I appreciate that gender was included here, because I think people still dramatically underestimate how much it shapes political viability. There have been plenty of qualified women who have run for Governor, but men always beat them out.
I'm also not convinced Kamala Harris would have walked into this race and won. The standard for women in politics is still incredibly high: be forceful but not abrasive; be prepared but not condescending; be ambitious but not too ambitious. One small bad moment becomes the whole story.
That's why I think it's the main reason why Katie Porter wasn't nominated. The workplace concerns are fair game, and nobody needs to pretend that a high-stress or difficult office culture is irrelevant. But she was put into a different category because of it. Eric Swalwell had far more serious issues attached to his campaign, and it took a much bigger scandal cycle to make him politically untenable. Porter became "the difficult woman" almost immediately.
And honestly, do we really think Xavier Becerra is some zen, conflict-free person to work for? The difference is that men are much more likely to have intensity interpreted as toughness, seriousness, or executive presence. Women get intensity interpreted as volatility.
So yes, Porter made mistakes. However, I don't think we can talk honestly about her collapse without acknowledging that gender plays a major role in how unforgivable those mistakes became.
She iv a mean person who does mean, humiliating things to those closest to her. Such a person shouldn't be in government, because they'll treat everyone as badly or worse. That's got nothing to ho with gender and everything to do with character.
Many of us lost respect for her when she left the House to run against a much more experienced anf qualified Adam Schiff. She was awesome in the House and we needed her there. We felt abandoned. Many of us believe Katie is arrogant, all about Katie, not helping Californians
Actually, in the Senate race, Porter was the first major candidate to declare. So using your terms Mimi, Schiff is the one who challenged or ran against Porter. Regardless if whom you prefer as a candidate, always best to get your facts straight or correct.
Date of declaration is a false test and ignores the realities of how a decision to run is made. Porter and Schiff jumped in the field knowing Feinstein was out and who the competition would be well before they went to press. They did extensive due diligence within their own groups and with the State party before tossing a hat in the ring.
It's important to get your facts correct, but just as important to make certain you include all the pertinent ones, or you risk a poor analysis.
The statement was " she left the House to run against ". This means she knew Adam Schiff was running which was not the case when she made her announcement. Until Adam Schiff later made his announcement, he was not running, and she was not running against him.
Yes snd at first I was excited. but when he announced. I knew he was more experienced and qualified. They were colleagues and she should have known that he might run and she should have consulted him.
Porter was free to run against Schiff, but accusing him of "rigging" the primary when she lost was abhorrent and despicable, especially after the pain Trump put the country through with his lies.
Yes. And I never liked that white board attack maneuver. To me it was petty. Tell me how you’ll solve a problem I have. That’s what Mamdani did. Named structural problems affecting a lot of people and tell how he could fix them.
Good analysis. I didn't support her for a couple reasons you don't mention. One, she was fine in the House but wanted a bigger seat after serving for 5 minutes. Two, although DiFi was past her expiration date, it was crude of Katie to announce for that seat before DiFi announced her retirement. In both instances it came across as overly ambitious. She needs more experience and seasoning to run for higher office. She also put her House seat in jeopardy by quitting too soon.
Totally agree. There was no guarantee that Dave Min (or any Democrat would win her House seat). She could have remained in the House and garnered a great amount of power.
Just a reminder that Obama was a state senator for 7 years, then US senator for just 2 years before he ran for President, so her path is not exactly uncommon.
Yes and I would never have gotten behind Obama for running so soon if he had t had the brains to pick Biden, the most experienced Senator around, to help him. Harris ran too soon, too.
I feel it is nonsense to be critical to Porter or anyone for “challenging” Feinstein. Come on…she was practically a walking dead person. She was well past her expiration date and it would have been awful for her to run again. Feinstein was at fault for not notifying the public that she would retire at the end of her term. Instead, she died in office.
Porter has her faults as well, many good points. If someone does not like her, fine, but making up “faults “ such as her being disrespectful to a 90 year old senator who “might” run again for a 6-year term…NONSENSE!!
But yes, we agree that the authors analysis was very good.
