Katie Porter entered the California governor's race as the presumed frontrunner to replace Gavin Newsom.
Voters then watched her campaign implode in one of the most embarrassing flameouts in recent memory.
Now Porter says she's turning the page, and the destination has nothing to do with governing California.
From Presumed Frontrunner to Fifth Place in Ten Months
Katie Porter looked unstoppable a year ago.
Emerson College polling had her leading the crowded Democrat field with 18 percent support right after Kamala Harris passed on the race.
Then the videos started surfacing.
One clip showed Porter screaming at a campaign staffer to get out of her camera shot during a call with then-Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
Another showed her nearly walking out of a local CBS interview after a reporter asked how she planned to win over the 40 percent of California voters who backed President Trump.
Porter later admitted in a television interview that she "could have handled things better."
That admission didn't stop the bleeding.
In June's jungle primary, Porter finished fifth with roughly 4.4 percent of the vote.
She trailed Republican Steve Hilton, Democrat Xavier Becerra, and billionaire Tom Steyer.
Hilton and Becerra advanced to November's general election.
Tom Steyer, the billionaire Democrat who dumped more than $200 million of his own money into the race, still finished behind both of them.
Porter, the woman California Democrats once treated as a lock, didn't come close.
A History That Made the Video Scandals Worse
The staffer video wasn't the only thing dogging Porter.
Her 2013 divorce filings also resurfaced during the campaign.
In them, her ex-husband accused her of one especially ugly episode: throwing scalding mashed potatoes at him during an argument.
Fellow Democrat Betty Yee, a former California state controller, didn't hold back either.
Yee branded Porter a "weak, self-destructive candidate" unfit for the job.
Even Porter's own party abandoned her.
Democrats first rallied behind Eric Swalwell, then jumped to Xavier Becerra once Swalwell's campaign collapsed under separate misconduct allegations.
That's two Democrat frontrunners in one primary who got buried by their own conduct, not by Republicans.
Book Influencer Is the New Plan
On Wednesday, Porter posted a video announcing her exit from electoral politics.
She's rebranding her Instagram account as "Katie Porter Turns the Page."
"I'm done for now with politics and campaigning," Porter said.
She told followers she's always loved reading and now wants to make that her public identity.
Notice what's missing from the announcement video: any staffer standing anywhere near the camera.
Why This Is a Fitting Ending
Porter spent years building a national brand on lecturing witnesses with a whiteboard and demanding accountability from everyone else.
Voters finally got an unfiltered look at how she treats the people who actually work for her, and they walked away.
The same woman who couldn't survive a Zoom call without cursing out her own staff is now asking voters to trust her book recommendations instead.
Bon voyage, Katie. Try not to yell at the delivery guy who drops off your next stack of paperbacks.
Sources:
- C. Douglas Golden, "Bon Voyage: Alleged Spousal Abuser Dem Katie Porter Announces She's Done With Politics After California Gubernatorial Disaster," The Western Journal, July 16, 2026.
- Hailey Gomez, "'Get Out Of My F**king Shot': Katie Porter Blasts Staffer On Video," The Daily Caller, October 2025.
- Jacob Wheeler, "Trump-Backed Steve Hilton Knocks Billionaire Tom Steyer Out of Cali Governor's Race," The Daily Wire, June 9, 2026.
- Fox News Staff, "Katie Porter Rips Into Staffer With Profanity-Laced Rant," Fox News, October 2025.
- Fox News Staff, "Katie Porter Says She Regrets Viral Outbursts Reporter Staffer," Fox News, October 2025.
