Newly declared Democratic Senate candidate Loretta Sanchez
Attorney General Kamala Harris has had the Democratic field to herself for the last few months, allowing her to build a war chest and rack up endorsements, but she finally earned a credible opponent on Thursday. After spending months flirting with a bid for this open Senate seat, Rep. Loretta Sanchez
announced that she will run.
The Orange County congresswoman doesn't start out with nearly as much name recognition as Harris and she doesn't have as much money in the bank. However, Sanchez will be trying to consolidate Hispanic and Southern California voters against Harris, a former San Francisco district attorney. If fellow Rep. Xavier Becerra, another Latino Southern California congressman, gets in, Sanchez's already tough task will become a lot harder though.
Sanchez is very much the underdog, and her chaotic campaign kickoff doesn't inspire much confidence. Sanchez also has a shoot-from-the-hip style that has gotten her into trouble more than once. But Sanchez may have a path to victory if she can secure enough support in next year's top-two primary to advance to a general election with Harris. Sanchez is a Blue Dog Democrat, and she'll have a much easier time appealing to the state's Republican minority than Harris. If Sanchez can make it to November and forge a coalition of Southern Californians, Hispanics, and conservatives, she could pull off a surprise.
Of course, that's a very big if. In the Golden State, Republicans tend to vote in disproportionate numbers in the primary, which makes it harder for two Democrats to advance. Neither of the GOP's two notable candidates, state Assemblyman Rocky Chavez or former state party chair Tom Del Beccaro, inspires much excitement. However, it's quite possible to imagine one of them taking enough primary support to advance to a general election with Harris. It's always tough to game out a blanket primary this far in advance, but Sanchez is going to need a lot to go right if she's going to make it to a general, much less actually win.