Katie Porter, a former U.S. House representative and a leading 2026 gubernatorial candidate, has captured attention online after an interview segment surfaced of her reaction to a reporter’s questions.
Julie Watts, an investigative reporter from CBS News, invited 11 gubernatorial candidates running to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom for a 30-minute segment to ask where they stand on Proposition 50, California’s redistricting plan, which voters are set to decide on this November.
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Throughout the segment, Watts pushed back on all of the candidates, often asking follow-up questions. Porter, a Democrat, grew noticeably annoyed by the reporter when asked what she would say to the 6 million California voters who voted for Donald Trump in 2024.
“How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?” Porter replied, leaning forward and laughing, which led to a back-and-forth between the two over whether or not Porter would need Republican votes to secure her win.
Porter, who is also a law professor at UC Irvine, appeared confident that she would sail on to the general election with just the Democratic vote, seemingly ignoring the Trump voting population. Watts, in response, inquired further if Porter were to face a Democrat in the general election, thus splitting the vote. Based on California’s top-two primary system, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, meaning it could come down to two Democrats.
Porter replied: “I don’t intend that to be the case.”
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The back-and-forth continued. Watts asked how Porter plans to achieve that goal, to which she replied that she feels confident in her name recognition. “I’m going to do the best I can to make sure we get through this primary in a very strong position.”
After Watts brought up again whether she needs to appeal to Trump voters, Porter shot back: “I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative. What is your question?”
“I don’t want to keep doing this. I’m going to call it,” Porter later said, adding that she won’t continue to do the interview with “seven follow-ups to every single question you ask.”
She continued, “I want to have a pleasant, positive conversation. … And if every question you’re gonna make up a follow-up question, then we’re never going to get there.”
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Watts clarified that she had asked every other candidate the same question. Indeed, in other parts of the segment, the other candidates were similarly pushed by Watts on whether they needed those 6 million Republican votes in order to win, responding directly to the question.
Tony Thurmond, the California state superintendent of public instruction and a rival gubernatorial candidate, took the opportunity to comment on the footage.
“This is a pattern for @katieporteroc,” he wrote on X. “No candidate for Governor should hide from the press or mistreat them — we owe it to the public to be transparent. If she can’t answer basic questions from a reporter, how can Californians expect her to stand up to President Trump?”
Betty Yee, the former California state controller, called for Porter to drop out of the race entirely in a Wednesday news release.
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“If she’s rattled by reporters, she’ll be crushed by responsibility,” Yee said in an emailed statement, referring to herself as “the last viable female candidate in this race.” She continued, “It matters to me that California’s first female governor be a trusted, respected leader we can all be proud of — not a viral embarrassment.”
Other candidates seemed more open to to the same line of questioning. Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles, acknowledged that he “might alienate” both Democrats and Republicans along the way; Xavier Becerra, the former secretary of health and human services under the Biden administration, said: “I need every vote. I’m not interested in excluding any vote.”
Meanwhile, Porter and Watts’ exchange unraveled in a more irritable manner.
“I don’t want to have an unhappy experience with you, and I don’t want this all on camera,” Porter said to Watts after the testy exchange, seen in footage released Tuesday. “I don’t want to have an unhappy experience with you, either,” Watts replied.
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Porter ran for Senate last year but did not advance to the general election after losing to Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff. In that campaign, Porter proved herself as a tenacious candidate.
In this go-around, she has been leading narrowly in early polls ahead of her Republican and Democratic rivals. Just this week, she received a major endorsement from Emily’s List, a left-leaning political action committee that helps elect women to public office, which previously endorsed her during her 2018 congressional run when she flipped an Orange County seat. Emily’s List said it chose Porter because she has “set the standard for holding the powerful accountable.” When she was elected to Congress, she became a popular and, at times, endearing candidate for campaigning as a mom who drives a minivan and using a whiteboard during a congressional hearing to explain why Big Pharma pricing is exploitative.
Porter’s campaign told the LA Times that the CBS interview continued for an additional 20 minutes but did not comment further. SFGATE also reached out to her team, asking if Porter wanted to clarify anything from the interview, but did not hear back before the time of publication
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Watts reposted the clip of Porter on X and urged viewers to watch the entire interview. “So… looks like 3min of this 30 min segment has gone viral,” Watts wrote on Tuesday evening. “I hope you’ll want the full segment.”