Sanchez changes gears to close gap in Senate battle
Attacks on Harris, a fellow Democrat, may influence future races.
SACRAMENTO — Behind in the polls and lagging in fundraising, Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez has shifted into attack mode in her effort to close the gap with the frontrunner in California’s U.S. Senate race, state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris.
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 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 toptwo 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.
“I think this is all part of a new political paradigm,” Nuñez said.
Unlike the barrage of political ads that traditionally invade Californians’ TV screens, car radios and mailboxes in hotly contested statewide races, Sanchez’s effort thus far is being done on the cheap — by staging news conferences and ginning up media coverage.
That tactic is more about necessity than strategy. With a campaign bankroll of less than $1 million as of June 31, the Sanchez campaign has nowhere near the tens of millions of dollars it would need to pay for a sustained advertising campaign in a state as vast as California.
“It probably won’t get a lot of traction,” Berkeleybased Democratic political consultant Katie Merrill said of Sanchez’s efforts. “She would need $20 million behind these negative messages to move voters in any significant way. That’s just the nature of campaigns in California.”
Rep. Brad Sherman of Porter Ranch said criticizing an opponent has always been fair game in elections, but the rules are a bit different in a general election between two candidates from the same party. Candidates must draw contrasts with their opponent in a way that appeals to voters across the political spectrum — without aggravating those in their own party, he said.
“If you give them positive stuff about you, they may find it boring. If you give them negative stuff about your opponent, they may find it reprehensible,” Sherman said. “Every vote is up for grabs. Your appeals to Republicans have to be careful not to alienate Democrats.”
Sherman learned that firsthand during his successful 2012 matchup against former Rep. Howard Berman, California’s biggest Democrat-versusDemocrat showdown until now.
Newly released opinion polls offer conflicting results of how effective Sanchez’s attacks have been.
A poll released Wednesday by Public Policy Institute of California showed Sanchez closing in on Harris, now trailing behind by just seven percentage points among likely voters. A Field poll released the same day showed Sanchez losing ground, trailing Harris by 22 percentage points.
Still, Sanchez’s attacks on Harris have reaped coverage up and down the state.
The biggest splash came shortly after Labor Day, when a New York Times story named Harris one of four state attorneys general who launched investigations into complaints against Trump University and also accepted campaign contributions from the school’s namesake, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. The story focused on claims that Trump donated $25,000 to an organization backing Florida Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi to influence her agency’s inquiry into fraud allegations against Trump University.
Sanchez accused Harris of failing to take legal action against the business because of her political ties to Trump, saying she should have initiated an investigation after a federal class-action lawsuit was filed in California against Trump University in 2010.
Trump donated to Harris’ reelection campaign for state attorney general — $5,000 in 2011 and $1,000 in 2013. Harris donated the contributions to charity in 2015 after Trump made inflammatory comments about Mexican immigrants.
Her campaign called Sanchez’s allegations baseless and ridiculous, saying Harris spearheaded the toughest investigation in the nation into the predatory practices of for-profit colleges. In March, Harris won a $1.1-billion judgment against Orange County-based Corinthian Colleges, one of the world’s largest for-profit college businesses, for false advertising, fraud and misleading students.
The Harris campaign used that case to return fire. Campaign manager Juan Rodriguez ripped Sanchez for accepting thousands in contributions from Corinthian Colleges and, in Congress, opposing the Obama administration’s attempts to increase the regulation of for-profit colleges.
“While Kamala Harris’ investigation and suit against Corinthian led to the collapse of the predatory forprofit chain, Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez joined an army of lobbyists to protect Corinthian and other predatory for-profits in Congress,” Rodriguez said in a statement emailed to reporters.
That has been the most pointed attack launched against Sanchez so far, though the Harris campaign in emails to potential donors has repeatedly criticized the congresswoman for being backed by “Trump-esque” Republicans such as talk radio host Hugh Hewitt and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista).
At public campaign events, Harris rarely mentions Sanchez by name, but she has clearly telegraphed possible lines of attack against her rival that could come in the weeks ahead.
Harris issued a statement this month demanding that “Congress must protect and expand Social Security — not cut benefits for seniors.”
That was a veiled jab at Sanchez, who supported a deficit reduction plan cowritten by former Republican Sen. Alan K. Simpson of Wyoming and Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff to President Clinton. It was never adopted, but among its many provisions was raising the retirement age and reducing future Social Security benefits for high-income earners, which opponents criticized as cuts to Social Security.
After the terrorist attack in San Bernardino that killed 14 people last December, Harris met with community leaders in Southern California and issued a statement condemning anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Again, Sanchez’s name was never mentioned. But Harris’ comment came shortly after the congresswoman was criticized by Muslim groups for suggesting in a television interview that 5% to 20% of Muslims support a caliphate — a strict Islamic state.
Subtle or not, Harris has also relied heavily on news coverage to deliver her message. Though she has been more successful at raising money, she had just $2.6 million in the bank at the end of June.
Going negative is complicated by the fact that the race is between two Democrats, UC San Diego political scientist Thad Kousser said.
“It’s really risky to say negative things about someone in your own party,” he said. Harris is “in the lead and she has the most to lose from any backlash over going negative.”
Sanchez faces the same problem, but she has little choice, Kousser said.
Democratic political consultant Michael Trujillo said Sanchez’s biggest challenge will be to keep the news cameras focused on her.
Last week, Sanchez did attract cameras when she held a news conference in front of the L.A. branch of the state attorney general’s office. She accused Harris of not doing enough to protect consumers from what she called the “predatory practices” of nutritional company Herbalife.
Sanchez repeated her criticism in Spanish.
“Ha hecho nada,” or “she’s done nothing,” Sanchez said.
Afterward, when asked whether she needed to attack Harris to win in November, Sanchez said she doesn’t consider her criticisms to be negative campaigning.
“I am just bringing out the truth,” she said before walking away to do a TV interview.