Governor candidate Katie Porter talks affordability, energy at SLO town hall
Democrat and former U.S. Congresswoman Katie Porter, who’s vying to be California’s next governor, met with San Luis Obispo County voters during a town hall event Friday.
The event, held at the Independent Order of Odd Fellows’ Chorro Lodge No. 168 at noon, was a chance for the progressive contender to listen to residents about what they’re looking for in a gubernatorial candidate, as well as an opportunity for her to pitch her plan to lower California’s cost of living.
“Affordability is not a talking point for me,” Porter said at Friday’s event. “It is my life’s work.”
Porter is one of more than 50 candidates running to lead the Golden State. A mother, educator and former member of Congress, Porter now hopes to make history as California’s first female governor. She’s part of a crowded field of progressive gubernatorial candidates who are jockeying to be the Democratic favorite.
According to a recent UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies Poll, Porter and Eric Swalwell are sitting in third place with 13% support from likely voters, trailing conservative Fox News commentator Steve Hilton, who’s leading with 17% and Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco who’s captured 16% of likely voters. Around 16% of voters are still undecided, according to the poll.
“The truth about the state of the race: It’s a tie,” Porter said.
To break that tie, she encouraged voters to cast their ballots toward one of the three Democratic front-runners, herself included. What sets her aside from her opponents, Porter said, is that she is the only candidate in the race that refuses corporate donations.
“I have never taken corporate contributions, and I never will,” Porter said. “I am not running to be the governor for corporate California. I’m running to be the governor for everyday Californians.”
Porter previously represented Orange County communities in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019 to 2025.
During her time in office, she served on the Financial Services Committee, the Oversight Committee and the Natural Resources Committee, perhaps becoming best known for her use of a whiteboard to grill witnesses called to testify at congressional hearings. Last year, the Irvine resident and single mother of three started teaching at UC Irvine’s law school.
During a four-day sprint across Central California, the former congresswoman visited with voters in Bakersfield, Hanford and San Luis Obispo during a flurry of meet-and-greets called “Katie Porter’s Whiteboard Warrior’s Town Hall Series.” She also plans to stop in Santa Barbara at a future date, according to her website.
“Katie Porter is packing up the minivan, loading up the whiteboards, and driving all across California to meet with Californians and hear what’s on their minds,” the event page said.
Porter’s campaign partnered with the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party to host the event. Local representatives including District 4 SLO County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding, District 2 supervisor candidate Jim Dantona, San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart and numerous city council members from across the county.
CA governor candidate holds town hall in downtown SLO
Porter is campaigning on a six-pronged set of priorities that range from protecting Californians’ health care from Trump administration attacks to building more housing and decreasing costs on necessities like rent, groceries, utilities and childcare.
She is fighting for free childcare for every Californian and to eliminate state income tax for California families making less than $100,000 a year, she said Friday.
Other priorities include taking more action to prepare for natural disasters and improving California’s economy by enticing more businesses and workers to put down roots here.
Every seat in the house was filled on Friday afternoon for Porter’s hourlong town hall, the majority of which was taken up by an interactive Q&A featuring questions from the crowd.
Multiple questions spoke to Porter’s plan to expand clean energy options on the Central Coast to meet California’s rising energy need, which is projected to grow 5% in the next five years, she said.
“We need more power than we have to even stay the course where we’ve been, so that means nothing can go offline if it can be operated safely today,” Porter said — largely nodding to Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
She supports keeping the plant open as long as is safe but acknowledged Diablo Canyon is aging and not a sustainable solution indefinitely. Diablo Canyon is currently approved by the Legislature to operate until 2030, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced it will issue a 20-year lease extension Thursday.
“We’re all getting a day older every day, and so is Diablo,” Porter said. “We need to be aggressively planning to grow our energy capacity, and that energy capacity must be green and clean energy.”
Were she to be elected, Porter committed to securing the funding for and breaking ground on construction on new clean energy infrastructure on the Central Coast during her term.
Health care cost and access is another area of concern for the candidate.
Under the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill budget cuts, a quarter of California’s hospitals are projected to close. These hospitals will be disproportionately rural, Porter said.
To help address the health care provider shortage, Porter said she would support a bill allowing community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees in nursing — a legislative action that was previously vetoed.
Two of the questions probed Porter’s stance on Israel’s war on Gaza, specifically whether she accepted donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — or AIPAC — and why she traveled to Israel.
On principal, Porter said she refuses unconditional aid to Israel, highlighting that U.S. law requires that “aid given to a country cannot be used to violate human rights.”
Her trip to the Jewish state allowed her to hear from all sides of the conflict, including meetings with both Israeli and Arab leadership, trips to Palestinian villages and conversations with defectors from the Israeli army.
She said while she is not currently nor ever has been endorsed by AIPAC — and has never sought their endorsement — she has met with them and “won’t apologize for meeting with people that I disagree with.”
“I think that’s the kind of educational approach — that kind of hearing and seeing from as many different people as you can — that is consistent with doing my job,” she said.
Overall, Porter presented herself as the people’s governor, defending the rights of all Californians, especially the most marginalized.
She took a firm stance against legalized conversion therapy for minors in the LGBTQAI+ community and defended the rights of transgender athletes to participate in their sports.
“The job of the governor is to protect and uplift Californians, period,” Porter said. “There are no modifiers on that term: documented, undocumented, trans(gender), cis(gender) — Californians.”
