Katie Porter is, at best, a third-stringer in a Double-A ball team.
A beneficiary of California's lurch to the left, Porter managed to win a seat from Orange County in the 2018 Democratic wave election and to hang onto it barely. Her success in doing so led her to believe that she is a political talent so great that she could step up to the US Senate, so she took on Adam Schiff--Nancy Pelosi's favorite pencil-neck--in 2022.
She got stomped in the California "jungle primary" (no party primary with the top 2 voter getters moving on to the general), scraping by with 15% of the vote.
Undeterred, Porter is taking a stab at becoming California's next governor.
Imagine living in a state where your choice is between Katie Porter and Kamala Harris.
— David Strom (@DavidStrom) July 1, 2025
Porter had been signaling that, should Harris enter the race, she might pull out. After all, Harris and she have a relationship that goes back years. Not to mention that Harris just spent a billion dollars boosting her name ID, and she garnered 9.2 million votes in the State of California in 2024.
But now Porter is saying that regardless of what Harris does, she's in it to win it.
STAYING PUT — Katie Porter has repeatedly said Kamala Harris would have a “powerful field-clearing effect” if she entered the governor’s race. Except, apparently, on Katie Porter.
Porter is now telling supporters that she will stay in the running even if the former vice president joins the fray, according to multiple people who have heard Porter discuss her intentions.
Harris’ plan is the single biggest question hovering over the still-sleepy governor’s race. It’s also central to another top political parlor game: what the other Democratic candidates would do if Harris declared a run.
Some contenders, such as ex-Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, have flatly insisted they’ll run regardless. Others, like Lt. Gov Eleni Kounalakis, who is close friends with Harris, are likely to step aside.
Donors have been slow to rally around other candidates; Harris would start with commanding advantages in name ID and fundraising prowess, and people aren’t especially keen to write checks to candidates who may soon be bigfooted out of the field. But some of her potential rivals have been emboldened by her extended deliberations, encouraged by the tepid reaction party activists and some donors have had to a possible Harris candidacy.
It's a sign of how far Kamala Harris' stock has fallen since November. When you can't scare Katie Porter out of the race, who can you scare?
“She was trying to strike a balance between being respectful of the vice president, and then wanting to let her supporters know that she was in it for the long haul,” said Gerald Singleton, a San Diego attorney and Porter’s personal lawyer. “And I think she’s realized in the last month to two months that it really was time to let people know” that she would be staying in the contest.
Singleton attributed Porter’s change in tune to a fundamental mood shift.
“Back when Katie was just getting in and some other folks were just getting in, the sense was, if the vice president would have gotten in at that time, it may have resulted in a number of folks dropping out,” Singleton said. “But the sense I get now is that that is not going to happen.”
As I wrote in my Sunday Smiles essay, Harris has never had to earn any position before last November. Everything has been handed to her on a silver platter by mentors. She may or may not have had the potential to climb her way to the top--probably not--but she never had a reason to try.
Both times Harris ran in genuinely competitive races, she flamed out. First, in the 2020 presidential election, in which she never made it to the starting gate for the race and garnered no votes at all, and then in 2024, when nearly $2 billion in spending by her campaign and outside supporters couldn't overcome Trump's juggernaut campaign fueled by enthusiasm more than money.
A Politico story reports that Kamala Harris is weighing a run for California governor, “but donors are cool to her,” says @MarkHalperin. “No one is incredibly pumped.” Adds @SeanSpicer, “The quotes ... from mega-donors are epic, talking about what a disaster she is.” Says Mark,… pic.twitter.com/Xb8emNfB9V
— 2WAY (@2waytvapp) June 29, 2025
Katie Porter doesn't have much of a shot to become California's next governor, but at least she is a scrapper. Harris is more comfortable futzing around in a kitchen with a box of wine and sycophants laughing nervously while eating her word salads.
It's way too early to tell who would come out as a frontrunner in the race, but at this stage, I would look to Xavier Becerra, the former HHS Secretary. He is connected, has spread a lot of money around from Washington, and is smart and articulate. He would appeal to California's power brokers more than Porter or Harris.
But then again, what do I know about how Democrats think?
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