Summary
Current Position: US Senator since 2023
Affiliation: Democrat
Former Positions: State Senator from 2010 – 2012; State Delegate from 2002 – 2008
Laphonza Romanique Butle is an American labor union official and politician serving as the junior United States senator from California since 2023. Butler began her career as a union organizer, and served as president of California SEIU State Council from 2013 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a regent of the University of California system from 2018 to 2021, and the president of EMILY’s List from 2021 to 2023.
On October 1, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom chose Butler to fill the United States Senate seat left vacant by the death of Dianne Feinstein. She is the first LGBT African American to serve in the Senate.
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About
Senator Laphonza Butler is a trailblazer fighting for the American worker, the fundamental freedoms of all people, and the future that our next generations deserve.
She was sworn in as the Democratic junior U.S. Senator from the State of California on October 3rd, 2023. Senator Butler is the first former labor leader to serve in the U.S. Senate in nearly 60 years. She is also the first openly LGBTQ black female U.S. Senator in
American history.
Meet Laphonza
Senator Butler was raised in the town of Magnolia, Mississippi to working class parents who believed their most important responsibilities were family
and service to others. Though her father died while she was just a teenager, her parents showed Laphonza and her two brothers that hard work and education would be their strongest tools to break out of poverty. As her mom became the family’s primary wage earner, she found herself working multiple jobs, often all in the same day, to make sure her children had the opportunity for better choices and chances. From caregiver to CNA, from classroom assistant to security guard, Sarah showed her children that no matter the job you have, you must “work hard, do your best, and never give up.”
Senator Butler is a proud graduate of the historic HBCU, Jackson State University.
Career Highlights
Senator Butler has spent her career championing fairness and justice. She took her mother’s guidance and forged a path focused on doing everything she could to support the empowerment of working families and the men, women and young people who often felt powerless to make change.
For nearly two decades she was an organizer and leader in the labor movement. At just 30 years old Senator Butler was elected President of California’s largest homecare and nursing home workers union SEIU local 2015. She helped to orchestrate raising California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and secure paid sick days for the state’s home care workers.
As President she united the power of home care workers statewide, growing the union’s membership to more than 325,000 and making SEIU 2015 the largest homecare worker union in America. As President of the SEIU CA State Council, Butler is known to also be a coalition builder–working on issues beyond the workplace to make California more fair and just. From working to expand retirement security by passing CA Secure Choice Retirement Savings program to efforts to improve health outcomes by passing legislation to protect children from cigarette marketing, Butler has been able to work across traditional lines of difference in order to make progress on issues that matter.
Prior to her appointment to the Senate, Senator Butler was president of EMILYs list, which is dedicated to electing Democratic pro-choice women. During her tenure, EMILYs list recruited and supported over 600 women to run for elected office. Prior to leading EMILYs list, Senator Butler served as a strategist to organizations, companies and candidates including playing a key role in Holly Mitchell’s campaign for LA Supervisor.
As YOUR Senator
As Senator, Laphonza Butler is determined to lead with the same advice that her mother gave her so many years ago. She will work hard, do her best, and never give up on a vision for fairness and justice.
Today, only 16% of Californians can afford to buy a home and California has the largest homeless population of any state because the country’s economy isn’t working for everyone. As a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Senator Butler will work to provide comprehensive aid for the unhoused and help create more affordable housing, economic prosperity and jobs for all. Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, 25 million women lost their right to make their own healthcare decisions including abortion and over 15 states enacted laws restricting the right of people to vote. As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, she advocates for equal rights, including reproductive rights for women and all people who can have children. She pushes for broader national voting rights and greater voter access.
As your Senator, Laphonza Butler’s priorities are fighting for the American worker, the fundamental freedoms of all people, and the future that our next generations deserve. She champions a labor movement that unites all workers. She stands with the majority of Californians to achieve common sense gun reform laws in our country. She strongly opposes state sponsored discrimination and advocates for a national law prohibiting book bans. She is committed to protecting the planet and California’s environment for future generations.
Personal Life
Senator Butler has served on the boards of the University of California and the Children’s Defense Fund. Senator Butler is 44 years old and is a devoted mother to her daughter Nylah with her wife Neneki Lee.
