California Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to replace Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the U.S. Senate. Padilla will be the first Latino senator to represent California, a state which is 40% Latinx. His parents immigrated from Mexico. In a video posted by Governor Newsom to Twitter, Padilla talks about how his family’s background has shaped his political work.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla: “I can’t tell you how many pancakes my dad flipped or eggs he scrambled trying to provide for us, or the many, many years of my mom cleaning houses, doing the same thing. It’s why I try so hard to make sure that our democracy is as inclusive in California as we built. And it’s a hell of an important perspective to bring to Washington.”

After Kamala Harris leaves the Senate, there will be no Black women U.S. senators. We’ll have more on Alex Padilla later in the broadcast.