Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) took back her comment that the California Senate primary that she lost was rigged.
Rep. Katie Porter says she regrets claiming that billionaires tried to “rig” the California Senate primary after she failed to advance to the general election.
“Obviously I wish I’d chosen a different word,” said Porter, D-Calif., on an episode of “Pod Save America” on Tuesday.
“At no time and in no way would I ever suggest that there’s anything other than a careful, thoughtful, amazing election system that actually should be the model for a lot of the country, in my opinion,” she added.
Rep. Porter came under immediate criticism from Democrats for using the Trumpian language by suggesting that an election that didn’t go her way was rigged.
On one hand, Rep. Porter’s disappointment was understandable. Her advancement to the general election against fellow Democrat Rep Adam Schiff looked like a slam-dunk certainty. However, the primary calculus changed when MAGA Republican Steve Garvey entered the primary.
The Schiff campaign did run ads to prop up Garvey and likely got some Republicans out to the polls who would not have voted otherwise, but Porter should have still had the advantage. Rep. Porter’s campaign decided to focus on climate change instead of the economy, democracy, or the Dobbs decision as her closing argument to primary voters. It was a choice that didn’t pay off as the campaign hoped.
Porter will not be running for her House seat, but she could find herself with a place in a second Biden administration if the President wins reelection, or she could attempt to return to the House in two years.
Katie Porter is a talented public servant who used an unfortunate term in a moment of disappointment, but she is likely to serve the people again soon.
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