California Politics: The week the political earthquake hit
What a week it’s been in California politics. Since the last time I was in your inbox just seven days ago, a string of historic events has unfolded upending the Golden State’s political landscape: The death of California’s longtime Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the appointment of Democratic strategist and labor leader Laphonza Butler to fulfill Feinstein’s term and the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy — California’s most powerful Republican — from the office of speaker of the House.
“The landscape of California evolves through earthquakes. Sometimes its politics does as well,” wrote my colleagues David Lauter and Benjamin Oreskes.
The view from Sacramento
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“The confluence of events over the last week … combined to create a temblor that has reshaped both sides of the state’s political divide.”
I’m Laurel Rosenhall, The Times’ Sacramento bureau chief, and here’s what you need to know about this incredible week in California politics.
Remembering Feinstein
Feinstein will be honored Thursday with a memorial on the steps of San Francisco City Hall. Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are among those scheduled to speak at the grand event. Check latimes.com this afternoon for full coverage.
In the meantime, here’s a moving photo essay of San Franciscans paying tribute to Feinstein this week in the city where she spent a decade as the first female mayor. And here’s a gallery of photos from the last half-century capturing Feinstein’s trailblazing political career.
Don’t miss these lovely remembrances from Times columnists:
- George Skelton: Straight-talking Feinstein, maligned by far left and right, was California’s best
- Mark Z. Barabak: Feinstein’s stubbornness kept her in office too long. But it also defined her success
- Robin Abcarian: Don’t let Sen. Feinstein’s centrist politics obscure her not-so-moderate legacy
Will Butler shake up the race?
In her first interview after being appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, California’s new senator Laphonza Butler spoke with Times reporter Taryn Luna about her whirlwind trip into history. Among the many fascinating nuggets: Butler said she was contacted by Newsom’s staff about the potential appointment just one day before his decision was publicly announced.
Butler’s appointment has thrust two crucial questions to the forefront of California’s political scene: Will Butler run for a full term in the Senate in next year’s election? And if she does, how seriously will she shake up the race that is well underway?
The first question remains unanswered. Butler said she has not decided. The second question has political experts divided, as reporters Benjamin Oreskes and Laura Nelson wrote.
Whether Butler will serve 15 months and then step down or enter the race herself has broad implications for the campaign strategies of the three prominent Democrats already running for Senate: Reps. Barbara Lee of Oakland, Katie Porter of Irvine and Adam B. Schiff of Burbank. Butler has deep ties to organizations that could help her mount a serious fundraising operation.
Times columnists have some thoughts:
- Skelton: Senate appointment extricates Newsom from a major screw-up
- Barabak: A solid Senate pick and a craven move by Gavin Newsom
- Barabak, Anita Chabria and Erika Smith: Newsom stumbled in filling Feinstein seat. Or did he? Our columnists discuss
- LZ Granderson: Democrats should be putting Black women like Laphonza Butler on the ballot
I talked with the “L.A. Times Today” TV show about Newsom’s decision to appoint Butler.
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The fall of Kevin McCarthy
Minutes before the vote that cost California’s Rep. Kevin McCarthy his job as speaker of the House, three Republican voters lunching in his hometown cursed the scorched-earth politics in Washington, Laura Nelson reports in this dispatch from Bakersfield.
The conservative women said McCarthy had been left with two bad choices in the days before his ouster: risk a revolt from the hard right and cut a deal with Democrats to pass a funding bill, or acquiesce to the hard-liners and shut down the federal government, wrecking the economy. Ultimately, they thought, McCarthy did the right thing — and paid the price.
The vote Tuesday to oust McCarthy was a humiliating and historic defeat that revealed the limits of his formidable powers of persuasion while further exposing an increasingly divided and rancorous Republican Party, reports Times staff writer Jeffrey Fleishman:
“McCarthy is a politician of affability and a master of fundraising. He is also a man of pliable principles and a tactician who can delineate the percentages and voting patterns of the most obscure legislative districts. He has never been about visions or grand ambitions to reshape America’s cultural and political order. That failing, at least in the eyes of those who led the revolt against him, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), is too detrimental in an era when politics is less about compromise than it is about intransigence and bloodsport.”
Check out these hot takes:
- Columnist Jackie Calmes: McCarthy flopped, Gaetz mutinied, but blame the chaos on the entire Republican Party
- Times editorial board: Kevin McCarthy played with MAGA fire — and got burned
- Columnist Mark Z. Barabak: McCarthy’s fall was sudden, but a long time coming
New laws and vetoes
Newsom is busy signing and vetoing hundreds of bills lawmakers sent him last month. Here are his notable decisions from the past week:
- California workers will see more paid sick time off under new law
- California housekeepers won’t get work safety protections after another Newsom veto
- Newsom vetoes bill to give striking workers unemployment benefits
- Higher wages are coming for California’s fast-food workers. Here’s what to know about the new law
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