加州参议员。拉蓬扎·巴特勒在她最近被任命为继任者后，将不会寻求在2024年当选完整任期已故的黛安娜·范斯坦她在周四的一份声明中说，这一决定将一名潜在候选人从已经拥挤的领域中排除出去。
“在过去的16天里，我一直在追寻自己的清晰——我想要什么样的生活，我想要提供什么样的服务，我想要表达什么样的声音，”她说。"在考虑了这些问题后，我决定在即将到来的选举中不竞选参议员."
巴特勒是加利福尼亚州的一名资深民主党策略师和劳工领袖，此前从未担任过民选职务，他补充说，“知道你能赢得竞选并不总是意味着你应该参加竞选”，并表示尽管这个决定可能让一些人感到惊讶，“但对我来说这是正确的。”
这条新闻最先被报道由纽约时报.
2023年10月3日，在华盛顿特区的国会大厦，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯在拉蓬扎·巴特勒宣誓，填补最近去世的参议员黛安娜·范斯坦留下的美国参议院空缺，巴特勒的妻子内内基·李手持圣经
乔纳森·恩斯特/路透社
巴特勒的任命帮助加州州长加文·纽瑟姆实现了他的承诺，在范斯坦的席位出现空缺时，任命一名黑人女性。当巴特勒10月3日宣誓就职时，她成为第三位在上议院任职的黑人女性。她在第二任副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯面前宣誓。
巴特勒曾是支持堕胎的政治团体艾米丽名单(EMILY's List)的主席，也是继塔米·鲍德温(Tammy Baldwin)2012年在威斯康星州当选后，第二位在参议院任职的公开同性恋女性。
随着巴特勒决定退出2024年的竞选，她为接替范斯坦的公开竞选扫清了道路。在加利福尼亚州，所有候选人将不分党派，一起参加3月的初选，前两名将晋级明年11月的大选。
初选领域目前有三个高调的国会民主党人:众议员亚当·希夫，凯蒂·波特和李金浔。
上周，10次入选MLB全明星赛的前洛杉矶道奇队一垒手史蒂夫·陈嘉炜宣布，他将以共和党人的身份竞选该席位，周三，前电视主播兼洛杉矶记者克里斯蒂娜·帕斯库奇(Christina Pascucci)表示，她也将以民主党人的身份竞选。
据538称，希夫和波特目前在该领域处于领先地位。
巴特勒将在范斯坦的剩余任期内任职，直到2025年1月，他没有支持任何一位候选人。
“加州选民希望领导人考虑他们和他们最关心的问题。我现在有383天的时间尽我所能为加州人民服务，”巴特勒在周四的声明中说。“穆罕默德·阿里曾经说过，‘不要数着日子过，要让每一天都有意义。’我打算那样做。"
Sen. Laphonza Butler not running in 2024 after filling Dianne Feinstein's seat
California Sen.Laphonza Butlerwill not seek to be elected to a full term in 2024 after she was recently appointed to succeedthe late Dianne Feinstein, a decision that removes one potential candidate from an already crowded field, she said in a statement on Thursday.
"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," she said. "After considering those questions, I've decided not to run for Senate in the upcoming election."
Butler, a longtime Democratic strategist and labor leader in California who has never held elected office before, added that "knowing you can win a campaign doesn't always mean you should run a campaign" and said that while the decision may have caught some by surprise, "it's the right one for me."
The news was first reportedby The New York Times.
Butler's appointment helped California Gov. Gavin Newsom fulfill his promise to appoint a Black woman to Feinstein's seat in the event of a vacancy. When Butler was sworn in on Oct. 3, she became only the third Black woman to ever serve in the upper chamber. She took her oath from Vice President Kamala Harris, who was the second.
Formerly the president of EMILY's List, a pro-abortion access political group, Butler is also only the second openly gay woman to serve in the Senate after Tammy Baldwin was elected in 2012 in Wisconsin.
With Butler's decision to step aside from the 2024 race, she clears the way for an open race to succeed Feinstein. In California, all candidates will run in the March primary together, regardless of party, with the top two advancing to the general election next November.
The primary field currently features three high-profile congressional Democrats: Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee.
Last week, 10-time MLB All-Star and former Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey announced that he was running for the seat as a Republican and, on Wednesday, Christina Pascucci, a former TV anchor and reporter in Los Angeles, said that she would also run as a Democrat.
Schiff and Porter have so far led the field, according to 538.
Butler, who will serve out the remainder of Feinstein's term, through January 2025, has not endorsed any of the candidates.
"California voters want leaders who think about them and the issues they care most about. I now have 383 days to serve the people of California with every ounce of energy and effort that I have," Butler said in her statement on Thursday. "Muhammad Ali once said, 'Don't count the days, make the days count.' I intend to do just that."
