California Secretary of State Alex Padilla will fill Kamala Harris' US Senate seat

<p><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5fd251ef7b7e050019107303-2400/alex padilla.jpg" border="0" alt="alex padilla" data-mce-source="Justin Sullivan/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="California Secretary of State Alex Padilla" data-link="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/california-secretary-of-state-alex-padilla-speaks-during-a-news-photo/962143826'adppopup=true"></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>California Gov. Gavin Newsom has selected the state's Secretary of State Alex Padilla to fill Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' US Senate seat, Newsom and Padilla announced on Tuesday.&nbsp;</p><p>Padilla will be the first-ever Latino to represent California in the US Senate. He will serve out the rest of Harris' term, which is set to expire in 2022, at which point he will have the option to run for a full term.&nbsp;</p><p>California is one of 37 US states in which governors fill a US Senate vacancy by appointment, while 13 states require a special election to fill a Senate vacancy,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vacancies-in-the-united-states-senate637302453.aspx" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60">according to the National Council of State Legislatures</a>. Five states, not including California, require the governor to appoint a person of the same party.&nbsp;</p><p>In addition to Harris, Biden also tapped another California statewide official, Attorney General Xavier Beccera, to serve as his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.&nbsp;</p><p>Padilla has already led a long career in politics, starting out as a Los Angeles City Councilman in the late 1990s and early 2000s, including a stint as City Council President, and then serving in the California State Senate before being elected as Secretary of State in 2014.</p><p>In that office, he has served as the state's chief election official, in addition to overseeing notaries, business registrations, and official campaign finance and lobbying disclosures.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p>"The son of Mexican immigrants &nbsp; a cook and house cleanerAlex Padilla worked his way from humble beginnings to the halls of MIT, the Los Angeles City Council and the State Senate, and has become a national defender of voting rights as California's Secretary of State. Now, he will serve in the halls of our nation's Capitol as California's next United States Senator, the first Latino to hold this office," Newsom said in a statement.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/alex-padilla-to-replace-kamala-harris-in-us-senate-from-california-2020-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-its-like-make-beer-with-picobrew-c-home-brew-2020-3">We tested a machine that brews beer at the push of a button</a></p>
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