Democratic Congresswoman Katie Porter announced on Tuesday a 2024 run for the U.S. Senate seat in California currently held by Dianne Feinstein.
In an announcement video on Twitter, Porter, 49, said that “in times like these, California needs a warrior in Washington.”
“I don’t do Congress the way others often do,” she said. “I use whatever power I have to speak hard truths to the powers that be, to not just challenge the status quo, but call it out, name names, and demand justice.”
California needs a warrior in the Senate—to stand up to special interests, fight the dangerous imbalance in our economy, and hold so-called leaders like Mitch McConnell accountable for rigging our democracy.
Today, I’m proud to announce my candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2024. pic.twitter.com/X1CSE8T12B
— Katie Porter (@katieporteroc) January 10, 2023
Porter, who represents much of south-central Orange County in California’s 47th congressional district, made the announcement just weeks after she was accused by a former staffer of running a toxic office. In December, Sasha Georgiades, a former Wounded Warrior Fellow who worked in Porter’s office, accused the congresswoman of making rude comments to her staff and using racial slurs. “She has made multiple staffers cry and people are generally so anxious to even staff her because if ANYTHING goes wrong she flips out on whatever staffer is present,” Georgiades told Fox News. “She just talks to staffers however she wants.”
Georgiades added that Porter mocked staffers for reporting incidents of sexual harassment and used racial slurs in front of staff.
In text messages published by the Dear White Staffers Twitter account, Porter berated Georgiades for giving her Covid-19. According to the exchange, Porter accused Georgiades of not following her office’s protocol on getting tested for the virus immediately after feeling unwell.
VIBE CHECK: Rep. Katie Porter fires staffer after both test positive for COVID. Full texts from the Congresswoman firing the staffer via text. Shared with permission from staffer. pic.twitter.com/jbhn2NzrmB
— Dear White Staffers (@DWS________) December 29, 2022
Georgiades apologized to Porter and said she “should have done better.” Porter responded by not allowing Georgiades back into the office for the rest of her fellowship. “Well, you gave me Covid. In 25 months, it took you not following the rules to get me sick,” Porter texted.
Attempts by National Review to reach Georgiades on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Porter also received attention last week during the votes to elect a House speaker. While Republicans struggled to wrangle enough votes to elect Kevin McCarty, Porter was seen reading the self-help book The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. She wore an orange dress to match the book’s orange jacket cover.
Porter, a lawyer, was first elected to Congress in 2018. She did not mention the 89-year-old Feinstein in her announcement video, but she did say that “it’s time for new leadership in the U.S. Senate.” In recent years, Feinstein has faced questions about memory issues and her mental fitness to continue serving in the Senate.
A poll conducted for Porter’s campaign shows her leading U.S. Representative Adam Schiff in a hypothetical 2024 top-two matchup. The poll shows her leading Schiff among Democrats, minority party voters, and Republicans, even though most Republicans said they would abstain from voting in that scenario.