Former California congresswoman Katie Porter threatened to walk out of a local TV news interview, telling her host, “I don’t want to have an unhappy experience with you, and I don’t want this all on camera.”
In March, Porter, who served in California’s House of Representatives from 2019 through 2025, announced her intention to run for California Governor in 2026. During a 1-on-1 interview published Monday with CBS News correspondent Julie Watts, Porter was asked, “What do you say to the 40% of California voters, who you’ll need in order to win, who voted for Trump?”
“How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?” Porter responded, turning away and laughing at someone — or something — off camera. When Watts asked her if her response meant that Porter believed she will get the vote of every single Californian who did not vote for Trump in 2024, the politician said, “In a general election, yes. If it is me versus a Republican, I think that I will win the people who did not vote for Trump.”
“What if it’s you versus another Democrat?” Watts countered. “I don’t intend that to be the case,” Porter replied. The former congresswoman went on to note that she has a history of performing well in historically purple areas, including Orange County. “I have stood on my own two feet and won Republican votes before,” Porter noted.
“I’m gonna build the support. I have the support already in terms of name recognition,” the politician explained. “I’m going to do the very best I can to make sure that we get through this primary in a really strong position.” Porter then said she felt like the interview was becoming “unnecessarily argumentative.”
When Watts again asked what she would say to California’s Trump voters to garner their support, Porter replied, “Oh, I’m happy to say that. It’s the ‘do you need them to win’ part that I don’t understand. [Ask] the question as you have it written and I’ll answer it.” In response to Watts’ inquiry about whether she believes she needs said voters’ votes in order to win next year’s gubernatorial race, Porter added, “I’m gonna to try to win every vote I can.”
Porter subsequently let her hands fall to her lap before reaching for her mic and announcing, “I don’t want to keep doing this. I’m going to call it.” A shocked Watts asked, “You’re not gonna do the interview with us?”
“Nope. Not like this, I’m not. Not with seven follow ups to every single question you ask,” Porter responded. “I want to have a pleasant, positive conversation [in] which you ask me about every issue on this list, and if [after] every question you’re gonna make up a follow-up question, then we’re never gonna get there.”
“I have never had to do this before. Ever,” Porter claimed, referring to her decision to end the interview. “I don’t want to have an unhappy experience with you, and I don’t want this all on camera.”
Porter did not ultimately end up walking out of the interview and Politico reports that, according to a spokesperson for Porter’s campaign, it went on for another 20 minutes. The contentious clip itself has nonetheless caught fire online, sparking responses from several of Porter’s fellow gubernatorial candidates.
“We need a leader who will solve hard problems and answer simple questions,” Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democratic candidate also running for governor, tweeted Tuesday in response to Porter’s remarks. Elsewhere, Steve Hilton, a Republican and former Fox News host who is also running for the governor position, posted a video response to Porter’s interview on X.
“It’s absolutely amazing, this Katie Porter interview,” Hilton said. “[Democrats] can’t withstand the most basic questions. They totally crumble. That’s why I’m running for governor.”
You can watch Porter’s interview in the video above.
