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.”
CA’s goofy primary system lumps GOP and Dem candidates all together. Top two go to November ballet. Adam Schiff focused his advertising on the GOP guy, totally ignoring Katie Porter and Barbara Lee. Since Adam Schiff had a huge budget this meant LOTS of advertising for the GOP guy. Schiff and GOP guy were top two. GOP has no chance to win in November
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.
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.
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.
It’s a really good primary system imo. It’s a good way for us to break out of party focused politics. Unpopular parties won’t automatically get a place on the ballot.
They’ll just be promoted by their opponents to avoid having to compete against someone who could win.
That does seem to be the outcome here, good point.
Ranked choice would have Schiff vs Porter in the fall. Lot of people complaining about billionaires but the biggest and most concerning factor is this election was the worst voter turnout in California history.