Jeff, like you, I like Porters politics but I disagree with the idea that she was qualified or that it was a gendered double standard that doomed her. Her personality conflicts are a very reasonable concern but the bigger issue is her utter lack of executive experience. She has never run anything larger than her congressional office and that wasn’t exactly a smooth operation. She has no Sacramento experience or connections. How would she possibly fill a cabinet or be able to lead an influence the state assembly and senate? How was she possibly qualified to run the bureaucracy of the 4th largest economy on earth. That, coupled with the obvious and unbridled personal ambition that saw her serve just 4 yrs in a congressional seat many of us bled to elect her too only to run for two higher offices, well that doomed her. I don’t doubt, indeed, I know that it is always a strong sexist handicap that every woman female candidate faces, but that has far less to do with her poor performance. It was her unsuitability for the office that kept her from being in contention. I should add that Becerra overcame a similar candidate. White people and even some people of color didn’t recognize Becerra’s towering experience until it hit them over the head at the very end of
Thanks Coral. I know Katie faces sexism, every woman does. But I think there were significantly bigger issues at play in her poor showing at the poles.
Sometimes people need to just stay in the house. She was a great congresswoman. I hope she runs for a house seat again and understands that is where the country needs her!
I voted for her knowing full well she was not going to win. As mentioned here in the comments, I sadly think it is in large her gender that played against her. Switch her personality (positive & negatives) and intelligence into a male form, and she may well have won with no problem.
Oddly enough, I asked her soon after her election to congress at a town hall about election finance reform, and (to paraphrase) she explained she was able to win largely without big corporate money. But, as you climb up the ladder, it would seem damn near impossible to do so.
Here's how the author quotes Katie Porter (includes profanity and a link to the video)
Porter — when she was a US representative — yelling at a staffer to “get out of her fucking shot”.
(and provided a link to a video)
Compare this to how Donald Trump was quoted (reworded/paraphrased, no profanity and rewording sexual comment, with no video link):
Donald Trump can grab women by their genitals, or at least allude to it, and he’s fine.
(no link to the video)
Here's what he actually said:
source: New York Times, October 8, 2016
(full transcript available there, partial quoted below)
Donald J. Trump: You know and ...
Unknown: She used to be great. She’s still very beautiful.
Trump: I moved on her, actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it.
Unknown: Whoa.
Trump: I did try and fuck her. She was married.
Unknown: That’s huge news.
Trump: No, no, Nancy. No, this was [unintelligible] — and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping.
She wanted to get some furniture. I said, “I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.” I took her out furniture —
I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.
Billy Bush: Sheesh, your girl’s hot as shit. In the purple.
Trump: Whoa! Whoa!
Bush: Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man!
[Crosstalk]
Trump: Look at you, you are a pussy.
[Crosstalk]
Trump: All right, you and I will walk out.
[Silence]
Trump: Maybe it’s a different one.
Bush: It better not be the publicist. No, it’s, it’s her, it’s —
Trump: Yeah, that’s her. With the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Bush: Whatever you want.
Trump: Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.
The reply was showing that Pearlman downplayed Trump's situation, via using "alluded to", changing "pussy" to "genitals", and not sharing a video link. In contrast, Pearlman was explicit in language and sharing a video link for Katie Porter. This points out the bias in comparing the two events.
I lost nearly all respect for her after the Harris Holocaust when she went on an hysterical screed about how her 14 year old daughter was scarred that she wouldn’t get an abortion if she was raped.
Not too long after Oct 7, 2023 Porter was asked to support a ceasefire as Israel’s genocide was gearing up. Porter said, I heard, she would wait a couple weeks to “see what happens”.
Support a genocide and enable it by approving funding and arms — you will lose votes. Lose elections.
UDP noted its role in helping Schiff win. “UDP gave $5 million to the pro-Schiff superpac Standing Strong — this will be public in the filings on March 20,” its spokesman, Patrick Dorton, said in an email. “His win further demonstrates that being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics. Rep. Schiff’s strong support of the U.S.-Israel relationship reflects the views of the vast majority of Americans. UDP remains resolute in our determination to build the broadest possible pro-Israel coalition in Congress.”
