Questions about Trump’s appeal to voters caught him off guard, gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter says

Sacramento – Gubernatorial hopeful Katie Porter said Friday that she took offense to a recent television news interview that questioned her temperament, but explained that she felt the reporter’s question meant she should pay attention to President Trump’s supporters.

Porter, a former U.S. House representative from Orange County and a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party, said she “rejects” the reporter’s notion that she needs to be more politically moderate.

“I think Trump is hurting the people of California,” said Porter, speaking at the UC Student and Policy Center in Sacramento. “I’m not willing to sell our values ​​as a state for short-term political gain to try and appease the people who are still standing and still supporting what this president is doing because he’s undermining our Constitution.”

Porter came under fire last week for insulting a CBS reporter and threatening to end an interview. A second video surfaced after Porter cursed at a young employee who was walking behind her during a video conference in 2021.

Porter, who was speaking as part of the Policy Center’s California Senior Speaker Series, said she apologized to her employer “in real time.”

“It was inappropriate,” she said. “I can do well in this situation and I know that. I really want my employees to know that I value them.”

After the videos surfaced, many of Porter’s rivals criticized her behavior, including former state Comptroller Betty Yee, who said she should drop out of the race.

Marisa Lagos, a reporter with KQED radio who moderated Friday’s debate, asked if Porter felt any blow was unfair, especially given Trump’s behavior.

Trump has a long history of belittling or targeting journalists, constantly accusing them of being “the enemy of the people” and, during the 2016 presidential campaign, mocking a reporter with a congenital condition.

“Let me just say, Donald Trump should not be the standard for anybody,” Porter said. “From how to use self-tanner to how to deal with the press, it’s not the standard.”

Porter said he will work throughout the rest of his campaign to show he has the right judgment to serve as governor.

“I think we all know that these were short videos that were clipped, there are always bigger contexts, but the reality is every minute of every second I’m responsible for thinking about how to lead California and do my best,” she said.

During Friday’s debate, Porter also shared his support for Proposition 50, a ballot measure that would change congressional district boundaries and potentially shift five more seats in the US House of Representatives to Democrats. The measure, which will be on the statewide ballot on Nov. 4, was drafted to counter a redistricting plan in Texas that seeks to give more seats to Republicans.

Lagos asked Porter how he would respond to residents who fear they are being disenfranchised, especially from rural areas.

Porter said she grew up in a rural area and wants rural Californians to feel heard. But she said California is approaching redistricting differently than Texas by giving residents a chance to vote.

“It’s a question that every Californian has to ask what they want to do in this political moment,” she said. “The situation was one way, and we had one policy, but the world has changed — in light of that, what do you want to do as a Californian?”

During a question-and-answer period Friday, a student pointed to the Anti-Semitism Act and asked Porter’s thoughts on whether criticizing Israel counts as anti-Semitism.

Porter said it’s a complicated issue, but criticizing Israel is not automatically anti-Semitism.

“There are many people in Israel who criticize Israeli politics,” she said. “There are a lot of people around the world who don’t like Donald Trump and criticize (the United States) all the time. They have the right to criticize politics.”