Editing Loretta Sanchez (section)

==Political campaigns==

===1994===
[[File:Loretta Sanchez with Bill Clinton.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Loretta Sanchez with President [[Bill Clinton]]]]
Sanchez changed her party affiliation from Republican to Democratic in 1992, ahead of a 1994 campaign for Anaheim City Council. She ran under her married name Loretta Sanchez Brixey,<ref name="DornanGets"/> but later dropped her married name because she believed that she and her seven brothers and sisters were better known in the community as the Sanchez family.

===1996===
In 1996, Sanchez ran for the [[US House]] in [[CA-46|California's 46th District]] against six-term Republican incumbent [[Bob Dornan]]. The bitterly fought race saw Sanchez charge that Dornan was out of touch with his constituency, especially after a distracting run for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination. The 46th and its predecessors had always had a Democratic tilt, but became even more Democratic after the 1990 census when it absorbed a considerably larger number of [[Hispanic]]s than had previously been in the district. Sanchez won by 984 votes, and Dornan contested the election, alleging that many votes were cast by people who were not American citizens. 
A 16-month Congressional investigation found some evidence that 624 votes were indeed cast illegally (of which 84 votes were cast by newly naturalized citizens on the actual date of the election who had registered before their naturalization, which is not allowed under California law). An additional 124 flawed absentee votes had already been thrown out by California officials.<ref name="govinfo.gov">{{Cite web|url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CRPT-105hrpt416/html/CRPT-105hrpt416.htm|title=House Report 105-416 - DISMISSING THE ELECTION CONTEST AGAINST LORETTA SANCHEZ}}</ref>

In consultation with the [[Immigration and Naturalization Service|INS]], the House investigative panel began with an INS name-matching list of 4,329 individuals with entries in INS computer records, compared to the voter rolls in the 46th Congressional District; and proceeded to use other government records, including claims of non-citizenship to be excused from jury duty, ultimately arriving at a list of 7,841 "suspicious" votes.  California's Secretary of State and the Orange County District Attorney also investigated a voter-registration group, Hermandad Mexicana Nacional and other alleged voter fraud in Orange County.<ref name="govinfo.gov" />  Local investigators, and eventually the Los Angeles Times, confirmed that Hermandad, an immigration and naturalization service still very active today in both Texas and California, had helped 172 register to vote before their naturalization, under the erroneous belief by some of its employees that as long as someone was naturalized before the date of the election, this was lawful.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/16/us/inquiry-finds-possible-illegal-ballots-cast-in-upset-of-dornan.html|title = Inquiry Finds Possible Illegal Ballots Cast in Upset of Dornan|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date = 16 February 1997}}</ref>  The Orange County D.A. attempted to indict two employees of the organization, but when a grand jury declined to go along, the local investigation was dropped.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://migration.ucdavis.edu/mn/more.php?id=1421|title=California: Integration, Schools, Economy - Migration News &#124; Migration Dialogue}}</ref>

In February 1998 the House Committee on Oversight voted 8–1 to dismiss the matter, ending its investigation.  As Federal law required a proportional reduction of vote totals for each candidate, there being no means of determining just which candidate an illegal (or suspected illegal) voter had actually voted for, it was clear the result of the disputed election would not change even if the probe had continued.<ref name="govinfo.gov" />

The acrimonious disputes between Republicans and Democrats throughout the investigation and a desire not to alienate voters of Hispanic/Latin descent in the forthcoming congressional elections by GOP leaders also seem to have played a role, along with former Rep. Dornan's rather abrasive personal style, which the House in general had grown tired of.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/13/cq/sanchez.html|title=Proof of Illegal Voters Falls Short, Keeping Sanchez in House - February 7, 1998|website=[[CNN]]}}</ref>

Indeed, the supposed total of 624 'illegal' votes was bitterly disputed by the Democratic minority, which argued that the investigation had never actually proved that many of the identified voters were in fact non-citizens; indeed asserting that between one quarter to even one half of "illegal" voters "were U.S. citizens at the time they voted in the 1996 election," although they registered to vote in advance of being sworn in as U.S. Citizens.  And that in fact the Oversight Committee's suspected illegal voter list still "contain[ed] a significant number of names whose Orange County Voter Records indicate that they were born in the United States...." Despite the lengthy investigation, definitive proof of citizen or non-citizen status, and proof that the actual person still on the suspect voter list was actually the same individual whose name appeared in INS records was lacking for many of the 540 remaining voters, once those determined to have registered too early, before naturalization, were subtracted.<ref name="govinfo.gov"/><ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/02/13/cq/sanchez.html "Proof Of Illegal Voters Falls Short, Keeping Sanchez In House"]. CNN.com. February 7, 1998; retrieved February 7, 2007.</ref>

Sanchez became the first member of Congress of Mexican heritage to represent [[Orange County, California|Orange County]] and was re-elected.

