Former Democratic California Rep. Katie Porter threatened to storm out of an interview with CBS News California on Tuesday after she accused a reporter of asking “argumentative” questions about her gubernatorial race.
CBS News California’s Julie Watts asked Porter what her messaging is to the 40% of Californians who voted for President Donald Trump. Porter then snapped at Watts and abruptly threatened to end the interview.
“What do you say to the 40% of California voters, who you’ll need in order to win, who voted for Trump?” Watts asked.
“How would I need them in order to win, ma’am? … 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,” Porter said.
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As Watts challenged Porter on her answers, the Democratic candidate ended the interview as she grew frustrated by Watts’ follow-up questions.
“But you just said you don’t need those Trump voters,” Watts said.
“Well you asked me if I needed them to win,” Porter replied. “I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative. What is your question?”
Watts then clarified that she asked the same question to the other candidates and that she was simply doing her job as a journalist by asking follow-up questions.
“What I’m saying to you is that, I don’t want to keep doing this, I’m gonna call it, thank you,” Porter said.
“You’re not gonna do the interview with us?” Watts asked.
“Nope, not like this. Not with seven follow-ups to every single question you’ve asked,” Porter said, leading Watts to say that the other candidates answered the question. “I don’t care, I don’t care. I want to have a pleasant, positive conversation [in] which you asked me about every issue on this list. And if every question, you’re gonna make up a follow-up question, we’re never going to get there. I’ve never had to do this before, ever. To end an interview. What part of I’m me, I’m running for governor because I’m a leader.”
While Porter is leading other Democrats in the primary, she is six points behind conservative commentator Steve Hilton, who entered the race as a Republican, according to a Zogby Strategies poll when polling was conducted with a messaging retest. She previously ran for Senate, but lost to Democratic California Sen. Adam Schiff in 2024.
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