Former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter made a name for herself grilling corporate executives and government officials during congressional hearings. But it turns out she can’t handle simple follow-up questions when the spotlight is instead turned on her.
CBS News reporter Julie Watts has produced a series of interviews with the candidates running for governor of California, asking them the same set of questions about the issues of the day.
One line of questioning focused on Proposition 50, the governor’s proposal to redraw California’s congressional map in favor of the Democrats. While all of the other candidates conducted themselves appropriately, Porter bristled when pressed to answer additional questions about her support for Prop. 50.
As a natural follow-up, Watts asked Porter, who supports Prop. 50, “What do you say to the 40% of California voters — who you’ll need in order to win — who voted for Trump?”
From there, it was downhill, with Porter scoffing at the question and Watts’ subsequent efforts to reframe the question: “I don’t want to keep doing this. … Not like this, I’m not. Not with seven follow-ups to every single question you ask.”
“I’ve never had to do this before,” Porter said.
“You’ve never had to have a conversation with a reporter?” asked Watts.
“What part of, I’m me — I’m running for governor because I’m a leader, so I’m going to make — ”
“So you’re not going to answer questions from reporters?” asked Watts, who then tried to reset.
“I don’t want to have an unhappy experience with you, and I don’t want this all on camera,” said Porter, who to her credit did continue the interview.
By then, the blow to Porter’s image was already done and despite Porter’s protests, the footage is available for all to see.
The exchange, which we recommend you watch on the CBS News Sacramento Youtube channel, reinforces what former Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda warned about Porter in these pages last year.
Rouda, who served alongside Porter in Congress, described her as “a bully with a white board who is in this for power and her ego.”
This in turn echoed the observation of former Porter staffer Sasha Georgiades, a Navy veteran and Wounded Warrior Fellow who said of her, “I think the fame and the power, with anybody, can turn somebody in a direction that they may not have been before. I think it’s becoming less and less about her actually helping, and more and more about her ego.”
While Porter has maintained an early lead in polls of the governor’s race thanks to name recognition, Californians need to think carefully about whether Porter is the sort of person they want overseeing the Golden State. If someone is so thin-skinned they can’t handle a simple line of questioning from a reporter, how can they be counted on to handle the pressure of the governor’s office?
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