In May 2022, it was also revealed that AIPAC has been spending millions, channeled through surrogate group, the United Democracy Project (UDP), which makes no mention of its creation by AIPAC, to defeat progressive Democrats in Democratic primaries and particularly female candidates who might potentially align with "the Squad" of progressive members of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib.[50]
Here is how the winner of the election (Adam Schiff) answered vs. Katie Porter:
Quotes from the October, 2023 candidate forum news:
Schiff had the 2022 backing of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — which has funded attacks in the past on Democrats it deemed too likely to back Palestinians — but the group has not yet endorsed in the Senate race.
“The only sentiment I want to express right now, while Israel is going through its own 9/11, is unequivocal support for the security and the right for Israel to defend itself,” Schiff said. He said he spoke with a friend whose relatives were casualties in the attacks. “This is the tragedy they’re dealing with right now.”
Porter condemned the loss of both Israeli and Palestinian lives. “There are lost lives in Gaza, there are lost lives in Israel and it’s because the United States has allowed terrorism to flourish and has refused to take a strong enough stand against Iran, who is backing Hamas and Hezbollah,” she said.
I think she would have been a great Gov. I don’t understand people that don’t give these bright intelligent women a chance. The girl was fabulous and she knew her numbers to and that’s what California needed not another millionaire.
For me it came down to legislative versus executive experience. Porter was a great legislative advocate for her position, but California is essentially a country with a large number of agencies, departments, and constituencies. Likely over complicated and certainly bloated as all bureaucracies become. Harris did a disservice by not running, as she has the institutional background to understand the structures (and p.s. she never will get elected POTUS). In her absence, Becerra was the only viable candidate on technical grounds.
The gender double standard is cited as a factor in her loss. But isn’t it a double standard not mention her alleged horrific spousal abuse? If she was a man, it would feature prominently in this analysis.
The spousal abuse claims were distributed far and wide by MSM, and continue to this day (from 2013). Both sides accused each other of spousal abuse, mental and physical. Katie Porter got a restraining order against Matthew Hoffman and vice versa. Allegations were never proven but the allegations against Katie Porter were more amplified, especially by Fox News with uneven coverage and sensational headlines. This was a civil trial and concluded with Katie Porter awarded majority custody.
The potato allegation remains a sensationalist headline to this day, fueled by Fox News and the like originally. During the divorce proceedings, allegations were made by both parties against each other for mental and physical abuse, with restraining orders filed against each other, and never proven in a court of law. This was a civil case, and the case was resolved and Katie Porter received majority custody with Matthew Hoffman retaining visitation rights.
I appreciate that gender was included here, because I think people still dramatically underestimate how much it shapes political viability. There have been plenty of qualified women who have run for Governor, but men always beat them out.
I'm also not convinced Kamala Harris would have walked into this race and won. The standard for women in politics is still incredibly high: be forceful but not abrasive; be prepared but not condescending; be ambitious but not too ambitious. One small bad moment becomes the whole story.
That's why I think it's the main reason why Katie Porter wasn't nominated. The workplace concerns are fair game, and nobody needs to pretend that a high-stress or difficult office culture is irrelevant. But she was put into a different category because of it. Eric Swalwell had far more serious issues attached to his campaign, and it took a much bigger scandal cycle to make him politically untenable. Porter became "the difficult woman" almost immediately.
And honestly, do we really think Xavier Becerra is some zen, conflict-free person to work for? The difference is that men are much more likely to have intensity interpreted as toughness, seriousness, or executive presence. Women get intensity interpreted as volatility.
So yes, Porter made mistakes. However, I don't think we can talk honestly about her collapse without acknowledging that gender plays a major role in how unforgivable those mistakes became.
WRT your observation "be ambitious but not too ambitious.", comments consistent with your observation can be seen in this thread:
"obvious and unbridled personal ambition"
"came across as overly ambitious."
"Sad, ambitious"
Doubly so for fat women/WoS.
She iv a mean person who does mean, humiliating things to those closest to her. Such a person shouldn't be in government, because they'll treat everyone as badly or worse. That's got nothing to ho with gender and everything to do with character.
