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Welcome, Senator Padilla
Dec. 24th, 2020 10:46 amWith California Senator Kamala Harris now the Vice President-elect, the state needs a person to fill her seat in the US Senate. Governor Gavin Newsom has named Alex Padilla to fulfill the rest of her term. Padilla has most recently served as California Secretary of State. Prior to that he served in the State Senate and on the Los Angeles City Council. Example news coverage: Bloomberg article 22 Dec, NPR article 22 Dec, New York Times article 23 Dec.
Much is made in the news coverage about Padilla being the first Latino representing California in the US Senate. I agree, for a state that has a 40% Latino population and was carved off from Mexico in 1848 (ceded by the Mexican government under the treaty ending the Mexican-American War), it's time. I've been pleased to discover that, aside from his heritage as the son of Mexican immigrants, Padilla is also a STEM graduate. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT.
Congress badly needs more members with STEM education. The bumbling, clueless questions Congress asked heads of Google, Facebook, et. al. in hearings over the past few years shows that we need political leadership who genuinely understand the role of technology in our lives.
Much is made in the news coverage about Padilla being the first Latino representing California in the US Senate. I agree, for a state that has a 40% Latino population and was carved off from Mexico in 1848 (ceded by the Mexican government under the treaty ending the Mexican-American War), it's time. I've been pleased to discover that, aside from his heritage as the son of Mexican immigrants, Padilla is also a STEM graduate. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT.
Congress badly needs more members with STEM education. The bumbling, clueless questions Congress asked heads of Google, Facebook, et. al. in hearings over the past few years shows that we need political leadership who genuinely understand the role of technology in our lives.
