While remote voting was allowed in the California State Senate on Monday, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, who gave birth in late July, said Assembly leadership denied her request to vote by proxy despite Covid-19 concerns.

Wicks, a former staffer for President Barack Obama, traveled to Sacramento from Oakland with her newborn for the final day of session and debated legislation until midnight after she was told that her recent labor did not qualify her as high-risk for the coronavirus.

“Please, please, please pass this bill,” she said on the Assembly floor while holding a swaddled 1-month-old and supporting legislation that would make it easier to create multi-unit housing. “And I’m going to go finish feeding my daughter.”