Loretta Sanchez

She is the sister of Linda Sánchez, who currently represents CA's 38th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Loretta Lorna Sanchez (born January 7, 1960) is an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1997 to 2017, representing parts of central Orange County, California.

Sanchez was born in Lynwood, California, and graduated from Katella High School in Anaheim in 1978.

Her father was a unionized machinist, and her mother worked as a secretary.

Her Mexican-immigrant parents had seven children, one of whom—Linda Sánchez —also served in Congress, making them the first (and,, the only) sisters to serve simultaneously in Congress.

Loretta Sanchez joined the United Food and Commercial Workers when she worked as an ice cream server in high school and received a union scholarship to college.

She received her undergraduate degree in economics from Chapman College in Orange in 1982, obtained her MBA from American University in Washington, D.C. in 1984, and was a financial analyst for defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton until entering the House.

Sanchez describes herself as growing up a "shy, quiet girl" who did not speak English.

She credits government with much of her success in public life.

A member of the Democratic Party, she was first elected in 1996, when she defeated long-serving Republican U.S. Representative Bob Dornan by fewer than 1,000 votes.

During her time in the House of Representatives, Sanchez was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition of moderate-to-conservative Democrats.

She represented a district in Orange County, long a bastion of suburban conservatism, and is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and the New Democrat Coalition; she reportedly voted with Nancy Pelosi 97.8% of the time during the 111th Congress.

Sanchez is known for her interests in education, crime, economic development, and protections for senior citizens.

When President Bush's 2003 budget proposal threatened to cut education grants, she responded:

"If he can run deficits for the military, then he can run deficits to educate our children."

Sanchez was the second-ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee and a senior member of the Armed Services Committee, and the most senior woman on that committee.

Loretta has fought to reform both the law and culture of the U.S. military relating to investigation of sexual crimes, prosecution of sex offenders and care of sexual assault victims.

Her leadership contributed to a decision to examine the problem of sexual assault at the military service academies, which revealed that the problem was much more prevalent than previously thought.

As a result, she led the fight to change sexual assault provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

In February 2006, Sanchez withdrew from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus's political action committee, along with five other members, because the caucus chairman, Joe Baca, authorized political contributions to members of his family who were running for state and local offices in California.

Sanchez and other CHC members also claim that Baca was improperly elected chairman of the caucus in November 2006 because the vote failed to use secret ballots, as required in the group's bylaws.

National Journal rated her votes in 2006 in three areas: Economic, Social, and Foreign.

The ratings are: Economic = 71 liberal/28 conservative; Social = 80 liberal/19 conservative; Foreign = 70 liberal/28 conservative.

On January 31, 2007, Sanchez quit the CHC because she claimed that Baca repeatedly treated the group's female members with disrespect.

Other female lawmakers have made the same complaint about Baca.

In the election for caucus chairman, only one female member of the 23-member caucus voted to support Baca's candidacy.

According to Sanchez, as well as Linda Sánchez (her sister), and Hilda Solis, Baca called Loretta Sanchez "a whore" while speaking to other lawmakers.

Baca denied the charge.

Politico reported that Sanchez claimed California Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez heard the comment from Baca and repeated it to Sanchez, yet Núñez claimed not to recall any such comment.

Sanchez, however, claimed after the article was published that she had never mentioned Núñez to Politico.

Sanchez has stated she is a "moderate" Democrat, but in 2009, Sanchez had a 'zero' approval rating from the American Conservative Union.

Sanchez staunchly opposed the Republicans' Head Start program overhaul in the 108th Congress, invoking her experience growing up poor and challenged by a speech impediment.

During debate on the bill, she said:

"I know about these kids, because I am one of those kids ... It hurts to hear you talk about how we are not successful, or how we are losers. But we are very successful. We have had a lot of successes with Head Start."

Sanchez has asserted that conservative Republicans are not committed to improving public education.

In early 2011, Sanchez introduced a bill requiring the United States Department of Homeland Security to issue rules governing searches and seizures of the laptops, cellphones, and other electronic devices of American citizens returning to the U.S. from abroad.

Sanchez is regarded as a liberal on social issues.

She voted against a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and supports abortion rights.

Sanchez chose not to run for re-election to the House in 2016, instead opting to run in the state's U.S. Senate race.

She was defeated in the general election by fellow Democrat, California Attorney General and future U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, 61.6% to 38.4%.