The most well-known candidate to launch a campaign in the 2026 race is the former congresswoman. However, if former Vice President Kamala Harris decides to run, the race could be turned upside down.
Katie Porter, a former Democratic congresswoman who became well-known for questioning corporate executives on Capitol Hill with a whiteboard, announced on Tuesday that she would run for governor of California in 2026. Ms. The most well-known Democrat to enter the race is Porter, 51. However, the question of whether former Vice President Kamala Harris will join in is a huge unanswered question. Gov. Due to the state's two-term limit, Gavin Newsom cannot run for governor again. The majority of Democrats who have entered the open race thus far are current or former state officials with little public awareness who have experience in the statehouse. Ms. is much more well-known to voters. According to polls, Porter was a professor of law who represented Orange County in Congress for six years. Ms. On Tuesday, Porter made an announcement about her campaign by releasing a video in which she portrayed herself as someone who would fight against President Trump's agenda and bring a new perspective to the State Capitol, where she has never held an elected position. The cost of living for Californians will also be the primary focus of my attention. That, I believe, is the greatest obstacle that we face throughout the state, "Ms. Tuesday, Porter stated in an interview. After losing the November presidential election, Ms. Harris returned home to Los Angeles and has contemplated a run for California governor. Ms. Porter will withdraw from the contest if Ms. Harris runs, a spokesman said.
In the interview on Tuesday, Ms. Porter said that Ms. Harris has long been a supporter of the former vice president, and she would have “a powerful, field-clearing effect” on Democrats in the race. As of 2012, Ms. When Harris was the attorney general of California, she appointed Ms. Porter to monitor a legal settlement with major banks over the foreclosure crisis.
Eleni Kounalakis, Ms. Kounalakis' longtime friend and lieutenant governor, is one of the other Democrats who has announced their campaigns for governor of California. Harris; Antonio Villaraigosa, a former mayor of Los Angeles; Betty Yee, a former state controller; Toni Atkins, a former state legislative leader; and Tony Thurmond, the state schools superintendent. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is the most well-known Republican candidate who has so far entered the race. Ms. Last year, Porter failed to win a bid to replace Dianne Feinstein, the longtime senator who died in 2023. In the state's open primary, where the top two candidates advance regardless of party registration, she came in third place. Ms. Porter finished second in some of the initial polls, indicating that she had a chance to compete against Adam Schiff, a fellow Democratic House member who had consistently topped surveys at the time. The final months of the primary, on the other hand, saw a lot of spending by Mr. Steve Garvey, a Republican who was a former baseball star but had never held public office, was the focus of Schiff and his allies' advertisements.
House.
The campaign spots promoted Mr. Garvey came in second place ahead of Ms. because he supported Trump and helped rally conservative voters behind him. Porter.
Following the race, Ms. Porter lashed out against "an onslaught of billionaires spending millions to rig this election," referring to Mr. Schiff, who went on to win the general election by a wide margin and now serves as the senator from California. She was wrong to use language that, according to critics in her own party, echoed Mr. Trump and sowed doubt around the integrity of the state’s election system.
She later said she regretted using the word “rig” but maintained her larger point — that the race had been influenced by tech investors and cryptocurrency executives who spent $10 million on advertising that worked against her.
Ms. In her Senate campaign, Porter emphasized her experience as a single mother raising three children in a pricey state. She published a book titled "I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan," which featured campaign advertisements featuring home-cooked meals stored in the refrigerator alongside populist economic messages. Similar themes run through the three-minute video that Ms. Porter was let go to announce her governorship bid. It shows her inside the kitchen of her suburban home, talking to the camera about the “out of control” costs of groceries, health care and housing and sitting beside her daughter, who is doing homework.
"As governor, I won't ever back down when Trump hurts Californians, whether it's holding up disaster relief, attacking our rights and communities, or screwing working families to benefit himself and his cronies," Ms. Porter said in the video.
Ms. Porter first ran for Congress in 2018 and flipped a Republican-held seat, which was part of the so-called “blue wave” in which Democrats regained control of the House. She won re-election twice before she ran in last year’s Senate race. She returned to teaching law school at the University of California, Irvine, this year.