‘We are long overdue’: Leaders press Gavin Newsom to put a Latino in the U.S. Senate
Latino elected officials and organizers in California continued to push Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday to name a Latino U.S. senator to replace Sen. Kamala Harris as she prepares to become the nation’s next vice president in nine weeks.
“We’re here this morning because we’re united in, respectfully, asking our governor to recognize our community, its contributions and its needs,” said Assemblyman Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, vice-chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus at a press conference in Sacramento’s Cesar Chavez Plaza. “Latinos helped build this state. We grow its food, serve in its national guard (and) contribute so much to its art and culture.”
The campaign was organized in partnership with a myriad of Latino civic engagement and advocacy groups, including the California Latino Legislative Caucus, the Latino Community Foundation and the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
The Sacramento press conference is the first of five scheduled events to be held in Los Angeles, San Jose, Fresno and San Diego this month that will feature a coalition of prominent Latino leaders in the state calling on Newsom to make the historic appointment. In the state’s history, Californians have never elected a Latino to the U.S. Senate. Nationwide, a total of nine Hispanic Americans have served in the U.S. Senate.
Latinos, Rivas said, account for about 40% of the population and more than half of the state’s K-12 students, but do not “see themselves represented at the highest levels of our government.”
Phil Serna, the first Latino member of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, called for fair representation in the state’s public offices. His father, Joe Serna Jr., served as Sacramento’s first Latino mayor in the 1990s.
“We don’t want to necessarily have to advocate as hard as we do for those firsts,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to in a state that has nearly 40% of its population as Latino.”
Jacqueline Martinez Garcel, CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, said it was important for a Latino senator to represent “hurting” Latino families that have been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. As of Nov. 15, public health data shows Latinos continue to make up more than half of the state’s documented COVID-19 cases and nearly half of the state’s COVID-19 deaths.
“We are long overdue to have that voice,” she said.
Leaders on Monday did not advocate for a specific Latino or Latina candidate, but Latino Democrats believed to be candidates include California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, former Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia.
Last week, the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, BOLD PAC, called on Newsom to appoint Padilla as Harris’ successor.
“Padilla’s decades of public service, working on behalf of all Californians, prove that he is ready to advocate for California’s working families in the U.S. Senate,” said the organization’s chair Rep. Tony Cardenas in a statement.
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 2:09 PM with the headline "‘We are long overdue’: Leaders press Gavin Newsom to put a Latino in the U.S. Senate."