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.”
Adam Schiff is so fucking slimey. I do not want that man to represent me. He spent millions to boost a republican so that he would not have to run against Katie Porter. It reminds me of Hillary’s superdelegates. The party is broken, the mega rich are pretending to let us have a say and then pretending to fight against the Republicans instead of solving problems.
I like what Adam Schiff did previously for the country, but I did not like the tactics he did for this election against Porter. Yah, I get that it’s politics. But if he needed to boost a Republican in order to not go against another Democrat in the fall, then maybe he’s not the best person to represent California.
Now, there’s a chance Steve Garvey could win the Senate seat in November. It’s a very, very small chance, but it’s not zero. Why take that chance when it’s so important?
I hope Katie Porter does not go away. She’s exactly what this country needs. The only thing I didn’t like is that her campaign pretty much copied Schiff’s after he did this. She’s must’ve known it was hurting her too much.
Well said. It was very selfish of Schiff. Schiff vs Porter in November would’ve been a win win. Boosting a crazy Republican is an awful decision and is a tactic that’s already come back to bite us.
Turning out a bunch of Democrats to vote would have helped down ballot too.
She was up against BIG pac money and couldn’t battle that demon (literally).
I’m referring to a D vs. D general election having benefits on D vs. R downballot races. Big PAC money didn’t want to risk someone winning who would threaten their personal finances if the only cost was potentially electing more Republicans.
Porter responding to blunt dirty tactics is very different from her opponent initiating dirty tactics. Progressives don’t benefit from unilaterally disarming. The motivation and cause is very different.
I’m a California constituent, and the idea of Adam Schiff representing me over Katie Porter makes me physically ill.
And thousands of others prefer it, apparently.
Do they? Or does spending millions of dollars campaigning simply effectively manipulate?
The media is a powerful tool, controlled basically exclusively by money.
How do you define manipulate VS convince?
Spreading lies vs the truth?
Just a guess.
Were there any lies spread in this case then?
You asked how I’d define it so I did.
In the context of someone being accused of manipulation to win an election. If they lied it could be, if not maybe they just had a better message.
I’d be careful of this “I am immune to propaganda” line of thinking.
You’re basically accusing everyone who didn’t vote the way you wanted of being brainwashed fools, and that’s how the progressive bloc spectacularly failed to capture the black vote in 2016 and 2020.
If your line of thinking forgets that the other person is a person who is actively making decisions, and who’s agency is not changed for deciding differently than you did, you’re wrong.
That’s how we get white progressives insisting that gun toting Redcaps will totally join the progressive cause if the gays and the POC and the women would all just shut up and stop talking about identity politics.
You’re reading a lot into things I did not say.
An appeal to popularity without a critical eye on the impact of massive media spending is far more dangerous than what you’re accusing me of.
It’s what he does.
I liked both of them for different reasons. Yes I wanted Porter to win because I believed in her convictions to progressive policy, but if you watched the January 6th hearings, Schiff was fucking amazing.
I was a huge fan before and after the hearings. He was great. I am far, far, less of a fan after seeing this cynical and slimy campaign.
Just because a broken clock is right twice a day doesn’t mean it’s a good reliable clock.
I think that’s a cute phrase but I don’t accept its application here. For example, one could say Porter’s viral whiteboards was a broken-clock. Her campaign strategy just wasn’t very effective. Even I as a supporter barely heard a blip from her that just last month I had to Google what’s going on. Her debate performance wasn’t that great either.
I’d rather they both be in Congress from different positions.
Now, the vaccuum left by Porter as the article points out jeopordizes our congressional prospects further.
Pettily downvote all you want.
Her campaign was outspent by a lot because Schiff was backed by big money pac. And he did it in a scummy way.
I stand behind my usage of the broken clock adage.
What “big money pac” are you referring to? I’m looking at the data for both Porter and Schiff and they both received PAC money…
Schiff still out-raised Porter in individual campaign contributions — both big, and small.
Political Action Committees aren’t really a problem. SuperPACs are.
By the way…
I don’t understand how this is allowed. Why are they being allowed to manipulate ballots to push someone out? Paying to prop up a dummy candidate to manipulate ballots is extremely corrupt to me, unless I’m missing something.
Schiff’s ads were attack ads on Garvey. Calling Garvey the MAGA conservative who votes for Trump and is dangerous for California. The ads implied that Garvey was a serious threat in the race. Garvey is famous in California for playing first base for the LA Dodgers and San Diego Padres in the 80s and 90s, but his campaign was bootstrapped so the schiff attack ads helped.