Many of us lost respect for her when she left the House to run against a much more experienced anf qualified Adam Schiff. She was awesome in the House and we needed her there. We felt abandoned. Many of us believe Katie is arrogant, all about Katie, not helping Californians
Actually, in the Senate race, Porter was the first major candidate to declare. So using your terms Mimi, Schiff is the one who challenged or ran against Porter. Regardless if whom you prefer as a candidate, always best to get your facts straight or correct.
Date of declaration is a false test and ignores the realities of how a decision to run is made. Porter and Schiff jumped in the field knowing Feinstein was out and who the competition would be well before they went to press. They did extensive due diligence within their own groups and with the State party before tossing a hat in the ring.
It's important to get your facts correct, but just as important to make certain you include all the pertinent ones, or you risk a poor analysis.
Porter had zero shot against Schiff and she gave up a successful blue seat in bright red OC. Strategic blunder. Same as her Governor bid.
Yep, and the same mistake twice in a row. She's politically dead in the water now. Which is too bad, she was very good in Congress.
The statement was " she left the House to run against ". This means she knew Adam Schiff was running which was not the case when she made her announcement. Until Adam Schiff later made his announcement, he was not running, and she was not running against him.
So....just ignore what you don't want to acknowledge and create your own reality? Go to bed, Grandma, and get back to dreaming.
Yes snd at first I was excited. but when he announced. I knew he was more experienced and qualified. They were colleagues and she should have known that he might run and she should have consulted him.
Or he could have supported her run…
Adam Schiff is a puppet for his donors. He is a snake.
Thanks for clarifying.
Katie Porter announced January 10, 2023.
Adam Schiff announced January 26, 2023.
Diane Feinstein announced her decision to not run again February 14, 2023.
source: Wikipedia
Campaign strategy doesn’t change political reality, Mark.
Watching her in Congress was such an inspiration. We really did need her so badly.
Totally agree she should have stayed in the house. Sad, ambitious.
I doubt it was “many of us” Mimi.
Porter was free to run against Schiff, but accusing him of "rigging" the primary when she lost was abhorrent and despicable, especially after the pain Trump put the country through with his lies.
She was going where she felt she could make a difference
Yes. And I never liked that white board attack maneuver. To me it was petty. Tell me how you’ll solve a problem I have. That’s what Mamdani did. Named structural problems affecting a lot of people and tell how he could fix them.
Good analysis. I didn't support her for a couple reasons you don't mention. One, she was fine in the House but wanted a bigger seat after serving for 5 minutes. Two, although DiFi was past her expiration date, it was crude of Katie to announce for that seat before DiFi announced her retirement. In both instances it came across as overly ambitious. She needs more experience and seasoning to run for higher office. She also put her House seat in jeopardy by quitting too soon.
Totally agree. There was no guarantee that Dave Min (or any Democrat would win her House seat). She could have remained in the House and garnered a great amount of power.
Just a reminder that Obama was a state senator for 7 years, then US senator for just 2 years before he ran for President, so her path is not exactly uncommon.
Yes and I would never have gotten behind Obama for running so soon if he had t had the brains to pick Biden, the most experienced Senator around, to help him. Harris ran too soon, too.
I feel it is nonsense to be critical to Porter or anyone for “challenging” Feinstein. Come on…she was practically a walking dead person. She was well past her expiration date and it would have been awful for her to run again. Feinstein was at fault for not notifying the public that she would retire at the end of her term. Instead, she died in office.
Porter has her faults as well, many good points. If someone does not like her, fine, but making up “faults “ such as her being disrespectful to a 90 year old senator who “might” run again for a 6-year term…NONSENSE!!
But yes, we agree that the authors analysis was very good.
Katie Porter announced January 10, 2023.
Adam Schiff announced January 26, 2023.
