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California gubernatorial candidate is law professor at UC Irvine
Back in February, California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter told students at the University of California Irvine that political candidates like herself “learn how not to say anything stupid to a reporter.”
The College Fix uncovered Porter’s old comment as she faces heated criticism this week for attempting to cut short an interview with a CBS News reporter. In a video that has gone viral, the Democratic candidate criticized the journalist for asking too many follow-up questions and then moved to end the interview. Later, however, Porter’s campaign said she did not walk out but “continued for another 20 minutes,” POLITICO reports.
Porter is a law professor at UC Irvine and former U.S. Congresswoman.
In a February talk to students on campus, she brought up the importance of candidates presenting themselves well to the press. Her talk focused on the 2024 election and the changes that she has seen in American politics, especially since she first ran for Congress in 2018.
“I grew up in Iowa. I’ve seen every dingdong who wanted to be president for 30 years up close and personal as a kid,” she said. The video of her talk is posted on YouTube.
“And in the past in elections, going back to even 2018 when I first ran, you pretty much for a year, year and a half, bunkered down, raised money, [and] tried not to say anything stupid to a reporter,” Porter told the students.
“And then the six months out from the election, you started to connect with voters, the voters that you needed to win your race. That was the traditional path,” she said.
Porter told UC Irvine students that candidates now struggle to connect with swing voters and focus too much on playing to their base.
Today, running for office is about “the constant reward structure from your base from clicks, from likes, from donations online … and increasingly partisan podcasts and cable TV news” programs that appeal to “the most loyal” and “engaged” voters, she said.
Since giving the talk, Porter announced her campaign for governor of California. However, the backlash to her CBS News interview this week has been described as a campaign “disaster,” and is prompting questions about whether she will quit the race, POLITICO reports.
Porter also teaches bankruptcy and consumer law at UC Irvine School of Law. She is a former U.S. Congresswoman who represented California from 2018 until January.
Previously, Porter was a professor at University of Iowa College of Law. She also was a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, UC Berkeley Law, the University of Illinois College of Law, and the University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Law, according to her bio on the university website.
She has said in previous interviews that one of her biggest role models is U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat. Warren taught Porter when she was a law student at Harvard University, according to Bustle.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a comment from Porter’s campaign clarifying that she continued the CBS News interview after initially moving to end it.
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