California chooses Senate candidates with a “jungle primary:” Every primary candidates, no matter his party, appears on one ballot, and the top two finishers advance to the general-election ballot in November. Predictably, the top two finishers were Democrats, so no matter what happens on Election Day, the Senate seat of Barbara Boxer, who is retiring, is going to remain in Democratic hands. Consequently, the race has gotten very little attention, and next to none nationally. It should be getting attention, though — a lot of attention. Because it’s not just a race between two Democrats; it’s a race between a relatively moderate Democrat and a contemptible, corrupt, repulsive Democrat.
The relatively moderate Democrat is Loretta Sanchez, the representative from California’s 46th congressional district, in Orange county. She has called her self a “Blue Dog Democrat”; she is somewhat fiscally conservative, more reasonable about gun rights than the average Democrat, has taken a harder line on terrorism than the average Democrat, and — representing one of the largest Vietnamese expat communities in the country — has vocally opposed closer relations with Vietnam’s Communist government.
The contemptible, corrupt, repulsive Democrat she’s running against is Kamala Harris, California’s attorney general. After covertly shot video of Planned Parenthood employees appeared to implicate Planned Parenthood in federal crimes relating to the collection and sale of fetal tissue for research, Harris launched an investigation not into Planned Parenthood, or any of those employees, but into the journalist-activist who made the videos, David Daleiden.
The basis for investigating Daleiden was his appearing to have used a fake California driver’s license to hide his identity from Planned Parenthood, and the suspicion that he violated Planned Parenthood’s privacy. Those trivial allegations were enough for Harris to have eleven police officers raid Daleiden’s house, confiscate his computers and hard drives, some private documents, and all the yet-unreleased Planned Parenthood footage Daleiden had shot over two years. When Daleiden called his lawyer, Harris’s raiders tried to confiscate his phone too.
Sanchez is also endorsed by conservative radio host, Hugh Hewitt. Conservatives hate Harris so much that they are desperate to back a conservative Democrat in California. Recent polls show Harris still with a solid lead over Sanchez but still plenty of undecideds:
With just over six weeks until Election Day, time is running out for Sanchez, a Democrat from Orange County, who has struggled to raise money and close the gap in public polling since entering the race 16 months ago. Harris, who is from the San Francisco Bay area and also a Democrat, has been the frontrunner since announcing her bid to succeed Boxer (D-Calif.), who is retiring after nearly 24 years.
Harris was the choice of 42 percent of likely voters – 22 points more than Sanchez’s 20 percent support – in a new survey by The Field Poll and the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California-Berkeley. The poll was conducted by online polling firm YouGov and it showed that nearly 4 in 10 respondents said they were either undecided or do not plan to vote in the Senate race.
Hours later another poll showed Sanchez trailing by only 7 points among registered voters and her campaign argues that it is a more accurate measurement of the mood of the electorate because it was conducted by telephone using random sampling. The poll by the Public Policy Institute of California showed Harris had the support of 32 percent of likely voters and Harris with 25 percent. In July, that survey had Harris leading Sanchez by 18 points.
But the new Public Policy poll also found that more than 4 in 10 likely voters say they are undecided or would not vote for either candidate, a consistent trend in polling on the race over the past year. When those who say they do not intend to vote in the race are excluded, Harris’s overall lead grows to 10 points.
Two other polls released this month that showed Harris with a double-digit lead. A SurveyUSA/KABC/SCNG poll had Harris leading 44 to 27 percent and a USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll put the attorney general ahead 30 to 16 percent.
Sanchez is stooping to new levels to beat Harris even if it means bucking her own party:
In just the last two weeks, Sanchez has latched onto scandals surrounding Trump University, the closed San Onofre nuclear power plant and nutritional company Herbalife to question Harris’ effectiveness as California’s attorney general. By attacking a fellow Democrat, Sanchez could peel away some Harris supporters, but she might also alienate party loyalists — which could hamstring another run for higher office if she falls short in November.
“She has to take big risks to catch Kamala,” said former Democratic Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez, who has endorsed Harris.
The success or failure of those aggressive tactics in this Democrat-versus-Democrat race may influence high-stakes campaigns in California for years to come. The Harris-Sanchez contest is the highest-profile face-off between two members of the same political party since California adopted the top-two primary system in 2012. And in a state under solid Democratic rule, more brutal intra-party fights are all but certain to be on the horizon.
Lets not let the Republicans’ preferred Democrat dupe voters.