“Broadband Internet is no longer a modern luxury. It's essential infrastructure to participate in the economy of today and tomorrow, and the lack of broadband creates perhaps the largest opportunity costs facing Americans who live in rural areas.”

American labor union official and former politician

Laphonza Butler is an American labor union official and former politician. She served as a United States senator from California from 2023 to 2024, and has worked in labor and Democratic politics for much of her career. She began as a union organizer and later led the California SEIU State Council from 2013 to 2018. Butler was also a regent of the University of California system from 2018 to 2021, and served as president of EMILY's List from 2021 to 2023.