It’s been more than 20 years since one of California’s two U.S. Senate seats has been up for grabs, and there were 34 candidates competing in today’s primary election for a chance to grab the post being vacated by retiring Democrat Barbara Boxer. Harris was performing strongly in the San Francisco Bay Area, her stronghold, but was also leading in strongly Hispanic Los Angeles County and was about tied with Sanchez in the congresswoman’s home county, Orange. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November.
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Harris, who was declared the candidate with the most votes Tuesday night, now serves as California Attorney General. She would become the first Indian woman to hold a Senate seat and the second black woman elected to the Senate. Both candidates hold similar policy positions on issues ranging from a call for an increase in the minimum wage to a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
“That beats having a Republican sacrificial lamb running against the Democrat, who can take half of what she raised and use it to help Harry Reid beat Republicans in other states”, Brulte, a former GOP legislative leader, wrote in an email to The Sacramento Bee.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders remained locked in a Democratic presidential primary contest while Donald Trump easily won on the Republican side as voters also cast ballots for a new USA senator and a host of other offices in California’s late-season primary. He suggested that Sanchez could stitch together a first-time coalition of Hispanics, Republicans and moderate Democrats.
Congresswoman Sanchez, who is 56, is trailing far behind with about 17%.
Attorney General Kamala Harris at a rally in San Diego.
Ms. Harris, the first top Democrat to enter the race, ran to the left of Ms. Sanchez in the primary with a progressive-friendly platform.
Harris also appeals to 55 percent of the Senate Primary voters who support Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“Republicans are going to be probably the determinative voting bloc, if they consolidate behind one candidate”, Madrid said, noting the race could hinge on “a Latina candidate actively courting Republican votes”. She was elected attorney general in 2010 and 2014.
Harris, who won the state Democratic Party endorsement, would be the first African American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate since Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL) was defeated by Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL) and left office in 1999. They simply split a minority of the vote and languished in single digits. Loretta Sanchez will face off in the November election for a U.S. Senate seat representing California. But the party has seen its numbers erode for years, and it now accounts for a meager 27 percent of registered voters. But factors including a recent surge in voter registration among Latinos will make her a strong competitor in the general election, analysts said.
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Harris, 51, a career prosecutor, has played up winning a big settlement with banks accused of improper mortgage foreclosures and her work to defend the state’s landmark climate change law. She voted against invading Iraq and the Patriot Act, and as a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security Committee, is a respected voice on national security issues.
