Obama endorses California Attorney General Kamala Harris in race for US Senate seat

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden formally endorsed California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Tuesday ahead of the California Senate election in November.

Harris and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez are currently head-to-head in the running for the Senate seat.

Harris already has support from the California Democratic Party and Gov. Jerry Brown. However, the endorsement from the president and vice president can prove to be pivotal.

"I'm, of course, humbled and honored to have the endorsement," Harris said.

Sanchez expressed that she was disappointed that the president and vice president would wade into a Democrat-on-Democrat race.

Harris and Sanchez earned the most votes in the June primary to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Sanchez has served in the House of Representatives for nearly 20 years. She said that she was not surprised by the president's endorsement.

"I had already known that the party establishment was supporting her. But you know what? It's not the party establishment that decides. It's the people that decide," Sanchez said.

Harris has worked with the president over the years, and in his endorsement, he called her a "fearless fighter."

"We have a lot in common in terms of our priorities, be it the work we did in battling the five big banks in the United States to bring $20 billion back to California in connection with the foreclosure crisis," Harris said.

Harris has a more than three-to-one advantage in fundraising over Sanchez, but the congresswoman is not worried.

"So what? So what? I'm going up and down the state, and I'm doing it the old fashioned way. I'm earning people's votes, I'm talking to people and we're raising money," Sanchez said.

This California Senate race is the first time that two Democrat minority women are fighting for the open seat.