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Democratic Strategist Says Katie Porter Has Proven She Is ‘Not Up To The Task’ Of Running California

Democratic Strategist Says Katie Porter Has Proven She Is 'Not Up To The Task' Of Running California

Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky said on Thursday that Democratic California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter’s recurring behavior proves she is “not up to the task” of being governor.

Porter has come under scrutiny since viral footage from September showed her threatening to storm out of an interview after a reporter asked how she planned to appeal to voters who supported President Donald Trump. In response to the footage, Roginsky said on MSNBC’s “Chris Jansing Reports” that Porter’s behavior is disqualifying for a gubernatorial candidate.

“It’s not a good look. And as somebody who runs a non-profit dedicated to good workplace behavior, that’s not modeling good behavior,” Roginsky said. “It’s not a workplace, which she does have workplace behavior issues according to her former staffers. Look, why can’t we just treat people with respect? You don’t have to emulate Donald Trump at everything, you don’t have to sit there and treat a reporter who is doing her job like she works for you. She doesn’t, right? … The reality is if you don’t want to do it, just don’t do the interview. But if you committed, you gotta do it. It just shows she’s not into transparency, she’s not into respect, it shows she’s not up to the task of governing a state with millions and millions of people.”

“Listen, I don’t know what her policies are. I’m not from California, I don’t pay much attention to California, but I do pay attention to something like this and if somebody is going to treat a fellow constituent this way, maybe this is not the job for them,” Roginsky continued.

WATCH:

Resurfaced footage from 2021 showed Porter shouting at a member of her staff as she became visible in front of the camera to correct then-congresswoman’s statement on electric vehicles. Porter ordered her staff member to “get out of [her] fucking shot.”

“Get out of my fucking shot!” Porter screamed, followed by the staffer making the correction. “You also were in my shot before that. Stay out of my shot.”

In response to the second video, former Republican communications director Tara Setmayer also argued that Porter is “unworthy” of governing California and likely does not think very highly of her potential constituents.

“In this case with Katie Porter, that is just bad and she, to Julie’s point, is unworthy of representing the entire state,” Setmayer said. “If that’s how you treat your staff, imagine what she thinks about her constituents.”

Porter faced accusations of abusing and making racist remarks toward some of her staffers. Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail in 2023 alleged that Porter poured a bowl of “steaming hot boiled potatoes” over her then-husband’s head.

Porter is currently leading in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, but is trailing Republican candidate Steve Hilton by 6%, according to a Zogby Strategies poll conducted with a messaging retest. She previously lost her bid for the Senate to Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff in March 2024.