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Senate Candidates Mix History with Issues

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By Laura Mecoy

For the first time in modern political history, California will have no Republican U.S. Senate candidate on the Nov. 8 ballot. Voters will choose between two Democrats: U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez and state Attorney General Kamala Harris.

They were the two top vote-getters in June under the 2011 Top Two Candidates Open Primary Act. That created a challenge for their campaigns to find differences on issues, even as the presidential race draws so much attention.

“The Senate race and all other races have been smothered by the presidential campaign. Policy has taken a backseat in this election, up and down the ballot,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a professor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. “The voters are focused on issues of character, personality, trust and authenticity.”

The Senate candidates are groundbreakers. Harris, 51, was the first woman, first African American and first South Asian to be elected attorney general, in 2010.

Sanchez, 56, a 20-year House member, was the first Mexican American to represent Orange County. If elected, she would be the first Latina in the Senate.

The candidates are vying for an open seat vacated by Sen. Barbara Boxer, who is retiring. The contenders emailed their responses to a series of questions from the Bulletin.

Social Security
Both called for increased funding to shore up Social Security and proposed lifting the $118,500 cap on income subject to the Social Security tax. Sanchez would eliminate any cap; Harris said she would need to examine proposals to determine whether a new cap or no cap is needed.

“The need for solvency needs to be addressed in the short and long term in order to ensure Social Security maintains its status as the bedrock of security for our senior citizens,” Sanchez said.

Both candidates also support increasing benefits for low-income people. Harris opposes any increase in the retirement age because it would “have a disproportionately negative impact on those with the most physically demanding jobs.”

She has criticized Sanchez for supporting a “grand bargain” to reduce the nation’s debt that included proposals to raise the Social Security retirement age and cut its cost-of-living adjustment.

Sanchez said she joined other Democratic leaders to support those proposals in response to “draconian cuts” the GOP was seeking. Though she opposes any cuts in Social Security, she said she recognizes the “current system is unsustainable” and “we should be able to put everything on the table” to balance the budget.

Medicare
To strengthen this program, Harris called for reining in health care costs, rather than increasing out-of-pocket costs for beneficiaries. She supports legislation that would enable Medicare to negotiate for prescription drug prices. Sanchez supports legislation to expand Medicare to all Americans, through the Medicare for All Act, and greater use of technology to reduce health care costs.

Both support the U.S. Labor Department’s conflict-of-interest rule, which requires investment advisers to act in the best interests of their clients when selling 401(k)s and IRAs. Congress voted to repeal the rule, and President Obama vetoed the legislation, leaving the rule intact.

For more information about the candidates, go to loretta.org and kamalaharris.org. To find out where the presidential and congressional candidates stand on Social Security, go to 2016takeastand.org.

Laura Mecoy is a writer based in Los Angeles.

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