===1998–2008===
In a 1998 rematch, she easily defeated Dornan and would not face another serious contest in a congressional election. Her district was made even safer after the [[2000 United States Census|2000 census]], when it was renumbered as the 47th District and reconfigured as a Latino-majority district. During that [[redistricting]] process, Sanchez hired [[lobbyist]] Michael S. Berman, brother of California Democratic Congressman [[Howard Berman]], for "redistricting consulting" on her behalf. She paid Berman $20,000 for his work.<ref name=Haberman>Haberman, Maggie (2011-03-03) [http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=794EC164-E117-75BA-4B74A1110B05B851 Lobbyists join redistricting in N.Y.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308021919/http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=794EC164-E117-75BA-4B74A1110B05B851 |date=2011-03-08 }}, ''[[Politico (newspaper)|Politico]]''</ref>

In 2006, she defeated Tan D. Nguyen ([[Republican Party of the United States|R]]) with 62% of the vote.

===2003 gubernatorial recall election===
{{main|2003 California gubernatorial recall election}}
During California's 2003 gubernatorial recall election, Sanchez was one of the first Democrats to break from [[Governor of California|Governor]] [[Gray Davis]] and state that a Democrat should run to succeed Davis in case the recall measure passed. Though she recommended that the Democratic candidate be California's [[Senior senator|senior Senator]] [[Dianne Feinstein]], Sanchez stated that if no other serious Democratic contender stepped forward, she would be willing to run herself. Many California Democrats ultimately adopted Sanchez's position, paving the way for [[List of Lieutenant Governors of California|Lieutenant Governor]] [[Cruz Bustamante]] to enter the race.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ocregister.com/news/sanchez-188561-political-governor.html|title=Rep. Sanchez ponders move out of House|date=November 19, 2005|access-date=December 16, 2014|work=[[The Orange County Register]]|author=Dena Bunis}}</ref>

===2008===
{{See also|2008 United States House of Representatives elections in California#District 47}}
Sanchez won against Republican nominee Rosemarie Avila and American Independent Robert Lauten.

===2010===
{{See also|2010 United States House of Representatives elections in California#District 47}}
Sanchez considered running for governor and for the [[United States Senate]], but declined to enter [[2010 California gubernatorial election|the gubernatorial race]] after former governor [[Jerry Brown]] declared his candidacy and deferred to incumbent senator [[Barbara Boxer]], who [[United States Senate election in California, 2010|ran for re-election]].<ref name=ruleout>{{cite web|url=http://www.ocregister.com/articles/water-645246-sanchez-donors.html|title=Rep. Loretta Sanchez doesn't rule out bid for U.S. Senate if Barbara Boxer retires|date=December 14, 2014|access-date=December 16, 2014|work=[[The Orange County Register]]|author=Martin Wisckol}}</ref>

Sanchez was challenged by Republican nominee [[Van Tran]] and independent candidate Ceci Iglesias. According to ''Roll Call'', Sanchez considered running for governor or for the U.S. Senate in 2010.<ref>"Think Big, Plan Ahead". ''Roll Call'', January 11, 2007</ref> In November 2005, she opened an [[exploratory committee]] called People for Loretta 2010.<ref>[http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_779114.php "Rep. Sanchez ponders move out of House"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184102/http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/homepage/abox/article_779114.php |date=2007-09-30 }} OCRegister.com. Retrieved February 4, 2007.</ref> However, in June 2009, she announced she would run for reelection to the House.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/06/24/sanchez-not-running|title=Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez not running for governor &#124; 89.3 KPCC|publisher=Scpr.org|access-date=2010-07-11|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110622014849/http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/06/24/sanchez-not-running/|archive-date=2011-06-22}}</ref>

