Katie Porter, the former Democratic congresswoman whose antics could spice up ordinary congressional hearings, announced Tuesday that she has joined the race to replace Gavin Newsom as California’s governor in 2026.
“What California needs now is a little bit of hope and a whole lot of grit, fresh blood and new ideas, and leaders with the backbone to fight for what’s right,” Porter said in a video. “That’s why I’m running for governor.”
Porter served three terms after first winning her seat in 2018 but lost her Senate bid to Adam Schiff last year.
Newsom, widely seen to have presidential ambitions, is limited by state law to only serving two four-year terms, so he cannot run again.
Porter is the highest-profile Democrat to jump in the ring to date. But former Vice President Kamala Harris has reportedly set an end-of-summer deadline to decide whether she will run, which likely would overshadow the race.
Porter gained prominence in the House when she started using a whiteboard to grill CEOs and other powerful figures brought to testify before House committees she served on, displaying numerical figures and jotting down simple math equations to drive her points home.
In March 2020, as COVID-19 began shuttering public life, Porter successfully pressed the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the time, Dr. Robert Redfield, into agreeing to have his agency pay for coronavirus testing across the country. She later skewered a pharmaceutical executive for hiking up the price of a cancer drug, telling him he did not make the drug better but rather “just refined your skills at price gouging.” Her persistent takedown of an oil executive who accused her of misunderstanding the tax code also elicited online applause.
“As governor, I’ll bring all voices to the table to hear good ideas, no matter who they come from or what else we may agree or disagree on. I’ll work with anybody, and I’ll say no to anybody, because I’ve never been for sale and I never will be,” Porter said in her video.
“I’ve been a U.S. congresswoman holding powerful interests accountable when they cheated taxpayers,” she said. “I’ve been a consumer protection advocate helping families protect their homes from predatory banks. I’ve been a teacher training our next generation of advocates for our rights. And yes, I’m a mom who’s invested in our kids’ futures and actually knows the price of groceries.”
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Porter holds degrees from Yale and Harvard, where she studied bankruptcy law under now-Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
She sparked controversy in her party last year when she lost the California Senate primary to Schiff and dubbed the process “rigged,” akin to right-wing electoral conspiracy theories. Porter later expressed regret for the word choice.