Diane Feinstein announced her decision to not run again February 14, 2023.
source: Wikipedia
Jeff, like you, I like Porters politics but I disagree with the idea that she was qualified or that it was a gendered double standard that doomed her. Her personality conflicts are a very reasonable concern but the bigger issue is her utter lack of executive experience. She has never run anything larger than her congressional office and that wasn’t exactly a smooth operation. She has no Sacramento experience or connections. How would she possibly fill a cabinet or be able to lead an influence the state assembly and senate? How was she possibly qualified to run the bureaucracy of the 4th largest economy on earth. That, coupled with the obvious and unbridled personal ambition that saw her serve just 4 yrs in a congressional seat many of us bled to elect her too only to run for two higher offices, well that doomed her. I don’t doubt, indeed, I know that it is always a strong sexist handicap that every woman female candidate faces, but that has far less to do with her poor performance. It was her unsuitability for the office that kept her from being in contention. I should add that Becerra overcame a similar candidate. White people and even some people of color didn’t recognize Becerra’s towering experience until it hit them over the head at the very end of
The lack of executive experience is a good point.
Thanks Coral. I know Katie faces sexism, every woman does. But I think there were significantly bigger issues at play in her poor showing at the poles.
I just came here to say thank you for saying, "from the jump" instead of "from jump" :)
Sometimes people need to just stay in the house. She was a great congresswoman. I hope she runs for a house seat again and understands that is where the country needs her!
I voted for her knowing full well she was not going to win. As mentioned here in the comments, I sadly think it is in large her gender that played against her. Switch her personality (positive & negatives) and intelligence into a male form, and she may well have won with no problem.
Oddly enough, I asked her soon after her election to congress at a town hall about election finance reform, and (to paraphrase) she explained she was able to win largely without big corporate money. But, as you climb up the ladder, it would seem damn near impossible to do so.
Here's how the author quotes Katie Porter (includes profanity and a link to the video)
Porter — when she was a US representative — yelling at a staffer to “get out of her fucking shot”.
(and provided a link to a video)
Compare this to how Donald Trump was quoted (reworded/paraphrased, no profanity and rewording sexual comment, with no video link):
Donald Trump can grab women by their genitals, or at least allude to it, and he’s fine.
(no link to the video)
Here's what he actually said:
source: New York Times, October 8, 2016
(full transcript available there, partial quoted below)
Donald J. Trump: You know and ...
Unknown: She used to be great. She’s still very beautiful.
Trump: I moved on her, actually. You know, she was down on Palm Beach. I moved on her, and I failed. I’ll admit it.
Unknown: Whoa.
Trump: I did try and fuck her. She was married.
Unknown: That’s huge news.
Trump: No, no, Nancy. No, this was [unintelligible] — and I moved on her very heavily. In fact, I took her out furniture shopping.
She wanted to get some furniture. I said, “I’ll show you where they have some nice furniture.” I took her out furniture —
I moved on her like a bitch. But I couldn’t get there. And she was married. Then all of a sudden I see her, she’s now got the big phony tits and everything. She’s totally changed her look.
Billy Bush: Sheesh, your girl’s hot as shit. In the purple.
Trump: Whoa! Whoa!
Bush: Yes! The Donald has scored. Whoa, my man!
[Crosstalk]
Trump: Look at you, you are a pussy.
[Crosstalk]
Trump: All right, you and I will walk out.
[Silence]
Trump: Maybe it’s a different one.
Bush: It better not be the publicist. No, it’s, it’s her, it’s —
Trump: Yeah, that’s her. With the gold. I better use some Tic Tacs just in case I start kissing her. You know, I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything.
Bush: Whatever you want.
Trump: Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.
He shouldn't have become president. That doesn't mean she should become senator.
The reply was showing that Pearlman downplayed Trump's situation, via using "alluded to", changing "pussy" to "genitals", and not sharing a video link. In contrast, Pearlman was explicit in language and sharing a video link for Katie Porter. This points out the bias in comparing the two events.
I lost nearly all respect for her after the Harris Holocaust when she went on an hysterical screed about how her 14 year old daughter was scarred that she wouldn’t get an abortion if she was raped.
She must not be much of a parent.
Not too long after Oct 7, 2023 Porter was asked to support a ceasefire as Israel’s genocide was gearing up. Porter said, I heard, she would wait a couple weeks to “see what happens”.
Support a genocide and enable it by approving funding and arms — you will lose votes. Lose elections.
