The state’s economy is larger than all but a few nations’, and from water policy to global trade to immigration to health care, its fortunes rise and fall with its ability to sway federal policy and leverage federal dollars.
Should Ms. Feinstein step down after this term, the state would lose one of its most influential members in Washington. Even in the Senate minority she has been able to push through legislation of interest to the state, particularly dealing with environmental matters.
As a matter of seniority, Ms. Harris never achieved that level of influence, but she has been a formidable fighter, overcoming her relatively short tenure in Washington with a prosecutorial instinct and the occasional viral social media moment.
“Even if Democrats take the White House, Senate and House in November, that doesn’t mean the battles over policy are over,” said Ms. Kapolczynski. And, she noted, the Senate is likely to be closely divided after November, and “someone who’s skilled legislatively in that seat could be valuable.”
That, she said, might encourage the governor to choose someone like Ms. Bass, who has risen through Congress and, before that, the State Legislature, as a consensus builder, or Mr. Becerra, who spent nearly a quarter-century in Congress before 2016, when he was appointed to fill out Ms. Harris’s term as California attorney general.
“California has many thoughtful, talented individuals who would make excellent senators,” Ms. Feinstein said in a statement. “I have full faith in Gov. Newsom to make an excellent choice to replace Senator Harris when she’s sworn in as vice president, and I look forward to working with that person closely over the years to come.”
There’s also California’s long history as a political standard-bearer to consider.
“California Democrats have always been the lighthouse of the progressive movement,” said Steve Maviglio, a political consultant. A Democratic appointment to replace Ms. Harris, he said, would spotlight the left’s direction, whether toward the young progressive Sanders supporters who dominate the state party or toward the more moderate “get-things-done” vision typically held by Californians who manage to get elected to statewide office.