Alex Padilla is set to replace Vice president-elect Kamala Harris in the senate after being selected by California Gov. Gavin Newsom for the position.

Padilla, a 47-year-old Mexican American, will be the first Latino senator in the state of California, according to an NBC News report.

California was a state that was once part of Mexico.

Related story: Californians Elect First Latino Secretary of State with State Senator Alex Padilla

Local national and Latino groups had been urging for a Latino to fill in the seat vacated by Harris.

Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-Texas, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said in a statement that the historic appointment shows a new milestone in the generational struggle for Latino inclusion in the American Dream.

Newsom announced the news to Padilla in a video call, telling Padilla to imagine what his mom, who died two years ago, would be thinking if she knew he was choosing Padilla to be the next senator.

Padilla said that he is honored and humbled because of his parents.

"I can't tell you how many pancakes my dad flipped or eggs he scrambled trying to provide for us; the many, many years, and my mom cleaning houses," Padilla replied to Newsom's news.

Padilla said he has become emotional when the governor told him the offer in a Zoom call.

The upcoming California senator said that there is a lot of work to do but he could not help but think of his parents who came from Mexico in pursuit of the American dream.

He added that all he wanted to do was to honor the sacrifices that his parents made for him

Alex Padilla's record

Padilla is a Los Angeles Democrat who used to develop software for satellites. He then rose to power through local and state political office to become California secretary of state.

He was a longtime Newsom ally. Padilla is also the son of Mexican immigrants who moved in the San Fernando Valley.

He was 26-years-old at the time, according to a Los Angeles Times report. Padilla earned his degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then became the city's youngest council president.

Selection of Padilla

Newsom encountered new and intense political challenge during the selection of Padilla for the position Harris vacated.

A Black women coalition strongly promoted for the vacated seat to be given to another voice in their community and pushed Newsom to prioritize that continuity before other factors.

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said that she is disappointed that the governor did not see the importance of the opportunity that was presented to him to ensure a fair representation for Black women in the senate.

Mitchell is in a recently formed group known as Keep the Seat.

The group had asked Newsom to appoint a Black woman, with options to appoint either Rep. Karen Bass or Rep. Barbara Lee as the vice president-elect's successor.

Mitchell said on Tuesday that Padilla is a wonderful statesman.

However, she added that his work as the state's chief elections officer is important and could have been enough to ask him to remain in Sacramento.

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