In September 2010, Loretta Sanchez appeared on the Spanish language network, [[Univisión]] and said that "the Vietnamese and the Republicans are – with an intensity – trying to take away 'our' seat", referring to her Vietnamese-born opponent, [[Van Tran]].<ref>[http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/politics/loretta-sanchez-on-unvision-vi/ "Loretta Sanchez on Univisión: "Vietnamese" Trying to Take Her Congressional Seat Away from Democrats"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100923092306/http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/politics/loretta-sanchez-on-unvision-vi/ |date=2010-09-23 }}, OC Weekly. September 20, 2010. Retrieved September 22, 2010.</ref><ref>My-Thuan Tran (9/25/10) [https://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0925-sanchez-vietnamese-20100925,0,2523703.story Rival denounces Rep. Sanchez's comments about Vietnamese] LATimes.com; retrieved September 25, 2010</ref><ref name=Fox>(9/24/10) [https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hispanic-congresswoman-says-vietnamese-are-trying-to-take-her-seat/ Hispanic Congresswoman Says Vietnamese Are Trying to Take Her Seat] FoxNews.com Retrieved September 25, 2010.</ref> Sanchez also described Tran as "anti-immigrant".<ref name=Fox/>

===2011===
In September, 2011 Sanchez's campaign treasurer, Kinde Durkee, was arrested on suspicion of mail fraud. Sanchez and several others of Durkee's clients found their campaign funds wiped out. Sanchez's chief of staff, Adrienne Elrod, remarked that "Kinde was someone whose services and counsel we trusted for many years. These charges if true are disheartening and a betrayal by a long time Democratic treasurer for many candidates and committees."<ref>{{cite news |title=Loretta Sanchez Left With No Campaign Funds, Kinde Durkee Arrested For Fraud  |first=Paige |last=Lavender |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/09/loretta-sanchez-kinde-durkee-campaign-fraud_n_956001.html |newspaper=[[HuffPost]]|date=9 Sep 2011 |access-date=18 Sep 2011}}</ref>

===2012===
{{See also|2012 United States House of Representatives elections in California#District 46}}
After the 2010 census, Sanchez' district was renumbered as the 46th district.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/loretta_sanchez/400356|title=Loretta Sanchez, former Representative for California's 46th Congressional District - GovTrack.us|website=GovTrack.us|language=en|access-date=2018-10-29}}</ref> She was reelected handily, taking 63.9 percent of the vote.<ref>[http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2012-general/12-us-reps.pdf 2012 general election results] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019044155/http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2012-general/12-us-reps.pdf |date=October 19, 2013 }}</ref>

===2016===
{{main|2016 United States Senate election in California}}
On May 16, 2015, when talking to a group of [[Indian Americans]], Sanchez made a gesture mocking [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] by making a "war cry" that is [[Racial stereotypes|stereotypically attributed to them]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-rep-loretta-sanchez-insults-native-americans-while-talking-n360271|title=Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez Insults Native Americans While Talking to Indian Americans|publisher=[[NBC News]]|date=May 17, 2015|access-date=May 18, 2015}}</ref> She described her confusion between Native Americans and Indian Americans prior to a meeting with an Indian-American, saying "I am going to his office, thinking that I am going to meet with a 'woo woo woo woo' (stereotypical Indian war cry) — Right? ... because he said Indian American." Many in the audience were shocked at the gesture, finding it offensive.<ref name=warcry>{{cite news|last=Brumfield|first=Ben|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/17/politics/california-sanchez-gaffe-native-american/index.html|title=Democratic congresswoman apologizes for ethnically loaded gesture|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=May 18, 2015|access-date=May 18, 2015}}</ref> After initially running away from a reporter who tried to question her about it, she apologized for it on May 17, saying "in this crazy and exciting rush of meetings yesterday, I said something offensive and for that, I sincerely apologize."<ref name=warcry/>

Due to [[Barbara Boxer]]'s impending retirement, the [[2016 United States Senate election in California|2016 Senate election in California]] had the first open seat Senate election in California in 24 years.<ref name="wsj-contenders">{{cite web|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2015/01/08/the-contenders-who-will-run-for-barbara-boxers-senate-seat/|title=The Contenders: Who Will Run for Barbara Boxer's Senate Seat?|date=January 8, 2015|access-date=January 8, 2015|first=Rebecca|last=Ballhaus|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]}}</ref>  On May 14, 2015, Loretta Sanchez announced her bid for this Senate seat.<ref>{{cite news|title=Rep. Loretta Sanchez expected to announce U.S. Senate bid|url=http://www.dailynews.com/government-and-politics/20150514/rep-loretta-sanchez-expected-to-announce-us-senate-bid|access-date=14 May 2015|agency=Los Angeles Daily News|date=14 May 2015}}</ref> She competed against [[Attorney General of California]] [[Kamala Harris]] and thirty-two other candidates in California's [[top-two primary]].

