Former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter announced her run for governor last week, touting a message of “grit and hope.”
Porter, who served in the House from 2019 to 2024, did not have many notable legislative accomplishments but she did make a name for herself as a major Democratic fundraiser. She often went viral on what was then-Twitter for her use of a whiteboard during congressional hearings. On this basis, she ran for U.S. Senate last year but came in third during the primary election, receiving just 15% of the vote.
Porter has previously indicated that the potential entrance of former Vice President Kamala Harris into the race for governor would be field-clearing, but she recently told Politico that she didn’t want to wait. “I’m launching today, because I’m not waiting around. Trump is inflicting real harm on Californian families,” she said. “We need to start considering what comes next, how we’re going to respond to that.”
As far as her policy priorities, Porter’s campaign website is light on specifics, often contrasting her ideas with President Donald Trump’s, and offering vague promises like, “I’ll fight to rein in costs for Californians…”
It remains to be seen whether Porter really does shake up the race.
On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former state Controller Betty Yee, and businessman Stephen Cloobeck are among the candidates in the race. Former state Attorney General Xavier Becerra, like Harris, is among those reportedly considering a run.
Given her national reputation and recent run for Senate, Porter likely has better name recognition than many of those candidates other than Harris.
Assuming Republican voters unite behind a single candidate in the primary, it is likely that only one Democrat will advance to face whoever the Republican is and go on to become governor.
Porter’s entrance seemingly implies that she either is betting that Harris won’t jump into the race or that if she does, she can compete with her.
We’re not so sure about the latter case, especially given that Porter was such a flop in the Senate race. Many Democrats soured on Porter during that race because of a perception that she was willing to force a very expensive race versus fellow Democrat Adam Schiff during a critical election year. The same thing will shape up if she tries to outcompete Harris if Harris does jump in.
We’re also reminded of an op-ed by former Orange County Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda, who in these pages authored a scathing assessment of Porter’s character.
“If you’re not Katie Porter, I hope you vote for someone with character, stability, and wisdom. To me, Katie’s not that person, she’s no better than a bully. A bully with a white board who is in this for power and her ego. The last thing we need is more self-centered politicians like Katie Porter.”
We leave that for Californians to make their up their own minds.
California has a lot of problems. The K-12 system is perpetually underperforming. Homelessness remains at a crisis point. Housing costs are obscene. The cost-of-living is crushing for middle- and lower-income individuals and families. Medi-Cal is drowning under bad policy decisions. Wildfires are destroying communities and nullifying any potential benefit from “green” policies. Energy costs are out of control. Pension costs continue to crowd-out spending. “Good government” is hard to find.
Does Katie Porter have the ideas to turn things around? We see no evidence of that, though we’re open to being surprised.