Meghan Markle Senate Speculation Dovetails With Newsom Pledge

Meghan Markle's name has reportedly been getting kicked around to fill Dianne Feinstein's Senate seat -- which makes sense ... based on what the governor has said about who's next.

This speculation comes courtesy of the Daily Mail, so take it with a grain of salt ... albeit, admittedly, an intriguing one. The UK outlet reports that "phones lit up" this weekend with chatter over the possibility of the Duchess being tapped to fill the now-vacant seat.

They also quoted one anonymous bigwig Dem donor as saying that Meg was a long shot, but that her being chosen wasn't outside the realm of possibility in these crazy times.

DM also reports MM's made it known, privately, that she has lofty political ambitions -- saying she's apparently eyeing a White House run one day ... and that she's already met with Gavin Newsom about a U.S. Senate appointment -- however, that was supposedly back in 2020, when Kamala Harris' seat was left vacant, and GN obviously didn't pick Meg to fill it.

While that was then ... the situation is quite different now, and actually appears to favor Meghan being appointed as an interim Senator -- and it's because of Newsom's own words.

A couple years ago -- when concerns over Feinstein's health first bubbled up -- Newsom told MSNBC's Joy Reid that he would appoint a Black woman to fill Feinstein's seat in the case that she retired, or other circumstances (like her sudden death). He made no bones about it.

He doubled down on that pledge just a few weeks during an interview on "Meet the Press" -- but hedged this time ... saying it would be a Black woman who hasn't already publicly announced they'll be running for the seat in the next election cycle (November 2024).

The rationale here ... at least 3 high-profile Dem politicians have already said they're vying for the seat in November -- when it's up for grabs during the election -- and Newsom says he doesn't wanna appear to favor any one of them by appointing them to fill in right now.

In other words, he basically needs someone (a Black woman, specifically) to just fill in for the time being as a figurehead -- while the real candidates take center stage next year. As Chuck Todd put it (and to which Newsom seemingly agreed) ... a "caretaker" appointment.

Rep. Barbara Lee -- who's one of the 3 leading Dem candidates who'll run for the seat, alongside Adam Schiff and Katie Porter -- called out Newsom's thinking as patronizing.

However, that type of situation is kinda exactly what Meg would need to launch herself into politics -- about 13 or so months on the job, in the national spotlight, to get a little juice for more moves down the road ... assuming she's seriously considering a life in politics.

Also, remember ... she's apparently been working with a PR company of late that was once tied directly to Michelle Obama -- so she certainly seems primed for something like this.

A lot of questions remain about a potential bid for the Senate, though ... including, what does Prince Harry have to say about it? We know he supports 100%, so he'd probably be on board if she really wanted it.