Tough isn’t a flaw; it’s what California needs. Porter should stay in the race | Opinion
The non-stop coverage of Katie Porter’s ugliest moments caught on camera has less to do with her fitness to be the Governor of California and far more to do with the California Democratic Party once again stabbing itself in the back for lack of a better plan.
It all started after a recently released video of her griping at a CBS journalist went viral. That was followed shortly by another video from years ago, of her snapping at a staffer who walked through the background of a video call.
Then other scuttlebutt soon began to emerge online: Alleged former staffers appeared who said the behavior caught on camera was emblematic, or that she threw mashed potatoes at her ex-husband once, and out-of-context quotes appeared from Porter’s 2023 book, “I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan,” indirectly joking that gun violence would be a warranted response to a spilled drink.
So... not great. But Porter’s total bypass of Sacramento’s notoriously cliqueish culture (She went from teaching law at UC Irvine straight to a seat in Congress) has obviously played a role in her particularly public humiliation. Democratic insiders were quick to gossip with Politico this week — behind the mask of anonymity, of course — that she’s supposedly not well-liked, and apparently, party kingmaker Nancy Pelosi in particular isn’t a fan.
That means Porter’s campaigning with far fewer allies than her opponents, and her frequent criticism of party norms and institutional rules has led to reports of friction behind the scenes. No doubt, too, Porter’s gender has created an outsized, misogynistic backlash among the public who are mainly following along via internet memes. (If she were a man, this news cycle would have lasted all of 20 minutes.)
Like crabs who spotted one of their own gaining too much elevation, Porter’s opponents in the gubernatorial race rushed to pull her back down into their muck. California State Controller Betty Yee wrote on her X account that “Katie Porter is a weak, self-destructive candidate unfit to lead California. The stakes are simply too high for her to stay in this race. It’s time for her to drop out of this race.” (A statement to which most Californians can only reply: “Who is Betty Yee?”)
But, honestly? They’re all jerks.
As a Sacramento-based journalist, I can tell you firsthand that Porter getting snippy with a reporter isn’t anything new. If that was a fireable offense, half of the state legislature would be out of a job.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has been blowing off the Capitol press corps for years and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas won’t make a move without his staff or a script. He sure won’t meet me and my colleagues on The Bee Editorial Board for an on-the-record interview — even though we’ve requested it several times.
There is a real problem in Sacramento with Democrats praising the rights of the free press when it suits their purposes — and making themselves as inaccessible as possible the other 364 days of the year. So thanks for the sudden defense I guess, but you all need to look in a mirror before you start throwing Porter under the bus.
Yeah, she messed up. Her behavior was inappropriate, but a smart PR team would tell Porter not to leave the race just because Yee (who?) tweeted about it. Voters appreciate it when politicians acknowledge their mistakes and vow to improve. Dropping out isn’t necessary.
So Porter should make a public apology, be a little more overtly nice in the future to her staff (also perhaps to journalists just doing their jobs) and then we all need to move on to the much more serious issues facing our state.
Don’t forget, Porter was the frontrunner for a reason; voters like her progressive, pugnacious brand of politics. And that’s probably why the state’s more moderate Democrats want to take her out. She stands out in a stale field of wishy-washy no-names whose ideas and personalities aren’t resonating with voters. Now, the party is practically begging Alex Padilla to leave a cushy Senate job and get into the race just so there’s a brand-name moderate Democrat in the field. This is exactly the same kind of in-fighting and poor behavior that has voters abandoning the national party on an unprecedented scale.
It’s naive to imagine President Donald Trump’s attacks on California will simply cease when Newsom terms out in January 2027. We need a governor who is willing to get in the mud with the Trump administration and fight for the rights of all Californians.
We’ll find out next year if Porter can close the deal, but at this early stage, I’d bet she’s still appealing to voters; not just because of her take-no-prisoners politics, but because California needs someone who can start — and end — a fight.
This story was originally published October 14, 2025 at 11:40 AM with the headline "Tough isn’t a flaw; it’s what California needs. Porter should stay in the race | Opinion."
