Sen. Dianne Feinstein, an 'icon for women in politics,' dies at 90, source confirms
abc7news.com
Senator Dianne Feinstein's career was filled with firsts, including first woman mayor of San Francisco and one of two of the first women elected to the U.S. Senate from California.
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Wow — congratulations to the people of California!
Except the “placeholder”.
I think the term of art he choose was "caretaker" come to think of it. But hell, they get to be a Senator for a year, something that they probably never would have gotten the chance to do otherwise. And it's voluntary, of course, if someone doesn't want the job temporarily they're free to turn it down.
Caretaker is way better. "I'll put a black woman in as a placeholder until a real senator can be elected" sounds horrible.
I mean, it's a very pro-democracy move to make an explicitly temporary appointment and not distort the election. It's also a very progressive move to fill the seat with a highly qualified member of an under-represented group. High marks on both counts. It's just hard to describe the coincidence of those goals in a way that doesn't sound like tokenism.
Placeholder Senate seat isn't so bad, you still get to be a Senator even if only for a little while.