Unabashed California liberal and former US Rep. John Burton dies at 92

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former U.S. Rep. John Burton, a salty-tongued and unabashedly liberal San Francisco Democrat who stood up for the working class and nurtured countless political careers, including that of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, died Sunday. He was 92.

Burton died in San Francisco of natural causes, his family said in a statement.

Tributes poured in from California's top politicians, who recalled Burton as a fierce and tireless advocate for laborers, foster children and the environment. Over the years, Burton mentored Pelosi, former U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, current U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and countless other California officials.

“There was no greater champion for the poor, the bullied, the disabled, and forgotten Californians than John Burton. He was a towering figure — a legendary force whose decades of service shaped our state and our politics for the better,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, in a statement.

Another former San Francisco mayor, Willie Brown, said Sunday that death had managed to separate him from a dear friend who was by his side for decades — as college students where they first met, as fellow newbies in the state Assembly and as influential members of California's Democratic political machine.

"John Burton may have been the best person with whom I served as a member of the Legislature," said Brown.

Burton believed that government was at its best when it served those who needed it the most, and he never backed down from a fight, said state Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks.

“The greatest way to honor John Burton is to keep fighting with the same grit, tenacity, and heart that defined his life,” Hicks said in a statement.

"He cared a lot,” said Burton's daughter, Kimiko Burton. “He always instilled in me that we fight for the underdog. There are literally millions of people whose lives he helped over the years who have no idea who he is.”

John Lowell Burton was born Dec. 15, 1932, in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up in San Francisco with plans to teach history and coach high school basketball.

But he followed his older brother, Phillip Burton, into politics and in 1964 was elected to the state Assembly. A decade later, he moved on to the U.S. House of Representatives, where he pushed legislation protecting wilderness areas in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and condemning apartheid in South Africa.

Burton stepped down in 1982 to address a cocaine addiction, but he didn’t stay gone for long.

In 1988, he returned to the California Assembly and in 1996 he won a state Senate seat, rising to become the chamber's president. He retired from elected politics in 2004 — only to head up the California Democratic Party from 2009 to 2017.

After retiring, he founded a nonprofit dedicated to foster youth. A remembrance posted Sunday by John Burton Advocates for Youth quoted his exasperation with the lack of resources available for foster youth who aged out of the foster care system.

“Emancipated from what? And into what?” he asked. “Into not being able to have a roof over their heads? Into being frozen out of a chance at higher education? Into unemployment? Into a life on the welfare rolls? Into homelessness? Into jail?”

The organization has advocated successfully for more than 50 legislative reforms, including financial aid for college and extending foster care for some from age 18 to 21.

Barbara Lee, a former U.S. congresswoman and current Oakland mayor, said that in spite of his health challenges, Burton was determined to attend her public inauguration in June, and he did.

“His life’s work reminds us that authentic leadership means having the courage to speak truth to power and never forgetting where you came from,” she said.

In addition to his daughter, Kimiko, Burton is survived by two grandchildren, Juan and Mikala.

Plans for a celebration of life are pending. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in his memory to the John Burton Advocates for Youth.

FILE - California state Sen. President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, listens to a question during a Capitol news conference held in Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, Feb. 13, 2003. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli,File)

FILE - State Sen. President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, left, flexes his muscles for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after Schwarzenegger gave Burton a jacket as a going away gift during the last day of the Legislative session held at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, Aug. 27, 2004. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli,File)

FILE - California gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, left, jokes with John Burton chairman of the California Democratic Party, before addressing the California Democratic Party Convention, Saturday, May 20, 2017, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli,File)

FILE - State Sen. President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, smiles as he reminisces about his time in the Legislature during a Capitol news conference held in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez is set Thursday to deliver her first state of the union speech, addressing an anxious country as she navigates competing pressures from the United States – which toppled her predecessor less than two weeks ago – and a government loyal to former President Nicolás Maduro.

The speech comes one day after Rodríguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster by the United States earlier this month.

In her address to the National Assembly, which is controlled by the country's ruling party, Rodríguez is expected to explain her vision for her government, including potential changes to the state-owned oil industry that U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to reinvigorate since Maduro’s seizure.

On Thursday, Trump was set to meet at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. But in endorsing Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump has sidelined Machado.

After acknowledging a Tuesday call with Trump, Rodríguez said on state television that her government would use “every dollar” earned from oil sales to overhaul the nation’s public health care system. Hospitals and other health care facilities across the country have long been crumbling, and patients are asked to provide practically all supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws.

The acting president must walk a tightrope, balancing pressures from both Washington and top Venezuelan officials who hold sway over Venezuela's security forces and strongly oppose the U.S. Her recent public speeches reflect those tensions — vacillating from conciliatory calls for cooperation with the U.S., to defiant rants echoing the anti-imperialist rhetoric of her toppled predecessor.

American authorities have long railed against a government they describe as a “dictatorship,” while Venezuela’s government has built a powerful populist ethos sharply opposed to U.S. meddling in its affairs.

For the foreseeable future, Rodríguez's government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections. That's because when Venezuela’s high court granted Rodríguez presidential powers on an acting basis, it cited a provision of the constitution that allows the vice president to take over for a renewable period of 90 days.

Trump enlisted Rodríguez to help secure U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil sales despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term. To ensure she does his bidding, Trump threatened Rodríguez earlier this month with a “situation probably worse than Maduro.”

Maduro, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges.

Before Rodríguez’s speech on Thursday, a group of government supporters was allowed into the presidential palace, where they chanted for Maduro, who the government insists remains the country’s president. “Maduro, resist, the people are rising,” they shouted.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez makes a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez, center, smiles flanked by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, right, and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez after making a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)