LOS ANGELES (AP) — Katie Porter is fighting back.
After a disastrous week that saw calls for the former Democratic congresswoman to end her campaign for California governor, supporters are rallying around her and seeking to deflect criticism about her temperament and readiness for the state's top job.
On Wednesday, a snippet of a recent TV interview went viral showing the progressive favorite Porter in an awkwardly tense back-and-forth with a reporter — at one point she threatened to walk out. Shortly afterward, a video surfaced of a 2021 interview showing her loudly berating a staffer.
After a round of condemnation from her Democratic rivals and a flood of online mockery, Porter showed no sign of stepping aside while her campaign lined up supporters to help her weather the fallout.
“In this critical moment in our country we don’t need to be polite, go along to get along, establishment politicians that keep getting run over by the opposition,” said Teamsters California Co-Chairs Peter Finn and Chris Griswold, which endorsed Porter in September. "We need strong leaders like Katie Porter that are willing to call it like it is and stand up and fight for everyday Californians.”
Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United, said in a post on the social media platform X that Porter “is one of the toughest, most authentic leaders I’ve ever met.” Jessica Mackler, the president of EMILYs List, which works to elect Democratic women who favor abortion rights and endorsed Porter last month, said in a statement that Americans know that Porter is “the gutsy leader California needs to go toe to toe with (President) Donald Trump.”
An unexpected word of support came from Whoopi Goldberg, who said on “The View” that “Some people apparently are surprised by these videos. I am not. We see these videos with ... lots of different people.”
“Human beings have bad days,” Goldberg added.
It's yet to be seen whether Porter suffers with voters, if at all — the primary isn't until June, and the general election is in November 2026. But the unflattering videos are certain to encourage other potential candidates to give the wide-open, crowded race a look.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla is among those who have not ruled out a run in the 2026 contest.
“There are quite a few people looking at this field and saying, ‘There has got to be somebody better,’ ” said Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta. Potential candidates are watching, “How far does Porter fall?”
“I think this whole thing is indicative of a race that is not catching fire,” he added.
Porter — who 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 — is probably the best- known candidate in a race that was bypassed by former Vice President Kamala Harris. Porter is known for her potent small-dollar fundraising across the country.
The crowded field to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom includes former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former Biden administration health secretary Xavier Becerra and former state controller Betty Yee, all Democrats, and Republicans Steve Hilton, a conservative commentator, and Chad Bianco, the Riverside County Sheriff, among others.
A segment of Porter’s recent interview with Julie Watts, a CBS California reporter, went viral. In the clip, Watts and Porter get into a testy back-and-forth discussion and Porter at one point says, “I don’t want to keep doing this. I’m going to call it,” clapping her hands.
Porter’s campaign said the interview continued for 20 minutes after the tense exchange settled down.
Porter issued a statement in response to the video of her shouting at a staffer, obtained by the website Politico, saying, “I have sought to be more intentional in showing gratitude to my staff.”
Campaign spokesperson Peter Opitz said in a statement, “Californians are hungry for a governor ... they trust can fight for them against Trump.”
“Katie is never going to be shy about calling out ‘B.S.’,” Opitz said.
Statements of support for Porter implied, sometimes indirectly, that the videos illustrated a well-known aspect of her style — she's known to display a tough, even if sometimes blunt, personality.
“Katie Porter is a fighter,” Democratic U.S. Rep. Dave Min, who holds Porter's former Orange County seat, said in a statement. “She would make a great governor.”
FILE - U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., smiles as she prepares to address supporters at an election night party, March 5, 2024, in Long Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Thom Tillis isn't holding back during his final year in Washington.
“I'm sick of stupid,” the two-term Republican from North Carolina said from the Senate floor recently as he derided President Donald Trump 's advisers for stoking a potential U.S. military takeover in Greenland.
It was just one of several moments during the opening weeks of 2026 when Tillis, who isn't seeking reelection, seemed unconstrained by the anxieties that weigh down many of his GOP colleagues who are loath to cross the White House for fear of triggering a political backlash.
He's one of just two Republicans, along with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who participated in a congressional delegation to Denmark this week while Trump threatens to seize Greenland. He was quick to criticize the Justice Department's investigation of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. As Trump and his allies try to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, Tillis backed the eventual display of a plaque honoring police who defended the Capitol that day.
He has shown particular frustration with Trump's top aides, notably deputy White House chief of staff Stephen Miller.
