My colleagues and I reported that Secretary of State Alex Padilla is still the widely recognized front-runner. But the choice is fraught for the governor, who must balance competing, increasingly public pressures.
[Read the full story.]
I spoke to Sonja Diaz, who is founding director of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative at the University of California, Los Angeles, about why she and others have called on the governor to choose the first Latino senator from a state that is 40 percent Latino.
Whats at stake, she told me, is not just representation of a massive and growing electorate. Choosing a Latino for one of the nations most powerful posts would be a first step in reversing decades of what she described as willful neglect by Californias politicians.
The election of Biden and Harris ushers in a new era, she said, but it doesnt negate that the home state of Vice President-elect Harris has never sent a Latino to the Senate.
The last time California had a Hispanic governor was 1875, when Lt. Gov. Romualdo Pacheco served the remainder of another governors term.
[Read an interview with Robert Garcia, Long Beachs mayor and a recently emerged contender.]
Now, Ms. Diaz said, as Americas white population ages and requires the services of people who are more often workers of color, it is imperative to have leaders who will fight for policies that will ensure those workers have equitable access to resources like education and health care.
That will be especially true after the pandemic, which has taken an outsize toll on Latino workers and communities, she said.read more
Coronavirus in California: State Could Take ‘Drastic Action’
