Flanked by supporters hoisting blue and white signs, Rep. Katie Porter had a message for those who backed her in the U.S. Senate race: “I will always be fighting for you.”
By the time Porter addressed her coterie Tuesday evening, around 9:30 p.m., early election returns showed fellow Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and Republican former Dodgers star Steve Garvey leading the Senate contest. By then, both the Associated Press and the New York Times had called the race for the two men.
Porter’s quest for higher office, then, had ended.
“While the votes are still coming in, we know that tonight we’ll come up short,” said Porter. “Our opponents threw everything – every trick, millions of dollars, every trick in the playbook – to knock us off our feet. But I’m still standing in high heels.”
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It’s unclear what’s next for Porter, an Irvine resident who has represented Orange County since 2019. She’s been a prolific fundraiser for Democrats, someone who can deftly navigate questioning corporate CEOs in contentious hearings and posting viral content on social media.
In a quick but defiant address, she blamed special interest groups that spent oodles of money on the race that prevented her – and her message – from advancing to the November election. In her speech, she never gave a clear concession.
The representative said running for office was not in her plans – that is until Donald Trump became president in 2016. The Yale and Harvard Law School alumnus defeated incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters in 2018. “To me, running for office was for people who were more polished, who had more perfect lives, people of a certain pedigree. But someone close said to me: ‘As a woman, if you wait your turn, you won’t get one.’”
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Porter didn’t miss an opportunity to criticize Schiff, a Burbank Democrat, for propping up Garvey, a former Dodger and San Diego Padres player, with ads ahead of the election – a move seen as an effort to squeeze her and Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, out of the primary. She said Schiff spent more to boost Garvey than highlight his own campaign, drawing sympathetic boos from her supporters.
One woman interrupted Porter: “You scared them, Katie.”
“I think we scared them,” Porter responded.
Her speech concluded, Porter hugged and took photos with supporters. “Don’t give up hope,” she told them, “because I’m telling you, your generation is going to fix this.”
Before Porter spoke Tuesday, she was introduced by 12-year-old daughter Betsy Hoffman.
“You think her favorite tool is her whiteboard, but us kids know it’s her crockpot,” she joked.
Jeff Gritchen contributed to this report.