Katie Porter's former staffers come to her defense as she campaigns for California governor
Nearly three dozen former staffers for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter are coming to her defense months after a pair of videos showing her interactions with an employee and a journalist went viral.
The letter, dated Monday, said those videos show only "a caricature built from a few clips on a bad day," rather than a Porter who "shows up for her team."
"The traits that make Katie effective don't always look soft around the edges," the letter, signed by 30 staffers from her former congressional office and past campaigns, said.
"People are drawn to Katie's leadership because she is a workhorse. She asked of us what she expected of herself," the letter, sent to the Southern California News Group by one of the signees, said.
The staffers' defense of the former Orange County Congress lawmaker comes as the race for California governor is ramping up. Ballots will be mailed to voters in just two weeks, and still, there is no clear Democratic front-runner in the race.
Porter has polled relatively close to the top of the crowded field of Democrats, along with billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer. Since former Rep. Eric Swalwell exited the race amid sexual assault allegations, which he has denied, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is also polling toward the top of the field.
It's two Republicans, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and political commentator Steve Hilton, though, who have been consistently polling at the front of the pack, leading to concerns in Democratic circles that those two could both advance to the general election in the fall, locking out the Democratic candidates.
A survey of likely voters by the California Democratic Party last week found Hilton and Bianco leading the candidates, followed by Becerra, Steyer and Porter, respectively.
It was Porter's exchange with CBS reporter Julie Watts that first went viral in October. Porter grew increasingly and visibly frustrated with questions about whether she would need support from Californians who support President Donald Trump to win the gubernatorial race. At one point, she threatened to end the interview.
And then Politico released footage from 2021 of Porter berating a staffer who interrupted a recording she was taping for the Biden administration to correct a comment about electric vehicles. Cursing, Porter admonished the staffer for appearing in the background of the shot.
Porter, in October, acknowledged she "could have handled things better."
The 30 former staffers also acknowledged that Porter's standards were "among the highest" compared to those of other lawmakers, military officials or executive branch employees they had also worked for.
"But that's one reason we chose to work for her. We know that Katie got into politics and policy for many of the same reasons we did: to reform broken systems, serve people and accomplish big things," they said. "A few video clips of our worst moments are not the full or honest measure of Katie or anyone's career."
A spokesperson for Porter's gubernatorial campaign did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
Jordan Wood, a Maine congressional candidate who previously worked as Porter's chief of staff, organized the effort, according to the Washington Post, which first reported on the letter Tuesday. The staffer in the Politico video was not among the signees, according to the Washington Post.
Notably, Porter's office saw higher than average turnover every year she was in the U.S. House except in 2021, the Washington Post reported, citing data from LegiStorm, which tracks salaries, staffing and more in Congress. During her tenure, 119 people worked in her office - about four times as many people who signed on to the letter.
Porter represented an Orange County district in Congress for three terms before mounting an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 2024.
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This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 2:19 PM.