On June 7, 2016, Sanchez finished second in the Open Primary and faced fellow Democrat Harris in the general election.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-senate-primary-election-20160607-snap-story.html|title=Two Democrats will face off for California's U.S. Senate seat, marking first time a Republican will not be in contention|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=June 8, 2016|access-date=June 8, 2016}}</ref>

In the June 2016 primary, with results detailed at the county level, Loretta Sanchez won six counties: Fresno, Imperial, Kings, Madera, Orange, and Tulare counties. With the exception of Orange County, these are all counties with a plurality Hispanic population. Of these six counties, the highest vote percentage was Imperial County at 35.4%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/sov/2016-primary/75-us-senate-formatted.pdf|title=United States Senator (primary results)|publisher=California Secretary of State|author=Alex Padilla|date=July 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/presidential-primary-election-june-7-2016/statement-vote/|author=Alex Padilla|publisher=California Secretary of State|title=Presidential Primary Election - Statement of Vote, June 7, 2016|date=July 2016}}</ref>

On November 8, 2016, Sanchez lost the U.S. Senate race to Harris. She carried four counties: Fresno, Glenn, Imperial and Madera. She lost her home county, Orange, by seven points.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/us-senate/ 
 |title=U.S. Senate - Statewide Results 
 |publisher=California Secretary of State 
 |author=Alex Padilla 
 |date=November 2016 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105214455/http://vote.sos.ca.gov/returns/us-senate/ 
 |archive-date=2010-11-05 
}}</ref> In her concession speech, she stated that "Although we don't know what our future will be, I can tell you that this is not the last that people will see of me".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-sanchez-future-20161114-story.html|title=Loretta Sanchez went all-in on a failed bid for California's U.S. Senate seat. Now her next move is unclear|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|author=Sarah D. Wire|date=November 2016|access-date=2020-02-18|archive-date=2019-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190318041802/https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-sanchez-future-20161114-story.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Despite losing Orange County overall, Sanchez easily won Garden Grove by a 67%-33% margin, her widest margin of victory for a city in Orange County.<ref name="LorettaSanchezGardenGrove">{{Cite web| title=Certified statement of the votes cast at the Presidential general election in the County of Orange, State of California | date=2016-11-08 | url=https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/gen2016/sov.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170217082248/https://www.ocvote.com/fileadmin/live/gen2016/sov.pdf | archive-date=2017-02-17}}</ref>

In January 2017, Sanchez donated her [[Congressional archives|congressional papers]] to her alma mater, [[Chapman University]] in [[Orange, California]]. It encompasses twenty-five boxes of files, papers and committee work which will be available for public view at a later date. Sanchez has been a trustee and regular lecturer at the university.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.chapman.edu/happenings/2017/01/06/former-congresswoman-loretta-sanchez-donates-papers-to-chapman/|title=Former Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez donates papers to Chapman|publisher=[[Chapman University]]|author=Dawn Bonker|date=January 6, 2017}}</ref>

===2019===
In December 2018, Sanchez announced that she was running for 3rd district Orange County supervisor, in a special election to fill a seat left vacant by [[Todd Spitzer]] after his election as the county's new district attorney.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ocregister.com/former-congresswoman-loretta-sanchez-joins-growing-field-for-orange-county-supervisor|title=Former congresswoman Loretta Sanchez joins growing field for Orange County supervisor|date= December 6, 2018|newspaper=[[Orange County Register]]|first=Jordon|last=Graham|access-date=6 December 2018}}</ref> The election was held on March 12, 2019. Sanchez lost to Irvine mayor [[Donald P. Wagner]] but expressed interest in another run for the same seat in the next regular election, in 2020.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/late-vote-count-confirms-irvine-mayor-don-wagner-will-be-new-county-supervisor/ar-BBUWahn|title=Late vote count confirms Irvine Mayor Don Wagner will be new county supervisor|date=March 19, 2018|newspaper=[[MSN]]|first=Jordon|last=Graham|access-date=25 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325202742/https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/late-vote-count-confirms-irvine-mayor-don-wagner-will-be-new-county-supervisor/ar-BBUWahn|archive-date=25 March 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>