Near Finish Line, California Senate Frontrunner Campaigns For Other Races

A blue bus with “Kamala Harris for U.S. Senate” emblazoned on the side has been making its way around the state this past week. But those words may be the most overt campaigning Harris, the state Attorney General, did on her own behalf.

During a nearly 15-minute speech Thursday, not once did Harris mention her opponent or even the Senate race.

"I came to Sacramento this afternoon in my big old bus outside," she told a crowd of Democratic campaigners and volunteers. "We’re riding on the bus, up and down the state. But, I’m here for Ami Bera."

Bera is a Democratic Congressman in a tight race, while Harris has steadily polled 20 percentage points over her challenger. Fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez has been campaigning in Southern California, and airing campaign ads comparing herself to Harris.

The Sanchez campaign did not respond to an interview request for this story.

Harris is still running her own ads, and says she’s not switching her attention from her race, despite the large lead.

"Absolutely not. Listen, we all will lift each other up, and that’s part of my perspective on what we’re doing in going up and down the state," says Harris.

But the Attorney General has spent her time in the final week of her Senate campaign contrasting Republicans and Democrats—something that doesn’t apply in her own race.