Feinstein is not a senator any more

[Unagi]

Well. The pick was truly a stop gap and Newson just wanted to let the voters pick among the people actually running for the spot.

[Zarathud]

Head of Emily’s List and labor leader. That’s why she was nominated.

[Pyperkub]

Newsom picked LaPhonza Butler as Feinstein's replacement, could be sworn in as soon as Tuesday.

I will say that I don't love that "adviser to Kamala Harris's presidential campaign" is a highly placed credential. But at the very least she is capable of performing the functions of a Senator at least, so it's an upgrade in the short term at least.

A good look at this and also why the thread title is so disrespectful:

As phones pinged with alerts about Feinstein’s death at age 90, Newsom’s top aides decided to give him time with his grief. He revered Feinstein, a fellow once-and-forever mayor of San Francisco, who for decades peppered him with advice. Sometimes he feared her. In recent conversations and scattered public remarks before her death, Newsom spoke about how he wished she could be remembered in her prime — crisp and commanding and miles ahead of her own staff on minutia — rather than coldly splashed across tabloids as a cautionary tale for Washington’s gerontocracy.

And the sausage getting made... everyone wants the power:

“This is a lifelong family friend. He didn’t want to talk about it,” a person close to the governor said. “He didn’t want to do this. He was hoping so much that it wouldn’t happen. He had that — plus, wanting it to be the right person and the reality of what was going on in D.C.”

While advisers gave Newsom space, they were getting few accommodations from the outside world. Several Newsom aides were bombarded with messages before sunrise on the West Coast. One recalled being pinged in the 4 a.m. hour with a long list of possible Senate appointments — a text message they said landed like a sack of bricks on a car hood.

Other Newsom confidants on the periphery of the selection process reported receiving a torrent of names for potential picks, from former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs (who is a man) to former California First Lady Maria Shriver (who is white). To those in the know, the irony of all the lobbying was that Newsom had quietly thinned his large herd of advisers working on the search. He wanted to avoid conflicts of interest with consultants that have formal roles with Reps. Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee, Democratic candidates for the Senate contest next year.

And the Why's and Wherefores:

Years earlier, when Newsom took office in 2019, their political worlds collided when she worked in labor and she nearly became his chief of staff. Instead, she joined the firm of the governor’s top political strategists, a job that launched Butler into the 2020 presidential race as a trusted adviser to then-candidate Kamala Harris. ...

...Newsom had also gotten the Feinstein family’s permission to move ahead with his pick, and his choice was Butler. He saw her, a Black LGBTQ woman, as an embodiment of the California values that he considered under attack from reactionary forces, people he spoke with said.

The fact Butler represented a new generation — she is now the fifth-youngest senator — was a meaningful bonus, in line with his other youthful appointments like Padilla, 50, and California Supreme Court Justice Patricia Guerrero, 51.