California Senate: Revised Bottom Line The state’s top two primary system that was implemented in 2012 has produced the first statewide general election between candidates of the same political party. Democratic Attorney General Kamala Harris and Democratic U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez beat out five other Democrats, 12 Republicans and 15 independent/third-party candidates for the right to compete in November for the seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is retiring at the end of this Congress. Harris placed first with 40.3 percent of the vote, followed by Sanchez with 18.5 percent. Former Republican state party chairman Duf Sundheim finished third with 8 percent, which only serves to illustrate just how long the odds were that any Republican would make the general election ballot. Harris starts the general election as the favorite, but Sanchez will work to make this a race and may be the beneficiary of support from GOP voters who don’t want to sit out the race. If there aren’t many ideological differences between the two, there are certainly geographical and cultural ones. Whatever the outcome, California
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