Gov. Gavin Newsom spent much of this year resisting pressure from fellow Democrats to take sides in the crowded race to succeed him.
Some party activists and strategists feared that too many Democratic candidates could split the vote in California’s top-two primary system, potentially allowing two conservative Republicans to advance to the November runoff. They wanted Newsom to intervene, endorse a favored candidate and effectively clear the field.
He stayed out. The primary results suggest that decision may have served him well: Democrats still advanced a candidate to the runoff, while Newsom avoided the political risk of appearing to dictate the party’s future.
But even without endorsing a successor, Newsom has already shaped the next generation of California politics in a way few governors have. Through a series of vacancies, appointments and national political shifts, he has placed allies and rising figures in some of the most powerful elected offices in the state.
The chain of appointments began after President Joe Biden selected then-U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate in 2020. When Harris became vice president, Newsom chose then-Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill her U.S. Senate seat. Padilla, a longtime Newsom ally, had chaired Newsom’s 2010 gubernatorial campaign before Newsom stepped aside for Jerry Brown and ran for lieutenant governor instead.
Padilla’s move to the Senate created another vacancy. Newsom filled it by appointing Assemblymember Shirley Weber as secretary of state.
Soon after, Biden nominated California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to serve as U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services. Newsom then selected Assemblymember Rob Bonta, who had been viewed as a potential future candidate for attorney general, to take Becerra’s place.
The appointments continued after the death of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2023. Newsom chose Laphonza Butler, a labor leader and Harris ally, to temporarily fill the seat. For a short time, both of California’s U.S. Senate seats and a significant share of the state’s elected constitutional offices were held by people Newsom had appointed — including Newsom himself.
Weber and Bonta later won full terms in 2022. Padilla also won election that year, though his situation was unusual. Because he had been appointed to Harris’ seat, he appeared on the ballot twice: once to serve the final weeks of Harris’ unexpired term and once for a new six-year term. The arrangement stemmed from legal requirements tied to how appointed U.S. senators must face voters.
Butler’s appointment unfolded differently. Newsom had faced criticism for not appointing a Black woman to replace Harris in the Senate. He later pledged to appoint a Black woman if Feinstein’s seat became vacant, but also initially said the appointee should not run for a full term. He later said she could.
After taking office, Butler announced she would not seek the seat. Rep. Adam Schiff won the election for the full term. Butler then resigned before the term ended, and Newsom appointed Schiff to serve the brief remaining period, giving him a small amount of additional Senate seniority.
In all, Newsom made three appointments to the U.S. Senate.
Many of his selections were historic. Padilla became California’s first Latino U.S. senator. Butler became the state’s first openly LGBTQ senator. Bonta is California’s first Filipino American attorney general, and Weber is the state’s first Black secretary of state.
Those milestones are likely to be a central part of Newsom’s legacy in California. They also could become part of his national political argument if, as widely expected, he runs for president in 2028.
Newsom’s influence extends beyond statewide office. As governor, he has filled vacancies on eight county boards of supervisors. Including his years as San Francisco mayor, when he also appointed a supervisor, the total rises to nine. He has appointed three of the seven justices on the California Supreme Court and is expected to name a fourth.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown appointed more state Supreme Court justices over his 16 years in office, but no California governor in the past century has matched Newsom’s volume of appointments to high-profile elected positions. Brown also played an indirect role in setting off the sequence by appointing Becerra as attorney general after Harris was elected to the Senate. When Harris and Becerra later joined the Biden administration, Newsom gained the opportunity to fill those vacancies.
The political importance of those decisions may grow as Newsom looks beyond Sacramento. If he seeks the Democratic presidential nomination, possibly against other prominent Californians such as Harris, he would enter the race with a deep network of officeholders whose careers were advanced by his appointments.
He also would be able to point to a record of elevating officials from historically underrepresented communities, a message that could resonate in a Democratic primary. That record would fit alongside another major chapter of his political career: his decision as San Francisco mayor to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, helping push same-sex marriage into the national debate.
At the same time, opponents will likely scrutinize some of his past appointments. Republicans emphasizing crime and public safety are expected to highlight Newsom’s role in appointing George Gascón first as San Francisco police chief and later as San Francisco district attorney.
For Newsom, the argument may be that those choices must be judged alongside the long list of other appointments he has made — appointments that have reshaped California’s political leadership and could prove valuable if he turns his attention to the White House.
Original source: CalMatters
