Imperial Seaside Mayor Serge Dedina needs to be a senator.

The surfer/environmental activist-turned mayor publicly threw his hat within the ring to be thought to be for Sen. Kamala Harris’ open seat, assuming Joe Biden defeats President Donald Trump within the upcoming election. Below state and federal regulation, Gov. Gavin Newsom has the authority to nominate Harris’ substitute.

Dedina made his announcement the similar manner Biden introduced he decided on Harris as his vp: on Twitter.

“We’d like a Surfing Senator who’s dedicated to cleansing up our state and combating for our planet,” Dedina tweeted at Newsom Tuesday.

The small-town mayor believes his document on local weather and environmental problems make him a powerful candidate to switch Harris.

As mayor, Dedina led a push to sue the government over cross-border sewage spills that robotically shut Imperial Seaside’s sea coast. Concurrently, he’s lobbied Mexican executive officers to deal with dumping in Tijuana.

“We’d like sturdy management, daring management,” he mentioned. “People who find themselves keen to do issues in a different way.”

By way of pronouncing his goal publicly, Dedina hopes to convey transparency to the appointment procedure. He mentioned it’s vital that Harris’ substitute isn’t a “Sacramento insider.”

Since Biden’s announcement, political newshounds across the nation have weighed in at the “political parlor sport” of appointing Harris’ substitute. Harris’ present time period results in January 2023.

The Los Angeles Instances, San Francisco Chronicle, Politico and Cal Issues every printed tales of imaginable appointees. Their common consensus is that Newsom will face force to nominate a girl of colour to switch Harris, who’s handiest the second one Black lady to ever serve within the U.S. Senate. An alternative choice is to nominate a high-profile Latino.

The lists of imaginable replacements come with Reps. Karen Bass, Barbara Lee and Adam Schiff, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Secretary of State Alex Padilla, Lawyer Basic Xavier Becerra, and Senate Professional Tem Toni Atkins.

None of the ones lists point out Dedina.

Whilst Imperial Seaside’s mayor acknowledges that the folk discussed on the ones lists have the next profile, that doesn’t essentially imply they’re higher replacements.

“Prime profile, (sure), however now not extra skilled, now not extra credibility,” he mentioned. “It’s now not with regards to having a reputation; it’s in regards to the capability to get issues accomplished.”

Dedina, the son of a French migrant whose circle of relatives fled Nazi-occupied Europe, has been a political outsider ahead of. And he’s succeeded.

In 2014, he received the mayoral election towards two-term incumbent Jim Janney through handiest 43 votes. The race was once so shut that KUSI declared Janney the winner. That tale continues to be posted at the TV information station’s web site.

All the way through his first time period, Dedina greater transparency, took on blighted belongings through going after negligent landlords, and helped spice up financial construction. He received his 2018 re-election bid through 2,465 votes.

Publicly pronouncing his need to be Harris’ appointment brings consideration to Imperial Seaside, he mentioned.

“It additionally supplies a platform to speak about one of the vital accomplishments we’ve had in IB, the issues we’ve been ready to get accomplished right here and not using a actual assets,” he mentioned.

In step with information reviews, Newsom received’t get started fascinated by the appointment procedure till 2021— if Biden defeats Trump.

Dedina says he plans to apply his Tweet with a proper e mail to the governor. Outdoor of that, there aren’t many regulations about the right way to marketing campaign for an appointment.

“It’s now not a marketing campaign within the conventional sense,” he mentioned. “I believe it’s vital to be available in the market overtly.”

Dedina received a number of awards for his environmental paintings. He’s won the Surf Trade’s Environmental Award, San Diego Zoological Society’s Conservation Medal, and the California Coastal Fee’s Coastal Hero award.

Sooner than co-founding an environmental advocacy nonprofit, Dedina frolicked dwelling south of the border and labored because the founding director of The Nature Conservancy’s Baja California – Sea of Cortez Program, the place he helped start up efforts to give protection to nationwide parks and wild animals.