Personal
Full Name: Laphonza Butler
Family: Partner, Neneki; 1 Daughter
Birth Date: 1979
Birth Place: Magnolia
Source: BA, Jackson State University Senator, United States Senate, 2023-present President, EMILY’s List, 2021-2023 Director of Public Policy, Airbnb, 2020-2021 Regent, University of California Board of Regents, 2018-2021 Partner, SCRB Strategies, 2018-2020 President, California Service Employees International Union Local 2015, 2013-2018 Email: Government Source: none Source: Government page Laphonza Romanique Butler (/ləˈfɔːnzə/ lə-FON-zə; born May 11, 1979) is an American labor union official and politician who served as a United States senator from California from 2023 to 2024. Butler began her career as a union organizer, and served as president of California SEIU State Council from 2013 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a regent of the University of California system from 2018 to 2021, and the president of EMILY’s List from 2021 to 2023. Butler is a longtime ally of Kamala Harris. On October 1, 2023, California Governor Gavin Newsom chose Butler to fill the United States Senate seat left vacant by the death of Dianne Feinstein. Soon after taking office, she announced she would not run for a full term in the 2024 election. Adam Schiff was elected to succeed her.[1][2][3] Butler is the first openly LGBT African American to serve in the Senate. Butler was born on May 11, 1979, in Magnolia, Mississippi, the youngest of three children. Her father died of heart disease when Butler was 16 years old. She graduated as a salutatorian from South Pike High School in 1997.[4][5][6] Butler earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Jackson State University in 2001.[4][7] Butler began her career as a union organizer for nurses in Baltimore and Milwaukee, janitors in Philadelphia, and hospital workers in New Haven, Connecticut. In 2009, she moved to California, where she organized in-home caregivers and nurses and served as president of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers, SEIU Local 2015.[7][8][9] Butler was elected president of the California SEIU State Council in 2013. She undertook efforts to boost California’s minimum wage and raise income taxes on the wealthiest Californians.[7] As president of SEIU Local 2015, Butler endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary.[10] Butler was one of California’s electors who voted for Clinton in the 2016 election.[11] In 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown appointed Butler to a 12-year term as a regent of the University of California.[9] She resigned from her role as regent in 2021.[12] Butler joined SCRB Strategies, a California-based political-consulting firm, as a partner in 2018. At SCRB, she played a central role in Kamala Harris‘s 2020 presidential campaign. She has been a political ally of Harris’s since the latter’s first run for California Attorney General in 2010, when she helped Harris negotiate a shared SEIU endorsement in the race.[7][13] Butler advised Uber in its dealings with organized labor while at SCRB,[14] at a time when Uber was attempting to stop state legislation from classifying its drivers as employees.[15] The New York Times reported that Butler “advised Uber on how to deal with unions like the Teamsters and S.E.I.U., and sat in on several face-to-face meetings between the gig companies and union representatives”.[16] Butler left SCRB in 2020 to join Airbnb as director of public policy and campaigns in North America.[17][18] In 2021, Butler was named the third president of EMILY’s List. She was the first black woman and first mother to lead the organization.[19][7] In February 2022, Butler joined the board of directors of Vision to Learn.[20][21] In February 2023, incumbent U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein announced she would not run for a sixth full term in the Senate in 2024. On September 29, 2023, she died at the age of 90. At the time of Feinstein’s death, several prominent candidates had already announced campaigns for her seat, including U.S. Representatives Barbara Lee, Katie Porter, and Adam Schiff. California Governor Gavin Newsom had previously pledged to nominate a black woman to the office.[22] On October 1, 2023, Newsom chose Butler to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Feinstein’s death, fulfilling his pledge to appoint a black woman.[23][24] Butler was selected despite not being a resident of California, as she had moved to Maryland in 2021.[25] The United States Constitution requires only that senators be “inhabitants” of the state they represent.[25] Newsom’s office said that Butler would re-register to vote in California before taking office as a senator.[26] Shortly before nominating Butler, Newsom announced that his nominee would be free to run in 2024 if they chose,[27] a departure from his previous position.[28] After being sworn in, Butler announced she would not seek election to a full Senate term[18] or run in the November 2024 special election for the final two months of Feinstein’s term.[29] Adam Schiff won both elections. When she was sworn in on October 3, 2023, Butler became the first openly lesbian Black woman in Congress,[30] the first openly LGBT member of the U.S. Senate from California, and its first openly LGBT Black member.[31][32] Butler made her first floor speech on January 17, 2024.[33] Since February 2024, she has read aloud from banned books on the Senate floor to bring attention to book banning.[34][35] In January 2024, Butler voted for a resolution proposed by Bernie Sanders to apply the human rights provisions of the Foreign Assistance Act to U.S. aid to Israel’s military. The proposal was defeated, 72 to 11.[36] Butler is a lesbian, and she and her wife, Neneki Lee, have a daughter.[39] They moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, in 2021 when she assumed the presidency of EMILY’s List,[40][41] while continuing to own a home in View Park, California, in Los Angeles County.[42] In October 2023, when Newsom appointed her to the Senate, she re-domiciled to that home and re-registered to vote in California.[42] Education
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