Porter doubles down on claims California Senate race was ‘rigged by billionaires’ after loss

Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) is doubling down on her claim that California’s Senate race was “rigged by billionaires” after she lost the chance to advance to the general election.

“Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign and voted to shake up the status quo in Washington. Because of you, we had the establishment running scared — withstanding 3 to 1 in TV spending and an onslaught of billionaires spending millions to rig this election,” Porter said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, after the race was called.

“‘Rigged’ means manipulated by dishonest means,” Porter said in a separate Thursday statement after facing online blowback for her choice of words, arguing a few billionaires spent millions on attack ads against her in the race. 

“That is dishonest means to manipulate the outcome. I said ‘rigged by billionaires’ and our politics are — in fact — manipulated by big dark money. Defending democracy means calling that out,” Porter said — but she clarified that her arguments about a “rigged” election don’t refer to the vote count and election process in the state, which she called “beyond reproach.” 

Porter lost the closely watched California Senate race to Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Republican Steve Garvey, who advanced to the general election in the Golden State’s nonpartisan primary system, which moves up the two highest vote-getters regardless of party affiliation.

Porter and fellow progressive Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) were boxed out of the top two and will be out of Congress next year.

They were all vying for the rare vacant Senate seat left open by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), a slot that’s now held by temporary appointee Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.). 

Schiff had a larger war chest than Porter or Lee heading into the Super Tuesday race, and a super PAC supporting him had emphasized Garvey in ads in the hopes of pushing Porter into third place and ensuring the general was an easier red-on-blue contest with the Republican in the blue state.

California also saw low turnout as votes rolled in, with the participating electorate trending older and whiter — which experts said was more likely to favor Schiff and Garvey than Porter, who is more popular with younger voters.

The latest projections from Decision Desk HQ show Schiff and Garvey with roughly a third of the vote each, followed by Porter at around 14 percent.