U.S. Rep. Katie Porter became a social media celebrity by brandishing a white board at congressional hearings to dissect CEOs and break down complex figures into assaults on corporate greed, a signature image that propelled the Democrat’s U.S. Senate candidacy in California.
The progressive favorite known for spotlighting her soccer mom, minivan-driving home life was trounced in Tuesday’s primary election to fill the seat once held by the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, finishing far behind Republican Steve Garvey and fellow Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff.
Porter didn’t go down quietly. She immediately pointed a finger at “billionaires spending millions to rig this election.” That claim resulted in a brutal social media backlash from many who were happy to depict the congresswoman as a graceless loser.
Perhaps chastened by the criticism, Porter later clarified her initial statement to say she didn’t believe the California vote count or election process had been compromised, but she didn’t recant her earlier remarks. Rigged, she said in a follow-up, “means manipulated by dishonest means.”
It’s not what it should be, but in the standard single party primaries it would still be Schiff winning vs. Republican guy whose name isn’t worth learning. It should just be ranked choice, but them doing an unusual thing didn’t lead to a worse result than the other bad system most states use.
Thinking about it more Porter and Lee should have ignored Garvey and gone after Schiff. It was clear early on what Schiff’s plan was.
My city (Oakland, CA) uses ranked choice. It takes some getting used to. There was one school board member seat that was tabulated incorrectly. Many voters don’t understand it. Some candidates challenge the results in court. And we have a mayor with little political experience that inherited a fucking mess.