Laphonza Going La-Gone-za: Sen. Butler Will Not Seek Senate Re-Election

In what can only be called a sadly typically au courant Newspeak statement, Sen. Laphonza Butler has announced she will not be entering the 2024 race to try to keep the seat gifted her by Gavin Newsom two weeks ago.

“I’ve spent the past 16 days pursuing my clarity — what kind of life I want to have, what kind of service I want to offer and what kind of voice I want to bring forward,” Butler said in a statement on Twitter (X) Thursday. “After considering those questions I’ve decided not to run for Senate in the upcoming election. Knowing you can win a campaign doesn’t always mean you should run a campaign.”

Butler was appointed to the seat within days of the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein; in fact, she took the oath of office (after apparently clearing up the matter of actually living in California) on the day of Feinstein’s San Francisco City Hall memorial event.

During the past two weeks, Butler clearly took soundings from Democratic power brokers and donors – with her decision to not run, the responses were most likely in the “well, um, maybe soon, but…” vein.

Butler thinks, as she stated, that she could have won.  That is up for debate.

Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, and Barbara Lee have been running for some time and while she could have taken chunks of votes from each of them – demographically and policy-wise – she may have come up short while deeply irritating party power brokers, especially if her entry into the race would split the Democrat vote enough to allow a Republican candidate like Steve Garvey or Eric Early to make it through the March primary (all candidates are on the same ballot and the top two vote getters, no matter the party, move on to the November runoff.)

It is also likely that during those conversations included discussions of other options for Butler to pursue when her term ends January 1, 2025.  Her past connections to Big Labor and Silicon Valley and her extremely recent experience running the pro-abortion political action committee EMILY’s List – coupled with actual senatorial experience – will make Butler a top candidate for any number of positions.

Corporate directorships, heading a massive non-governmental organization, and Ivy League fellowship sinecures will all beckon – her resume as a black, lesbian, former senator, political consultant, public relations maven, runner of the very very politically correct EMILY’s List is tailor made for success in today’s elite world.

Even the non-profit foundation world could be a perfect fit for Butler; in fact, word is the leader of the intrinsically disingenuous $3.5 billion California Endowment – Dr. Bob Ross – is expected to retire relatively soon (by the way, here’s Ross’ take on the horrific Hamas attack on Israel – it’s a call for more community organizers…really…)

The Endowment would be a wonderfully cushy landing spot for Butler – Ross makes a million a year or so and hands out tens of millions each year to politically-connected non-profits; this would allow Butler to both stay politically active and burnish her holier-than-thous while still being available for future use when the Democrats are looking for a living breathing winning Buzzword Bingo card to trot out.

Until then, Butler will comfortably serve as one of California’s senators – and Gavin’s nose directly inside the DC tent.