Democrats Harris, Sanchez advance to California Senate election

Democrats Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez finished first and second in California's Senate primary, setting up a Democrat-versus-Democrat general election clash for retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat.

Harris, the state attorney general, had 40 percent of the vote with 47 percent of precincts reporting when the Associated Press called the all-party, top-two primary. Sanchez, a House member from Orange County, had 17 percent of the vote.


The leading Republican contender, Duf Sundheim, had 9 percent. Sundheim and 11 other Republicans split thousands of votes among them, locking their party out of the Senate race in the nation's most populous state.

The primary results guarantee that Boxer's seat will stay in the hands of a Democratic woman. Sanchez is vying to be the first Latina senator, while Harris would be just the second African-American woman elected to the Senate.

See the results here: http://politi.co/1rcyPTR