Vice President-elect Kamala Harris presented her resignation from her US Senate seat on Monday, two days before being sworn in to her new position.
What is the next: California Governor Gavin Newsom chose California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to serve the remainder of Harris’ term, which ends in 2022.
What they are saying: “By resigning the Senate, I am preparing to take an oath that will make me chair,” Harris wrote in a farewell post.
- “As the senator who became vice president Walter Mondale once observed, the vice presidency is the only position in our government that ‘belongs to both the executive and legislative branches’. Greater responsibility with an equal number of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, ”he continued.
- “Since the founding of our nation, only 268 tiebreakers have been cast by a vice president. I intend to work tirelessly as his vice president, including, if necessary, fulfilling this constitutional duty.”
The big picture: Harris will now make history as the first black woman, the first woman from South Asia and the first female vice president when she takes office on January 20. But his departure from the Senate leaves only two black legislators in the chamber, even the newly elected Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) Takes office.
- Harris is one of ten black legislators who have served in the Senate and the second black woman in the House’s history.
- Harris will have the power to vote tie-breaking votes in the Senate upon taking office, writes Stef Kight of Axios. Accountability has the potential to define you as vice president – and as a possible candidate for president in 2024.
Go deeper: Tiebreak vote is a political challenge for Harris