Katie Porter, the previous Democratic congresswoman who rose to prominence by wielding a whiteboard whereas she grilled company executives on Capitol Hill, introduced on Tuesday that she would enter the 2026 contest for California governor.
Ms. Porter, 51, is the highest-profile Democrat to affix 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 regulation limits governors to 2 phrases. Many of the Democrats who’ve entered the open race up to now are present or former state officers who’ve expertise within the statehouse however are little recognized to the general public. Voters are rather more acquainted with Ms. Porter, a regulation professor who served six years in Congress representing Orange County, polls show.
Ms. Porter introduced her marketing campaign on Tuesday by releasing a video that solid herself as somebody who would battle to counter President Trump’s agenda and convey a contemporary lens to the State Capitol, the place she has by no means served in an elected workplace.
After shedding the presidential election in November, Ms. Harris returned residence to Los Angeles and has contemplated a run for California governor. Ms. Porter will drop out of the race if Ms. Harris runs, a spokesman confirmed.
Ms. Porter noticed in December that Ms. Harris would have “a close to field-clearing impact on the Democratic aspect” of the race.
Different Democrats who’ve introduced campaigns for California governor embrace Eleni Kounalakis, the lieutenant governor and a longtime 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 faculties superintendent. Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, is essentially the most distinguished Republican to enter the race up to now.
Ms. Porter lost a bid final 12 months for the Senate seat beforehand held by Dianne Feinstein, the longtime senator who died in 2023. She completed third within the state’s open main, through which the highest two candidates advance no matter get together registration.
Ms. Porter was second in some early polls, indicating that she had an opportunity to face off within the normal election towards Adam Schiff, then a fellow Democratic Home member who persistently led in surveys. However the closing months of the first featured heavy spending by Mr. Schiff and his allies, who centered their advertisements on Steve Garvey, a Republican and a former baseball star who had by no means held workplace.
The marketing campaign spots promoted Mr. Garvey as a Trump backer and helped to coalesce conservative votes behind him, and he completed in second place forward of Ms. Porter.
After the race, Ms. Porter decried “an onslaught of billionaires spending tens of millions to rig this election,” referring to backers of Mr. Schiff, who went on to win the overall election in a landslide and now represents California within the Senate. Critics in her personal get together mentioned that she had been unsuitable to make use of language that they mentioned echoed Mr. Trump and sowed doubt across the integrity of the state’s election system.
She later mentioned she regretted utilizing the phrase “rig” however maintained her bigger level — that the race had been influenced by tech buyers and cryptocurrency executives who spent $10 million on promoting that labored towards her.
Ms. Porter’s Senate marketing campaign highlighted her expertise as a single mom elevating three youngsters in an costly state. She coupled populist financial messages with marketing campaign advertisements that confirmed home-cooked meals packaged within the fridge, and he or she printed a e-book, “I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan.”
Related themes run via the three-minute video that Ms. Porter launched to announce her marketing campaign for governor. It exhibits her contained in the kitchen of her suburban residence, speaking to the digital camera in regards to the “uncontrolled” prices of groceries, well being care and housing and sitting beside her daughter, who’s doing homework.
“As governor, I received’t ever again down when Trump hurts Californians, whether or not it’s holding up catastrophe aid, attacking our rights and our communities, or screwing over working 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 was a part of the so-called “blue wave” through which Democrats regained management of the Home. She received re-election twice earlier than she ran in final 12 months’s Senate race. She returned to educating regulation faculty on the College of California, Irvine, this 12 months.
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