It was exactly her response to the genocide in Gaza that I went from a HUGE fan to a disenchanted and frankly disgusted constituent.
UDP noted its role in helping Schiff win. “UDP gave $5 million to the pro-Schiff superpac Standing Strong — this will be public in the filings on March 20,” its spokesman, Patrick Dorton, said in an email. “His win further demonstrates that being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics. Rep. Schiff’s strong support of the U.S.-Israel relationship reflects the views of the vast majority of Americans. UDP remains resolute in our determination to build the broadest possible pro-Israel coalition in Congress.”
source: jweekly
source: wikipedia below
United Democracy Project spending
UNITED DEMOCRACY PROJECT
Abbreviation UDP
Formation January 3, 2022; 4 years ago
Type Super PAC
Registration no. C00799031
Region served United States
Revenue 87,176,557 USD (January 2023-December 2024)
In May 2022, it was also revealed that AIPAC has been spending millions, channeled through surrogate group, the United Democracy Project (UDP), which makes no mention of its creation by AIPAC, to defeat progressive Democrats in Democratic primaries and particularly female candidates who might potentially align with "the Squad" of progressive members of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib.[50]
Here is how the winner of the election (Adam Schiff) answered vs. Katie Porter:
Quotes from the October, 2023 candidate forum news:
Schiff had the 2022 backing of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee — which has funded attacks in the past on Democrats it deemed too likely to back Palestinians — but the group has not yet endorsed in the Senate race.
“The only sentiment I want to express right now, while Israel is going through its own 9/11, is unequivocal support for the security and the right for Israel to defend itself,” Schiff said. He said he spoke with a friend whose relatives were casualties in the attacks. “This is the tragedy they’re dealing with right now.”
Porter condemned the loss of both Israeli and Palestinian lives. “There are lost lives in Gaza, there are lost lives in Israel and it’s because the United States has allowed terrorism to flourish and has refused to take a strong enough stand against Iran, who is backing Hamas and Hezbollah,” she said.
All these comments about Porter being too ambitious are frankly ridiculous. 🙄🙄 I sit boldly in the “you go girl!” category.
I think she would have been a great Gov. I don’t understand people that don’t give these bright intelligent women a chance. The girl was fabulous and she knew her numbers to and that’s what California needed not another millionaire.
The 'issues' that arose with the leaked videos would have been but a blip, not a problem, if she were a man.
The answer is those men shouldn't hold office, either - not to lower the bar.
For me it came down to legislative versus executive experience. Porter was a great legislative advocate for her position, but California is essentially a country with a large number of agencies, departments, and constituencies. Likely over complicated and certainly bloated as all bureaucracies become. Harris did a disservice by not running, as she has the institutional background to understand the structures (and p.s. she never will get elected POTUS). In her absence, Becerra was the only viable candidate on technical grounds.
That's a good point.
The gender double standard is cited as a factor in her loss. But isn’t it a double standard not mention her alleged horrific spousal abuse? If she was a man, it would feature prominently in this analysis.
The spousal abuse claims were distributed far and wide by MSM, and continue to this day (from 2013). Both sides accused each other of spousal abuse, mental and physical. Katie Porter got a restraining order against Matthew Hoffman and vice versa. Allegations were never proven but the allegations against Katie Porter were more amplified, especially by Fox News with uneven coverage and sensational headlines. This was a civil trial and concluded with Katie Porter awarded majority custody.
Sad. She’s amazing. Needs mental health support.
What brings you to the conclusion she needs “mental health support”?
Why would you think that a woman who dumps a steaming hot bowl of mashed potatoes is mentally unbalanced?
The potato allegation remains a sensationalist headline to this day, fueled by Fox News and the like originally. During the divorce proceedings, allegations were made by both parties against each other for mental and physical abuse, with restraining orders filed against each other, and never proven in a court of law. This was a civil case, and the case was resolved and Katie Porter received majority custody with Matthew Hoffman retaining visitation rights.
Crazy is as crazy looks.
I hate to raise any concerns. I think she’s brilliant. I have the sense however that she is currently in a self destruct mode. It’s reversible.