Laphonza Romanique Butler (11 May 1979-) was a Democratic US Senator from California from 1 October 2023 to 13 December 2024, succeeding Dianne Feinstein and preceding Adam Schiff.
Biography[]
Laphonza Romanique Butler was born in Magnolia, Mississippi in 1979, and she worked as a union organizer for nurses in Baltimore and Milwaukee, janitors in Philadelphia, and hospital workers in New Haven before moving to California in 2009 to organize in-home caregivers and nurses. She advocated for a raise in the minimum wage and a raise on income taxes on the wealthiest Californians, and she endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary. She served as a regent of the University of California from 2018 to 2021, and she played a central role in Kamala Harris' 2020 presidential campaign. In 2023, she was chosen by Governor Gavin Newsom to fill Dianne Feinstein's vacant US Senate seat despite having moved to Maryland in 2021; Butler re-registered to vote in California before taking office. On 19 October 2023, Butler - in office for less than three weeks - said that she would not seek re-election. However, she was California's first LGBT US Senator, making history during her brief tenure.