Katie Porter Camp Rallies Allies To Her Defense

SACRAMENTO, California — Katie Porter’s campaign for California governor is rallying supporters to defend her after a pair of viral videos plunged her into a tailspin this week, fueling bipartisan criticism of her temperament and judgment.

More than half a dozen groups and officials close to the former House member issued statements of support, framing Porter as a “fighter” who can take on the “status quo.” The defense came after POLITICO surfaced a video of Porter berating a staffer in 2021 and a separate clip went viral of Porter threatening to walk out of a television interview.

“In this critical moment in our country, we don’t need polite, go along to get along, establishment politicians that keep getting run over by the opposition — we need strong leaders like Katie Porter that are willing to call it like it is and stand up and fight for everyday Californians,” Peter Finn and Chris Griswold, co-chairs of Teamsters California, said in the statement. The group endorsed her earlier this year.

The statement was one of several compiled by Porter’s campaign, an effort by her allies to contain the fallout from a week that has badly damaged Porter’s frontrunner status.

Sal Rosselli, president emeritus of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which endorsed Porter earlier this month, said in a statement that its members chose to support her “by a large margin” because of her “policy positions and her solid record of standing up for better health care, mental health parity and workers rights.”

Lorena Gonzalez, the president of the California Federation of Labor Unions, said in a statement that recent days are proof that her “willingness to take on powerful interests has the status quo very afraid and very motivated,” while Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, described Porter in a post on X as “one of the toughest, most authentic leaders I’ve ever met.”

Rep. Dave Min, an Orange County Democrat who succeeded Porter in the House, called Porter a “fighter” and “smart as a whip” and said she would “make a great governor, and I’m proud to support her.”

In her own response to the video of her berating a staffer, Porter said in a statement this week that she has “sought to be more intentional in showing gratitude to my staff for their important work.” But Porter’s allies cast the criticism she has come under — widespread, and from members of both parties — as unfair.

Rick Werner, the president of the Western States Council of Sheet Metal Workers, said the “attacks against her are being amplified because she’s the clear front runner in the race for governor, and because she refuses to back down in the face of powerful interests.”

Jessica Mackler, the president of EMILYs List, which officially backed Porter days before the exchanges went viral, called Porter a “gutsy leader California needs to go toe to toe with Donald Trump.”

“A working mom of three, Katie has widespread support across the state not only because she will always hold the powerful to account but also because she knows firsthand the challenges they’re facing,” Mackler said in a statement.