Butler began her career as a union organizer, and she presided over the California SEIU State Council from 2013 to 2018.
On October 1, 2023, Butler will take over as the U.S. Senator from California, as chosen by Governor Gavin Newsom. Dianne Feinstein will retire.
Continue reading to find out more about Laphonza Butler’s parents and other important information.
Laphonza Butler Parents: Family Details
Laphonza Butler was born on May 11, 1979, in Magnolia, Mississippi. He is the youngest of three children. At sixteen years old, her father passed away from heart illness. Laphonza Butler’s parents’ identities have not yet been made public on the internet.
Butler was the valedictorian of South Pike High School when he graduated in 1997. In 2001, she received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Jackson State University.
Laphonza Butler started her work organizing unions for nurses, janitors, and hospital staff in Baltimore, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and New Haven, Connecticut.
Butler and her two siblings had little choice but to depend on their mother, who had also been her father’s primary caretaker before his disappearance.
This includes working as a bookkeeper, a security guard, a home care provider, and a classroom assistant, among other roles.
About her mother’s nightly CNA responsibilities, Butler said in an interview with Elle magazine, “Her sacrifice was always very apparent.”
Rather than discussing politics and elections at the dinner table, they were the family that spoke about what it meant to be of service to others.
Laphonza Butler feels that she is propelled and advanced in this way by my mother’s influence.
Personal Life And Career Of Laphonza Butler
Laphonza Butler is gay, and she has a kid with her boyfriend, Neneki Lee. Following her election as EMILY’s List president in 2021, her family relocated to Silver Spring, Maryland. They did, however, continue to live in Los Angeles County, specifically in View Park, California.
When Governor Newsom appointed her to replace Dianne Feinstein in the Senate upon her demise in October 2023, she re-registered to vote in California and officially changed her residence.
She moved to California in 2009 and served as the president of SEIU United Long Term Care Workers, SEIU Local 2015, as well as the organizer of nurses and in-home caregivers.
Laphonza Butler was chosen as the California SEIU State Council’s president in 2013. She worked to increase the minimum wage in California and the income tax on the state’s wealthier residents.
As president of SEIU Local 2015, Butler supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic presidential primaries of 2016. As a California elector in the 2016 presidential election, Butler voted for Clinton.
In 2018, California Governor Jerry Brown appointed Butler to a 12-year tenure as a University of California regent. In 2021, she submitted her resignation as regent.
Governor Gavin Newsom honored his pledge to appoint a black woman to the position by choosing Butler to replace Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate on October 1, 2023.
Laphonza Butler was selected despite not residing in California because she relocated to Maryland in 2021. According to the Constitution of the United States, senators must be “residents” of the state they represent.
According to Newsom’s office, Butler will re-register to vote in California prior to assuming his position as senator.
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