Editing Loretta Sanchez (section)

===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>