Newsom California Senate pick Laphonza Butler faces optics storm over Maryland residency

Democratic activist Laphonza Butler created a political firestorm with her Maryland residence since being appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) to the Senate in California, though the housing hubbub likely will pass legal muster, according to attorneys.

Butler is facing the noise after campaign finance and state records surfaced on Sunday showing she lives in Silver Spring, Maryland, and registered to vote there in September 2022. Newsom’s pick to fill the upper chamber seat of ex-Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who died Friday at the age of 90, quietly removed “Maryland” from her X account bio recently, and her bio on the website of EMILY’s List, the left-wing political action committee of which she is president, also scrubbed mentions of her Maryland residence.

INCOMING CALIFORNIA SEN. LAPHONZA BUTLER’S ADDRESS SHOWS HER LIVING IN MARYLAND

Newsom spokeswoman Izzy Gardon told Axios on Sunday that Butler is “a longtime California resident and homeowner” but also moved to the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in 2021. The incoming senator will be re-registering to vote in the Golden State prior to being sworn in, according to Newsom’s office.

According to property records reviewed by the Washington Examiner, Butler has since 2018 owned a home with her wife, Neneki Lee, national division director for public services at the Service Employees International Union, in View Park, California. Records indicate the home was purchased for over $1 million and has a market value of $1.6 million.

“It’s up to the Senate to decide whether she meets the qualification” for residency, said Zach Wallen, a lawyer for the political law firm Chalmers, Adams, Backer & Kaufman, noting that the Constitution refers to candidates having “residency and habitation at the time of being sworn in.”

The Constitution holds that in order for someone to become a senator, they must “be an inhabitant of that state for which he shall be chosen.” Wallen pointed to Powell v. McCormack, a 1969 case that held a person meeting constitutional requirements to join Congress cannot be denied a seat if elected.

“It’s more of a political issue here than a legal one,” Wallen said.

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Gary Lawkowski, a Republican campaign finance attorney for Dhillon Law Group, told the Washington Examiner the Butler situation seems to be above legal board. He pointed to a separate case.

“Schaefer v. Townsend is a 9th Circuit case that struck down a California law requiring candidates for federal office to be residents of the state at the time they filed their nomination papers,” he said. “According to the court, this requirement was unconstitutional because it added qualifications to be a federal office holder that are not in the text of the Constitution.”

Lawkowski added, “Instead, the court held that a candidate only has to be a resident at the time of ‘election.’ There is some ambiguity in this case since Ms. Butler is to be appointed rather than ‘elected,’ but Schaefer likely means that her recent Maryland residency is not automatically disqualifying if she can make a plausible claim to ‘inhabit’ California prior to the official announcement of her appointment.”

The appointment of Butler, which has sent shock waves through the political world, comes as several Democrats look to nab Feinstein’s former seat in 2024. This includes Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Katie Porter (D-CA), and Adam Schiff (D-CA), who posted on social media Monday morning, “When I say we’re building the largest grassroots campaign in California history — I mean it.”

To Paul Kamenar, counsel to the conservative National Legal and Policy Center watchdog group, the situation is also seemingly a “political issue and not a legal issue.”

“I don’t see a problem with her being appointed as long as she inhabits the state,” he said.

Butler acknowledged the residency concern in a post on Monday. “I’m honored to accept Gov. @GavinNewsom’s nomination to be U.S. Senator for a state I have made my home and honored by his trust in me to serve the people of California and this great nation,” she wrote.

Butler has made donations between 2010 and 2023 to federal Democratic committees, including campaigns for then-Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), now the mayor of Los Angeles, and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), per financial disclosures. She was paid a combined salary of $149,713 between January and August from EMILY’s List.

As concerns grew over Feinstein’s health, Newsom in 2021 said he would appoint a black woman in the case of the senator resigning. “I have multiple names in mind,” the governor told MSNBC host Joy Reid. “We have multiple names in mind — and the answer is yes.”

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Newsom’s office and EMILY’s List did not reply to requests for comment.

“It speaks to the state of the Democrat Party that in order to satisfy arbitrary racial and gender demands, they appointed a Maryland resident to represent California in the U.S. Senate,” Michael McAdams, a Republican political strategist, told the Washington Examiner.