Former Rep. Katie Porter, the 2026 gubernatorial candidate who has a narrow edge in the polls, raised eyebrows Tuesday when footage emerged of her apparently ending a television interview after becoming irritated by a reporter’s questions.
The footage shows CBS Sacramento reporter Julie Watts asking Porter, a Democrat, what she would say to the nearly 6.1 million Californians who voted for President Trump in 2024, and the UC Irvine law professor responding that she didn’t need their support if she competed against a Republican in the November 2026 run-off election to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom.
After Porter highlighted her experience winning a closely divided Orange County congressional district, she grew palpably irritated by Watts’ follow-up questions about her dismissiveness about needing support from voters who supported Trump.
“I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative. What is your question?” Porter said.
Watts responded that she had asked every other candidate similar questions in relation to Proposition 50, the redistricting ballot measure that Newsom and other California Democrats put on the ballot in a special election in November.
Porter said she would seek every vote she could win, but then grew testy over follow-up questions.
“I don’t want to keep doing this. I’m going to call it,” Porter said, saying she objected to multiple follow-up questions. “I want to have a pleasant, positive conversation. … And if every question you’re going to make up a follow-up question, then we’re never going to get there.”
She later said, “I don’t want this all on camera.”
Porter, a protege of Mass. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, won election to Congress in 2018 and gained attention for grilling executives and her use of a white board to explain complex policies. The 51-year-old unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Senate in 2024 and returned to teaching law at UC Irvine.
On Tuesday night, Porter’s campaign said that the interview continued for an additional 20 minutes after the heated exchange but did not offer further comment.
The former congresswoman’s Democratic rivals in the 2026 gubernatorial race seized on her comments, and Democratic strategists not associated with any candidate in the race also cringed.
“When you’re governor, you’re governor of everyone, not just the people in your party. It’s a bad look to say you don’t want or need votes from certain Californians, even those you really disagree with,” said Elizabeth Ashford, who served as a strategist for Govs. Jerry Brown and Arnold Schwarzenegger as well as former Vice President Kamala Harris when she was the attorney general of California.
“But, also, even good candidates have bad nights,” Ashford added. “This was a miss for Katie, but not every interview is going to go great.”
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