Democrat Katie Porter, the current frontrunner in California’s wide-open race for governor, is refusing to rule out the possibility that more videos of her losing her temper could surface.
Porter, 51, sat down with Inside California Politics host Nikki Laurenzo on Tuesday and expressed regret over two caught-on-video moments that have suddenly crippled her candidacy. In the first, the former Orange County congresswoman threatened to walk out of an interview last week when pressed on her statement that she didn’t need to court Trump voters to win the 2026 election.
Within a day, a second video emerged of her shouting “get out of my f***ing shot!” at a staffer who appeared in the background of a 2021 Zoom call.
When asked on Tuesday if voters could potentially see more damaging videos, Porter refused to rule out the possibility.
“What I know is that I could have done better in those moments,” she told Laurenzo. “I’m going to be focused on earning their votes and earning their trust.”
She was given another opportunity to directly answer the question – and pivoted again.
“Nikki, I I’m going to be honest with you, I know that (Zoom) video was several years ago, as you know, and I apologized to the staffer. That’s super important to me and will continue to try to hold myself to do better. That’s what I can promise,” she said.
An Emerson College poll commissioned by Inside California Politics in September found Porter leading the governor’s race with 16 percent, followed by Republican political commentator Steve Hilton at 10 percent, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at 8 percent, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra with 5%.
No polling has been released since the controversial videos emerged.