Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a Democrat from Orange running for U.S. Senate, is under fire for saying that between “5 and 20 percent” of Muslims could be extremists willing to participate in terrorism.
Critics, including Islamic and immigration-rights activists, said the statement was inaccurate, reckless and promoted a false stereotype. One group called for her to bow out of the race to replace retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer.
“At a time when bigoted, Islamophobic rhetoric is spurring troubling incidents of hate across the country - including in Orange County - Rep. Loretta Sanchez’ wildly off-the-mark claims are irresponsible and dangerous,” Reshma Shamasunder, executive director of the California Immigrant Policy Center, said Friday.
“We expect California’s representatives to uphold our values of inclusion and diversity, not trample them.”
Sanchez, a 10th-term congresswoman who sits on the House Armed Services and Homeland Security committees, made the comment Wednesday on the online TV program “PoliticKING with Larry King.”
“We know that there is a small group, and we don’t know how big that is — it can be anywhere between 5 and 20 percent, from the people that I speak to — that Islam is their religion and who have a desire for a caliphate and to institute that in anyway possible,” she said.
“And again, I don’t know how big that is, and depending on who you talk to, but they are certainly — they are willing to go to extremes. They are willing to use and they do use terrorism.”
The terrorist Islamic State group known as ISIS has called for a caliphate – a worldwide Islamic government without national borders.
After her appearance on the show, Sanchez issued a follow-up statement that appeared to be an effort to quell criticism.
“I strongly support the Muslim community in America and believe that the overwhelming majority of Muslims do not support terrorism or ISIS,” she said. “We must enlist the voices of the Muslim community in our fight against ISIS instead of alienating them through fear-mongering and discrimination.”
The Muslim population is 1.6 billion worldwide and 2.8 million in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. It is not known how many favor a caliphate, but Sanchez told PBS-TV that her estimate came from an unnamed book published by Harvard Press.
On Friday, she issued another statement, saying there was “equally compelling data to support far lower estimates.”
“I want to reiterate that my reference to those numbers does not reflect my views of the Muslim community in my district, in America or the vast majority of Muslims around the world,” she said. “I believe that Muslim Americans are fully committed to the security and prosperity of our country.”
Haroon Manjlai of the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Sanchez overestimated Wednesday the portion of Muslims who support violence, particularly among those in the United States.
“Using inaccurate polls that reinforce false stereotypes about the Muslim community, at a time when right-wing bigots are calling for fascist measures against Muslims, is inexcusable,” Manjlai said in a prepared statement that praised much of Sanchez’s record on civil rights.
“While Congresswoman Sanchez’s record on civil rights, especially with the American Muslim community, is praiseworthy, public discourse is not advanced by the use of biased polls that fuel paranoia,” he said. “In the face of terrorism that knows no faith or morals, we expect our elected leaders to unite us, celebrate our rich diversity, and protect our pluralism.”
Eddie Kurtz, executive director the California-based Courage Campaign, called on Sanchez to withdraw from the Senate race.
“While Rep. Sanchez has a legacy of leadership, these comments make it clear that she does not have the skills, or the judgement to represent our beautiful State and all its peoples in the U.S. Senate,” he said.
Sanchez was criticized in May – and soon apologized – for imitating a caricature of an Native American war cry while explaining to a group of Indian Americans at the state Democratic Party convention how she had once mistaken the two groups.
“At the California Democratic convention, she hurt the feelings of the native Americans,” said Irvine’s Anila Ali, founder and president of the American Muslim Women’s Empowerment Council. “Now she wants to get votes by joining the bandwagon of Islamophobes. She forgets that statements like that are harmful and marginalizes a huge and majority peaceful patriotic American Muslim.”
The latest gaffe mars a week in which things had been going Sanchez’s way in the Senate campaign. While she trails in polling and fundraising to state Attorney General Kamala Harris, details emerged this week of Harris’ lavish spending of campaign funds on luxury hotels and first-class airfare, of disproportionate campaign spending and of staff turnover.
Additionally, four Orange County officials who had endorsed Harris when she entered the race said that they’d changed their endorsements to Sanchez. Two others who’d endorsed Harris earlier said they were now endorsing both Democrats.
“It’s not so much a change of heart,” Fullerton Councilwoman Jan Flory said of her decision to switch. “It’s more an issue of timing. Kamala got in the race very early and was aggressive in seeking endorsements. I didn’t know Loretta would be running.”
Flory noted that Sanchez had helped the city of Fullerton with funding in the past, praised her experience on the Armed Services Committee and commended her for being one of the few House members to oppose going to war in Iraq.
Other changed endorsements include Huntington Beach Councilwoman Jill Hardy, while Laguna Beach Councilwoman Toni Iseman is now endorsing both candidates.
The Harris campaign did not respond to requests for comment on Sanchez’s Muslim statement.
Peter Ditto, a UC Irvine social psychologist who studies political behavior, said he wasn’t sure but suspected Sanchez’s comments would not significantly hurt her campaign.
“I suspect she can walk her initial comments back pretty well — as she is already trying to do — and that the majority of individuals, particularly those of non-Muslim descent, will give her a pass on this,” he said. “I could be wrong though.”