Lion Kamala

Republicans are Underestimating Their Opponent

California has an open, top-two primary system where there are multiple candidates, sometimes dozens, and the top two vote winners, regardless of party membership, move on to a general election. In 2016, California had an open U.S. Senate seat for the first time in decades because Barbara Boxer was retiring. In the primary, two Democrats finished first and second: the California Attorney General Kamala Harris and the U.S. Representative Loretta Sanchez. Harris won 38% in the open primary, Sanchez won 18%, and the top Republican candidate, Duf Sundheim, won only 8%. However, in the 2016 General Election, the same one that saw Donald Trump win the presidency nationwide, Harris crushed Sanchez 62%-38% to be the new U.S. Senator from California. How? This was not Democrat versus Republican; if it was, you might expect that in modern California. This was Democrat versus Democrat. A South Asian/Black woman Attorney General versus a Latina Congresswoman, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, and whose sister was also a Congresswoman, in a state that is 40% Latino and only 15% are Asian American or Pacific Islander, 5% are Black, and 4% are multiracial. So again, how did Harris win every county in California except for two? Because she is better than she appears.

Harris won by overwhelming her opponents before they could get started in the race. Like the rally we see today after President Biden's withdrawal, the Harris campaign in 2015-2016 worked to quickly lock up and maintain the fundraising and party establishment. They worked to maintain that lock as more candidates entered the race.

In their only debate, Harris dissected Sanchez’s record and leaned into her own record in ways that made Harris look both smart and tough. Kamala Harris was quick and calm when her opponent was agitated and was appropriately humorous when she wasn’t able to rebut an attack due to time constraints. When she showed anger, Harris sounded commanding rather than uncomfortable. Sanchez touted her record with NATO, meeting with Ukrainian and European leaders and serving on national security-related committees in the House. However, Sanchez also had the third-highest rate of missed floor votes in the House. After Sanchez listed her foreign policy bona fides, Harris cut her down with "The reality is you can have a lot of stamps on your passport, but you gotta show up."

If the Kamala Harris of 2016 shows up, the Republicans will be in deep trouble. They underestimate her at their peril. Trump called her “Lyin’ Kamala,” and her online supporters spun it into a “Lion” meme. If the vice president finds her old campaigning self, the Democratic Party will be on the prowl.

The debate is below and runs for approximately 57 minutes.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez faced off on October 6, 2016, at Cal State LA in the only scheduled debate in the race for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat. The debate was sponsored by the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at Cal State LA, KABC-7 TV and the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund.

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