Katie Porter Blames ‘Billionaires Spending Millions to Rig’ Primary After Blowout Loss

Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) suggested on Wednesday that the California U.S. Senate election had been rigged after she fell 20 points behind Democratic rival Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Republican candidate Steve Garvey.

“Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign and voted to shake up the status quo in Washington,” wrote Porter in a series of social media posts after she came third. “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.”

She continued:

It’s clear Californians are hungry for leaders who break the mold, can’t be bought, and push for accountability in government and across our economy. And that’s exactly what we as Americans deserve.

Special interests like politics as it is today because they control the politicians. As we’ve seen in this campaign, they spend millions to defeat someone who will dilute their influence and disrupt the status quo.

But take my word for it: I’ll never stop fighting for you.

Porter received criticism for her suggestion that the election was rigged, with critics comparing her remarks to the claims made by former President Donald Trump following the 2020 election.

“She lost by 20 points, but is saying the election is rigged because she was out spent,” reacted CNN investigative reporter Andrew Kaczynski.

 

“I’ve lost races where my candidate got vastly outspent & once when some rich dude dumped 40 million on our head. It completely sucks,” commented Democratic strategist and former Obama campaign official Steve Schale. “But can we stop trying to excuse every loss with the term ‘rig’ or ‘rigged?’ You lost, which I totally get just blows. But that’s all it is.”

As of reporting, Porter is almost 20% behind Schiff and Garvey, who are neck and neck in the race for the late Dianne Feinstein’s former seat.

With 52% of the vote counted, Porter received just under 530,000 votes, while Schiff and Garvey received 1.26 million and 1.24 million respectively.