A leading Democrat is in trouble after mocking Native Americans at the California Democrats’ Convention on Saturday, whose keynote speaker was left-wing U.S. Senate Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who claims dubious Native American roots.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who announced her candidacy for U.S. Senate on Thursday, made a “war whoop” gesture in an off-the-cuff talk to supporters, as she told a story about an Indian man she had mistakenly expected to be Native American.
The man who made the video with his cellphone told Sacramento’s KCRA News: “Well, I was shocked and appalled that she would make disparaging comments about Native Americans that way. It’s just very un-Democratic.”
Sanchez herself ran from a KCRA reporter who tried to ask her about the controversy, but had said earlier in the day that she had faced considerable pressure not to challenge Harris, who could be the state’s first black senator. There was also pressure for a Hispanic candidate to run.
Warren was the undisputed star of the convention, with a stirring address to delegates that targeted economic inequality. The Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, went largely unmentioned.
In 2012, investigations by Breitbart News and others revealed that Warren’s claimed Cherokee heritage was likely false.