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Congressional Black Caucus Names Its Preferred Feinstein Replacement

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to appoint Feinstein's successor in the next week.

The Congressional Black Caucus wants Rep. Barbara Lee to fill the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat. The group wrote a letter to Gavin Newsom on Sunday urging him to appoint Lee, who announced her own Senate bid back in February when Feinstein announced her retirement. The caucus noted Lee’s Violence Against Women Act and her vote against the Authorized Military Use of Force as the congresswoman’s major accomplishments. Newsom will likely choose his senate appointment in the next week, a source told NBC News. Newsom has publicly said he would pick a Black woman for the position and that he wants to make an “interim” appointment instead of naming one of the candidates officially running for the seat in 2024. The CBC wrote that Lee is the “only person with the courage, the vision, and the record to eradicate poverty, face down the fossil fuel industry, defend our democracy, and tirelessly advance the progressive agenda.”