Since Democratic Rep. Katie Porter launched her losing Senate bid, an air of discontent has simmered quietly — and not so quietly — among her Democratic colleagues.
They had worked hard to flip his Orange County congressional seat from red to blue in 2018. Porter’s decision to run for Senate against his fellow Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee meant the swing district House seat would be vacant, setting up a costly race. for Democrats – and a potential turnaround for Republicans – as each side fights for control of Congress.
California has become a key battleground in the fight for the House, and Porter’s seat is one of the few seats that will help determine which party takes control. But she dismissed concerns that her absence from the ballot could make it easier for the Republican Party to secure the seat, saying in an interview that Democrats have a strong candidate for the state’s 47th Congressional District. Senator Dave Min, who will face the Republican. former MP Scott Baugh in November.
“We have to be careful not to let this anxiety set us up for failure,” Porter told the Times. “I absolutely don’t see why Dave won’t win.”
Porter has become friends with Min since going against him in 2018 in an unusually nasty race. She noted that they have since become friends and that this year he won a decisive victory in a Democratic primary against a well-funded opponent, while bearing the brunt of millions of dollars in attack ads.
Porter also said she remains open to the possibility of running for office again, but is excited to return in the short term to teaching at UC Irvine Law School, where she is in leave since his election to Congress.
“For me, training students who will become lawyers, prosecutors, public defenders, judges and civil rights advocates also shapes public life,” she said.
Jacob Rubashkin, deputy editor of Inside Elections, said it was hard to imagine that Democrats would win a majority in the House if Min lost this fall. Her Republican opponent, Baugh, lost by three percentage points to Porter in 2022 — in a race that saw her raise and spend nearly $30 million. Min’s fundraising is unlikely to come close to his own, but he has support from the national campaign arm of Congressional Democrats.
Rubashkin also pointed out that outside groups supporting Min’s Democratic opponent in the primary ran nearly $5 million in ads attacking Min for a 2023 DUI in Sacramento, and he still won decisively the month last.
“I think there will be a lot more attention (from Republicans) on his legislative record in Sacramento than on his criminal record in Sacramento this fall,” Rubashkin said.
Looking back on her campaign against Schiff, Lee and Republican Steve Garvey, Porter said she was handicapped by outside money pouring into the primary in its final weeks, attacking her and a “spirit of the times » changing that left many Democrats unenthusiastic about voting. Low participation among young people in particular made the race difficult to win, she said.
“It’s tough when you’re outmatched three to one, and that’s ultimately how the race has gone over the last month,” she said.
“Donald Trump is one of the greatest threats to our democracy. I think you could also say that voter disillusionment, voter disengagement – particularly among younger voters, voters of color – is also a big threat to our democracy and we should think about that going forward as well.
Porter previously said she regretted calling California’s Senate primaries rigged. His point with this comment was that money from outside sources, some of which was hidden, made it difficult to compete.
For now, Porter said she is focused on her work on the House Oversight Committee, as well as passing several pieces of legislation related to ethics and good government. One would require members of Congress to disclose their meetings to their constituents. She also highlighted a colleague’s bill requiring greater and earlier disclosure of campaign spending by super PACs.
Asked whether she would run for governor or attorney general in 2026, Porter was evasive, saying she wanted to spend more time with her family for now, but that she “wouldn’t rule anything out.” future “.
Since the end of the primaries, she has already kept a promise to her daughter Betsy: if Porter lost the Senate race, the family could get a cat.
However, naming the new pet was a big “controversy,” she said. “We are currently choosing between Moka, Karma and Dino.”
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