“I don't want some staffer telling me what my position is on something,” he said after Miller gave a forceful interview on CNN saying Greenland “should be part of the United States.”
“He made comments out of his depth,” Tillis added.
The moves reflect the sense of freedom lawmakers often feel when they know they won't have to face voters again. They've helped attract swarms of reporters who follow Tillis through the halls of Congress as he offers candid thoughts on news of the day. And they've won support from the handful of other Republicans who sometimes cross Trump, including Murkowski, who called out “good speech!” as she passed him in the Capitol following his floor remarks on Greenland.
For the 65-year-old Tillis, who has won elections in one of the most politically competitive states, the approach is notable for the way in which he's pushing back against the White House. He's hardly staking out a position as a never-Trumper and repeatedly — often effusively — expresses support for the president.
Rather, he's targeting much of his criticism at senior White House aides, sometimes raising questions about whether Trump is receiving the best advice at a consequential moment in his presidency as the GOP enters a challenging election year.
“I really want this president to be very, very successful,” Tillis said this week. “And a part of his legacy is going to be based on picking and choosing the right advice from people in his administration.”
Heading into the midterms, Tillis said, “I want to create a better environment for Republicans to win.”
Tillis, who had a challenging childhood involving multiple moves, worked at an accounting and consulting firm before entering politics. He was the speaker of North Carolina's House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015. He said this week that he approaches his concerns from a business perspective.
“Sometimes there's just things that people need to say, ‘not a good idea, not in our best interest, hard to implement,” he said. “I probably should have started by saying that’s what I did in the private sector for about 25 years.”
Beyond Miller, Tillis has raised questions about Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's immediate response to the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. Hours after the shooting, while an FBI investigation was still unfolding, Noem defended the officer and said Good “attempted to run a law enforcement officer over.”
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill the next day, Tillis said he was “surprised by the level of certainty in her comments” and suggested such rhetoric influenced Trump, who was also quick to defend law enforcement.
“She's advising the president so the president's comments had to have come I assume through the advice of the secretary,” he said.
Tillis' balancing act was on particularly vivid display earlier this month on the fifth anniversary of Jan. 6, when he helped broker the deal to publicly show the plaque honoring officers that was held up by House Speaker Mike Johnson. Speaking from the Senate floor, he called the attack “one of the worst days in my 11 years in the U.S. Senate.”
He lauded the staff and U.S. Capitol police who defended lawmakers and helped ensure that Congress ultimately certified Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. But he also struck fiercely partisan tones, blaming Democrats for embracing a movement to defund the police and criticizing media coverage of protests that turned violent during the summer of 2020.
Tillis framed Jan. 6 as a “wonderful stress test for democracy” before arguing that the Biden administration went “overboard” by prosecuting “people who were dumb enough to walk into the building but they weren't the leaders.” He then pivoted to criticism of Trump's sweeping pardons of Jan. 6 defendants, including those who attacked police.
But even then, he didn't directly blame Trump, again focusing on his advisers.
“The president, on the advice of somebody in the White House — and I hope I find out the name of that person — also pardoned criminals who injured police officers and destroyed this building,” Tillis said. “If you had that happen to your office or your business, would you think well they were just a little hotheaded and let them go and not prosecute them? Or would you hold them accountable for destroying the citadel of democracy?”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on Tillis' assessment of Trump's aides. The senator rejects any suggestion that he's stepped up his criticism because of his impeding retirement, calling the notion “hysterical.”
His relationship with Trump hit a low point last summer when he opposed the president's sweeping tax and spending cuts package. Trump accused Tillis of seeking publicity and said on social media that the senator was a “talker and complainer, NOT A DOER.” Tillis announced his retirement soon after voting against the measure, one of only two Senate Republicans to do so.
Trump has been more sanguine in response to Tillis' more recent comments. Asked this week about the senator's criticism of the Fed probe, Trump said, “That's why Thom's not going to be a senator any longer, I guess.”
“Look, I like Thom Tillis,” Trump said. “But he's not going to be a senator any longer because of views like that.”
Associated Press writer Stephen Groves in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE -Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., speaks during a confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Oct. 13, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Sarah Silbiger/Pool via AP, File)
FILE - Wearing a beaded bolo around a pin that says "United States Senate," Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., listens to thanks from members of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, after the passage of a bill granting the tribe with federal recognition, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, Dec. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
