On Tuesday, both President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden endorsed state Attorney General Kamala Harris in California’s all-Democratic Senate race. Several other influential state and national Democrats, including Gov. Jerry Brown and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have sided with Harris over Rep. Loretta Sanchez, but the president is easily her most prominent backer.
Harris was already looking like the favorite against Sanchez before Tuesday. Harris has consistently outraised the congresswoman and at the end of June, she held a strong $2.75 million to $918,000 cash-on-hand edge, and polls have given her double-digit leads. Sanchez is the more conservative Democrat, and her only real chance to win in November is to consolidate Republican voters while winning enough Democrats to still be competitive in this solidly blue state. But that’s much easier said than done, especially since a significant number of Republicans say they’ll just skip this race. Obama’s decision to back Harris may encourage conservatives to flock to Sanchez, but that won’t matter much if he helps Harris win over even more Democrats.