the public will be rightly repulsed.

For the state as a whole, the loss of both Feinstein and McCarthy would mean a sudden, massive reduction in the political influence that comes with long seniority.

Democrats downplayed that impact. They united against McCarthy on Tuesday, calling him untrustworthy and unscrupulous.

Asked about the potential loss of influence, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) responded, “I am not aware of any benefits California has received from McCarthy’s speakership.”

If Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives in 2024, the state would regain a spot in the House’s senior leadership, with Rep. Pete Aguilar of Redlands now the third-largest Democrat in the House.

On the other hand

with McCarthy, Feinstein

was less partisan. Political figures from California

on both sides of the aisle

said she would be difficult to replace.

“She was a dealmaker” in a state where deals are often difficult to broker, Stutzman said.

Even as age

has weakened her in recent years

Feinstein was able to use her seniority to direct billions in federal funds to California for projects across the state, including

desert conservation

on the Mojave and Metro’s Purple Line to the Westside.

Butler said in an interview with The Times the day before she was sworn in that she had “worshipped” her predecessor.

But as she did so, she tacitly acknowledged the generational change that many in her party had long advocated.

“We have a country where many people in the state of California feel this way

it might not be

“I was listened to,” she said. “I want to take this opportunity to stand up for the people of California, hear their concerns and act in a way that is consistent with their values.”

Lauter reported from Washington and Oreskes from Los Angeles. Times writer Erin B. Logan and special correspondent Cameron Josephcam is a freelancer/special correspondent, or whatever is appropriate in Washington, and staff writers Seema Mehta in Denver, Taryn Luna in Sacramento and Faith Pinho in Los Angeles contributed to this report.