Thirty ex-staffers of California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter (D) are vouching for their former boss in a new letter, pushing back on concerns about her temperament raised by two video clips that show her speaking sharply to a staffer and a reporter.
“We believe the public should understand the full person we know, not a caricature built from a few clips on a bad day,” the open letter reads. “She demanded a lot, but she also fought for us, mentored us, and stood by us when life got hard.”
The letter seeks to neutralize one of Porter’s biggest political liabilities in the wake of Eric Swalwell’s exit from the gubernatorial race, which has shaken up the crowded field. Swalwell, a fellow Democrat who resigned his House seat last week, withdrew after facing allegations of sexual misconduct and assault that he denies. Billionaire Tom Steyer, Porter, former Barack Obama cabinet secretary Xavier Becerra and two Republican candidates — former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco — are leading the polls ahead of the June primary.
The top two vote-getters — regardless of party — advance to the general election, sparking fears among Democrats that two Republicans could benefit from the split Democratic field and land on the ballot in November.
Porter, a law professor and consumer advocate, made her name in Congress interrogating corporate executives and Trump administration officials during Trump’s first term, and should by some measures be well positioned to pick up Swalwell’s former supporters. She has relatively high name recognition in the state and is seen by many liberal voters as a progressive “fighter” in a similar vein that Swalwell was. But questions about her berating a staffer in a video that first emerged last fall have followed her in the race. Recent polls show her with about 10 percent support in the primary, little changed since Swalwell dropped out.
Porter’s former chief of staff, Jordan Wood, who is now running for Congress in Maine’s 2nd district as a Democrat, organized the letter.
The 30 former campaign and congressional staffers represent a fraction of the 119 people who passed through Porter’s office over her three terms in Congress, according to Legistorm, and the Washington Post has not independently surveyed the group about their experiences in her office. The staffer whom Porter snapped at in the video is not among the signatories. Porter had higher than average turnover in her office every year for the House except for in 2021, when her turnover ranked in the 50th percentile for the chamber, according to Legistorm.
“The traits that make Katie effective don’t always look soft around the edges,” the staffers wrote. “People are drawn to Katie’s leadership because she is a workhorse. She asked of us what she expected of herself.”
One of the videos, which was first published by Politico last October, shows Porter using an expletive as one of her staffers appears in the background of an online video she is shooting remotely with then-Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in July 2021. “Get out of my f—— shot!” Porter tells the staffer.
In the video, the staffer said she was there to correct something the congresswoman had said about electric vehicles.
“You also were in my shot before that. Stay out of my shot,” Porter retorted.
Wood said he is not seeking to excuse Porter’s behavior that was shown in the video, but that in his experience that was not how she normally treated staff. Porter was under an unusual amount of stress when she spoke to the staffer that way, he said.
“It was still the height of the pandemic,” Wood said. “And we are coming off the wake of what I would describe as one of the most unsettling times in our politics.” The Jan 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol had happened earlier that year and just a few weeks before the video, a fight had broken out at Porter’s town hall in southern California, he said. Wood had recently informed Porter he would be leaving his role as her chief of staff due to burnout, as well. “It was a high stress moment,” Wood said.
Porter also garnered negative headlines after a contentious exchange with a TV reporterwho questioned her about redistricting and whether she needed to win support from Californians who have previously voted for Donald Trump. Porter sought to end the interview: “I don’t want to keep doing this. I’m going to call it,” she said.
Porter said afterward on a local TV news show that the videos made her realize “I could have handled things better.”
“I think I’m known as someone who’s able to handle tough questions, who’s willing to answer questions, and I want people to know that I really value the incredible work that my staff can do,” she said.
Wood said he was inspired to step forward after seeing comments suggesting Porter, because of her temperament, is disqualified from the gubernatorial race in a similar way to Swalwell, who has been accused of sexually assaulting women and sending unwanted explicit messages. “Putting that on the same moral plane is appalling,” Wood said.
In their letter, the staffers argued Porter held herself and her staff to high standards and that she should not be judged by her worst day.
“A few video clips of our worst moments are not the full or honest measure of Katie or anyone’s career,” they added.
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