California Sen. Laphonza Butler is the lone African American woman in the Senate and only the third Black woman to ever serve in the chamber.
Six months into the job, the Democratic senator talked to USA Today about what she called the "incredible opportunity, responsibility and burden'' of that role.
"The opportunity to be the only Black woman gives me the space and place to raise issues that I know Black women like my mama would have faced all her life and to give them voice on issues that truly do matter,'' Butler said in a recent interview in her Senate office.
Butler, 44, was appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom last fall to fill the seat of the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The first Black lesbian to openly serve in Congress, Butler has championed federal voting rights and pushed for more support for historically Black colleges.
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