Opinion What happened to Katie Porter? A lesson for Democrats.
What happened?
Starting with the sorry ending, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), revered among Democrats for leading the first Trump impeachment, ran a near-perfect Senate campaign. Embracing the mantle of anti-Trump pugilist, he stuck to his center-left positions. He slammed the unqualified right-winger and former Dodger Steve Garvey as too conservative in the nonpartisan “jungle primary.” Schiff will be the overwhelming favorite in November to trounce Garvey.
On election night, Porter bitterly denounced her Democratic rival. “We had the establishment running scared — withstanding 3 to 1 in TV spending and an onslaught of billionaires spending millions to rig this election,” she said. That smacked of election denial, an absolute no-no in a party that believes in the sanctity of elections. Withering criticism poured down on her.
She retorted, “‘Rigged’ means manipulated by dishonest means.” She claimed she had been referring to “dark money”:
Please find a statement from me below. pic.twitter.com/as8H2cHWL8
— Katie Porter (@katieporteroc) March 7, 2024
Democrats viewed her as doubling down, refusing to apologize for her tantrum. Her holier-than-thou promise not to accept dark money had not resonated during the campaign; now she smeared a legal and widely used fundraising tool that Democrats cannot renounce until they reverse Citizens United v. FEC and enact real campaign finance reform. Moreover, she was still fighting the primary, not rallying to her party.
Fairly or not, her exit will likely define her career as much as her whiteboard, which she skillfully wielded against witnesses from banks, Big Pharma and other hapless victims. But, in the end, the whiteboard was not enough — and therein Democrats can find several lessons.
First, Democrats, unlike their MAGA opponents, believe government is there to get things done. Public service is not performance art for them. Viral moments must serve larger goals that are usually achieved by the hard work of dealmaking, compromising and collaborating. Though Porter shined in YouTube clips, her output could not compare with many of her 2018 classmates. The latter became experts in certain topics and associated with important policies (e.g., national security, gun reform).
The difference between Porter and her mentor, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who also wins kudos for sharp questioning, was striking. Porter was not known for “reaching across the aisle” to get things done. By contrast, Warren features this prominently on her website:
Elizabeth consistently reaches across the aisle to deliver wins for Massachusetts, making her one of the most effective members of the Senate. She helped secure $750 million in debt relief for students who were cheated by predatory, for-profit colleges, including 4,500 Massachusetts students and more than 28,000 students across the country. Elizabeth has also helped pass legislation to double federal funding for child care, make hearing aids available over the counter, reduce out-of-pocket costs for high school students enrolled in career and technical education programs, and put over $6 billion dollars in federal funding towards the fight against the opioid epidemic.
Likewise, consider Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the leader of the House Progressive Caucus, who was front and center in pushing her party — but not to the breaking point — to achieve progressive goals in the first two years of the Biden presidency.
When the Inflation Reduction Act passed, Jayapal could rightly boast, “In its major provisions, the Inflation Reduction Act draws on the House-passed Build Back Better Act. Essentially, it also achieves our shared goals in a progressive way: lowering costs of necessities, creating good jobs, and attacking climate change, while raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations.” In this instance, Jayapal, not Porter, could rightly be seen as Warren’s House counterpart. (To her credit, some of Porter’s specific, albeit modest, initiatives made it into the IRA.)
Second, politics is a team sport. Democrats pride themselves on collaboration. The Post’s reporting on rumors that she is a “bad boss” and a bristly colleague, even allowing for the double standard many women face, tended to substantiate that she was no glad-hander or chummy colleague. Hers was a solo act. Cultivating the image of an unflinching progressive and acerbic critic of anyone in the party who does not immediately fall in line with your ideological vision does not fly at a time when the party, even in left-leaning California, has hewed to the center to achieve impressive legislation. Unsurprisingly, Schiff earned 80 percent of the endorsements among the California House delegation, an indication of his people skills.
Finally, Democrats’ fidelity to democracy requires a robust effort to secure America’s place in the world. Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) liked to say that national security bona fides were especially important for women lawmakers. That might now be true for all Democrats.
Schiff was seen as the tip of the spear in taking on Trump and MAGA Republicans for playing footsie with Russia and undermining the United States’ moral leadership and national security. Advocates of robust foreign policy (once upon a time identified as “Scoop Jackson Democrats”) have risen in prominence as Democrats have watched Republicans recede into isolationism and autocrat-worship.
Porter, ever the brilliant law professor, perhaps was never the ideal fit for legislator. Her inability to translate whiteboard performances into success running for higher office should serve as a lesson for ambitious Democrats. Never, ever question results of a democratic election. Get things done collaboratively without straying too far from the party’s center-left orientation. And fighting for democracy abroad is essential to preserving it at home. After all, that’s how President Biden has done it.
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