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Linda and Loretta Sanchez: First sisters in Congress
(CNN) -- Republicans made history in Tuesday's midterm elections but so did two Democrats from California. Loretta and Linda Sanchez will be the first sisters to serve together in Congress. The Sanchez sisters discussed their political wins with CNN anchor Leon Harris. The following is an edited transcript: CNN ANCHOR LEON HARRIS: Good morning. REP. LINDA SANCHEZ (D), CALIFORNIA: Good morning. REP. LORETTA SANCHEZ (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you. HARRIS: I've got to start off with this question first: Which one of you is the kid sister here? LINDA SANCHEZ: That would be me. HARRIS: Was there a discussion about this, about the kid sister copycatting here and walking in big sister's foot steps? LORETTA SANCHEZ: Not at all. In fact, Linda has a mind of her own and she decided that she wanted to run and enlisted my help. And as a sister, what could I do? She's going to be a great member of Congress. HARRIS: What did sis warn you about, Linda? Did she give you any advice about life in Washington, D.C.? LINDA SANCHEZ: Well, about campaigning, a lot of good advice, and the advice about D.C. is just starting. But I think probably the best piece of advise she gave me was to not take criticism and attacks personally, to really develop a thick skin and just not be distracted from what you need to focus on to be successful. And that was absolutely the best piece of advice. HARRIS: What I thought was most interesting about you --not that the two of you being in Congress is not interesting -- was that you both ran against Hispanic Republican candidates, both men. What does that say about politics and about this country at this particular time? LORETTA SANCHEZ: It speaks to the power of women and women coming into politics and coming into their own. The Democrats are about to elect Nancy Pelosi of California as their leader in the House of Representatives. She's charismatic, smart, she's a consensus builder. HARRIS: She's already got your vote, obviously. LORETTA SANCHEZ: Californian, a native -- she brings the fresh approach from California that we have. It's going to be great for Democrats. HARRIS: I take it that means you won't be supporting Harold Ford of Tennessee, who we heard this morning, announce that he is going to be running for that post. LORETTA SANCHEZ: Harold is a great friend of mine, but Nancy has him beat. HARRIS: Linda, what do you say about that? Since you have a mind of your own, as your sister just said. LINDA SANCHEZ: I've gotten to know Nancy. She was very helpful to me in terms of mentoring me through the process of running for office, and she's been incredibly supportive. So I'm inclined to support her. I think he's great and energetic, and we need that kind of rejuvenation of the party at the leadership level to really get Democrats back on track. HARRIS: Do you see any specific benefit or any specific hurdle to be jumped over by having the two of you working together? LORETTA SANCHEZ: I don't know about hurdles, but hopefully, I'll be able to enlist her to help me on some of the initiatives I want to bring to the 108th Congress, one of them being a retraining law for people who have lost jobs and need to get a new set of skills so that they can move on and get better jobs. And I might even talk her into some help with some of the defense issues that I work on as the ranking woman on the Defense Committee. HARRIS: Do you have an interest in any specific committees at this time, Linda. LINDA SANCHEZ: I do have -- my preferred committee would be the Judiciary Committee. Right now we don't have any Latino representation on that committee, and they consider a lot of issues that specifically impact minority communities and people of color. So that's definitely an interest. And I have others. But you know, we'll see how the committee assignments play out. HARRIS: This is going to be very interesting, and I must say I think it's going to be enjoyable to the two of you in your careers there in Washington. Congresswoman Sanchez and Congresswoman-elect Sanchez, thank you for your time and good luck to both of you down the road. LINDA SANCHEZ: Thank you. LORETTA SANCHEZ: Certainly, thank you.
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