Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.), a popular progressive House member, lost her primary bid for California’s open Senate seat and took solace in an unlikely, Trump-esque coping mechanism: She said it was rigged.
Some agree with her anger of an American political system where the richest candidate usually wins, but a number of her most ardent fans are calling her out for using anti-democratic language.
Porter placed third behind fellow Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Steve Garvey, a former baseball star running as a Republican, in California’s Senate primary on March 5. The state runs an open primary, meaning the top two vote earners, regardless of party, move on to the general election.
In a March 6 tweet, Porter said that she and her supporters “had the establishment running scared” and withstood “an onslaught of billionaires spending millions to rig this election.”
Her phrasing earned her an X Community Note clarifying that outspending a competitor during an election doesn’t equate to “rigging” the race.
Her tweet went viral—on Thursday it had almost 2.5 million views according to X—and was considered incendiary by many, including her own fan base.
“She’s not wrong on the tactics that were used to defeat her. It’s politics. But as a once beloved smart Dem leader with a whiteboard, we know, and SHE should know using words like ‘Rigged’ is a dangerous statement,” @adgirlMM tweeted. “And extremely disappointing.”
Porter differentiated herself from other progressives in Congress by utilizing a whiteboard on the House floor to break down complicated spending proposals and other legislation, gaining adulation from the left.
But now they’re firing back.
“I love Katie Porter, but I’m losing a lot of respect over this temper tantrum,” wrote one anonymous politico.
And in calling her out, Porter supporters earned online adulation.
“The loud rebuke of Katie Porter’s ‘rigged’ claim shows that the pro-democracy crowd isn’t putting up with that crap no matter which party it comes from,” political journalist Mark Jacob tweeted.
Porter’s tweet was so inflammatory that she issued a follow-up statement to it.
In it, she said “‘rigged’ means manipulated by “dishonest means.’”
“I said ‘rigged by billionaires’ and our politics are—in fact—manipulated by big dark money. Defending democracy means calling that out,” Porter said. “At no time have I ever undermined the vote count and election process in CA, which are beyond reproach.”
Regardless of her clarification, some on the far-right used Porter’s remarks as proof American elections are “rigged”—just as former President Donald Trump has been saying since he lost the 2020 presidential election to President Joe Biden.
“Take note folks,” former RNC communications director Steve Guest tweeted. “California Democrat Rep. Katie Porter says that the election that she just lost was rigged.”
