California's (Maryland's?) Newest Senator Can See the $$$ on the Wall, Won't Run for Reelection

California's newest U.S. Senator, Laphonza Butler, will not run for the seat in 2024, she announced Thursday.

In an interview with The New York Times, Senator Butler said that she intended to be “the loudest, proudest champion of California” in the 383 days remaining in her term in office, but that she had realized “this is not the greatest use of my voice.”

Gavin Newsom appointed Butler just 18 days ago to complete the term of the late Dianne Feinstein.

She started her time in California working with unions and was a key part of Vice President Kamala Harris' various campaigns. Butler's worked with EMILY's List for the last two years, and it was recently reported that the group's campaign arm hasn't parted ways with the bundles of cash it received from Sam Bankman Fried's business partner, despite promises to do so. From a Washington Free Beacon piece published Wednesday:

Women Vote, the campaign arm of Emily’s List, received $2.25 million from former FTX executive Nishad Singh, who has admitted to making fraudulent political donations on behalf of Bankman-Fried. The group, which Butler led until this month, said earlier this year it is cooperating with federal authorities to return the money. But it has not made any refunds of FTX donations or payments to the Justice Department, a Washington Free Beacon review found.
It’s not that Women Vote lacks the funds to pay Bankman-Fried’s victims. It doled out $1.575 million to Emily’s List this year to back female candidates who support abortion rights. Women Vote, which Emily’s List launched in 1995, has received nearly $2.3 million in contributions this year, and has $423,995 in the bank, according to Federal Election Commission disclosures released this week. The group also gave $50,000 to America Votes Action Fund, which seeks to mobilize liberal voters.

Butler apparently didn't have further clarity about why she would serve in the U.S. Senate, telling the Times:

“I believe leaders should have real clarity about why they’re in office and what they want to do with the power they hold,” she said on Thursday, explaining why she felt she wasn’t ready to run next year for a full term.

There's a lot less scrutiny aimed at people who run the PACs and nonprofits that serve as pass-throughs for Big Labor electioneering machines, and a much higher paycheck - especially when one has the title of Former United States Senator. Let's be real; that's what's happening here.