LOS ANGELES — Alex Padilla grew up on the polluted northern edge of Los Angeles framed by brown hills and freeways in a working-class community long neglected by the city.
His win as the first Latino elected to the U.S. Senate from California solidifies the profound shift in point of view — both cultural and geographic — that came with his appointment by Gov. Gavin Newsom two years ago and cements a long-marginalized community’s seat in the highest echelon of political power.
For the last 30 years, the state has elected its senators from a largely white and moneyed political class in the Bay Area that has produced some of California’s most renowned Democratic figures.
