Woman Who Became Household Name for Holding Feet to the Fire Can’t Handle Heat on Her Own

And you thought Sen. Amy Klobuchar was a bad boss???

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Woman Who Became Household Name for Holding Feet to the Fire Can’t Handle Heat on Her Own

In the last decade, Former U.S. Representative Katie Porter has become a household name for her take-no-prisoners approach to questioning public officials and business leaders during congressional hearingsalways with her trusty “whiteboard of justice” at her side. As Porter’s bid for California governor heats up, however, she’s proving to be quite the hypocrite. Are we surprised, given hypocrisy is part of a politician’s job description? Not at all!

This week, a rather unflattering (read: unhinged) portion of Porter’s recent sit-down with CBS News Sacramento went viral. In it, she brusquely threatens to end the interview prematurely. Why? Well, because reporter Julie Watts deigned to pose a question that’s within the public’s interest.

“What do you say to the 40% of California voters—who you’ll need in order to win—who voted for Trump?” Watts asks, noting that President Donald Trump won 38% of the state’s vote in 2024.

At first, a visibly annoyed Porter replied by repeating the question with a scoff directed to someone off-camera. Then, she argued that she’s previously represented Orange County—a purple district—which should be sufficient in convincing conservative voters. She also pushed back on Watts’ question about whether or not she’d need Republican votes to win: “I feel like this is being unnecessarily argumentative. What is your question?”
Watts responded that all nine of Porter’s opponents were asked the same question: “Do you think you need any of those 40% of California voters to win?” Porter didn’t like that and attempted to cut the conversation off.
“OK, so, I don’t want to keep doing this,” she said. “I’m going to call it, thank you.” Further, she told Watts she simply wanted a “pleasant, positive conversation” and didn’t “want this all on camera.” Ultimately, the interview continued for another 20 minutes according to Porter’s team, but the damage was done. Frankly, the irony of a woman whose job requires unpleasant conversations with people, scolding another woman whose job requires the very same, can’t be more obvious. Or annoying.
Blowback was immediate—namely, among the terminally online and Porter’s rivals in the race. On Twitter, Former Biden administration health secretary Xavier Becerra, linked to the interview and wrote: “I’m not interested in excluding any vote. Every Californian deserves affordable health care, safe streets, a roof over their head and a living wage.” Former Los Angeles Mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, joined in and tweeted: “We need a leader who will solve hard problems and answer simple questions.” Unfortunately for Porter, it got worse.
On Wednesday, a second video showing Porter’s bad side went viral. In this one, she berates a staffer for being in the background of a webinar she taped for the Biden administration in 2021. After the employee came into view, Porter erupted: “Get out of my fucking shot!” The source of the video has not been revealed, but I’m willing to wager it’s someone who used to work for her. And you thought Sen. Amy Klobuchar was scary???
In a statement given to Politico on Wednesday, Porter promised that she’s trying to be a better boss: “It’s no secret I hold myself and my staff to a high standard, and that was especially true as a member of Congress,” Porter said. “I have sought to be more intentional in showing gratitude to my staff for their important work.”

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