Katie Porter, the previous Democratic congresswoman who rose to prominence by way of wielding a whiteboard whilst she grilled company executives on Capitol Hill, introduced on Tuesday that she would input the 2026 contest for California governor.
Ms. Porter, 51, is the highest-profile Democrat to sign up for the race. However an enormous unknown stays: whether or not former Vice President Kamala Harris will jump in.
Gov. Gavin Newsom can’t run for re-election as a result of state legislation limits governors to 2 phrases. Many of the Democrats who’ve entered the open race thus far are present or former state officers who’ve enjoy within the statehouse however are little identified to the general public. Citizens are a lot more acquainted with Ms. Porter, a legislation professor who served six years in Congress representing Orange County, polls show.
Ms. Porter introduced her marketing campaign on Tuesday by way of freeing a video that solid herself as any individual who would battle to counter President Trump’s schedule and convey a contemporary lens to the State Capitol, the place she hasn’t ever served in an elected place of work.
After shedding the presidential election in November, Ms. Harris returned domestic to Los Angeles and has pondered a run for California governor. Ms. Porter will drop out of the race if Ms. Harris runs, a spokesman showed.
Ms. Porter noticed in December that Ms. Harris would have “a close to field-clearing impact at the Democratic facet” of the race.
Different Democrats who’ve introduced campaigns for California governor come with Eleni Kounalakis, the lieutenant governor and an established buddy of Ms. Harris; Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles; Betty Yee, a former state controller; Toni Atkins, a former state legislative chief; and Tony Thurmond, the state colleges superintendent. Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, is essentially the most distinguished Republican to go into the race thus far.
Ms. Porter lost a bid remaining 12 months for the Senate seat up to now held by way of Dianne Feinstein, the longtime senator who died in 2023. She completed 3rd within the state’s open number one, during which the highest two applicants advance without reference to birthday celebration registration.
Ms. Porter used to be 2nd in some early polls, indicating that she had a possibility to stand off within the common election in opposition to Adam Schiff, then a fellow Democratic Area member who constantly led in surveys. However the ultimate months of the principle featured heavy spending by way of Mr. Schiff and his allies, who targeted their advertisements on Steve Garvey, a Republican and a former baseball celebrity who had by no means held place of work.
The marketing campaign spots promoted Mr. Garvey as a Trump backer and helped to coalesce conservative votes in the back of him, and he completed in 2nd position forward of Ms. Porter.
After the race, Ms. Porter decried “an onslaught of billionaires spending tens of millions to rig this election,” regarding backers of Mr. Schiff, who went directly to win the overall election in a landslide and now represents California within the Senate. Critics in her personal birthday celebration mentioned that she have been improper to make use of language that they mentioned echoed Mr. Trump and sowed doubt across the integrity of the state’s election device.
She later mentioned she regretted the use of the phrase “rig” however maintained her higher level — that the race have been influenced by way of tech buyers and cryptocurrency executives who spent $10 million on promoting that labored in opposition to her.
Ms. Porter’s Senate marketing campaign highlighted her enjoy as a unmarried mom elevating 3 kids in a dear state. She coupled populist financial messages with marketing campaign advertisements that confirmed home-cooked foods packaged within the refrigerator, and he or she printed a ebook, “I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan.”
An identical issues run in the course of the three-minute video that Ms. Porter launched to announce her marketing campaign for governor. It displays her throughout the kitchen of her suburban domestic, speaking to the digicam concerning the “out of keep watch over” prices of groceries, well being care and housing and sitting beside her daughter, who’s doing homework.
“As governor, I gained’t ever go into reverse when Trump hurts Californians, whether or not it’s preserving up crisis reduction, attacking our rights and our communities, or screwing over running households to learn himself and his cronies,” Ms. Porter mentioned within the video.
Ms. Porter first ran for Congress in 2018 and flipped a Republican-held seat, which used to be a part of the so-called “blue wave” during which Democrats regained keep watch over of the Area. She gained re-election two times prior to she ran in remaining 12 months’s Senate race. She returned to instructing legislation faculty on the College of California, Irvine, this 12 months.
