Katie Porter, the whiteboard-wielding former member of Congress, announced on Tuesday her bid for California governor to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Her former House colleagues appeared far more interested in whatever Kamala Harris decides to do.
“I think I’ll sit on the sidelines for a while,” Rep. Ami Bera told NOTUS. “It’s still a long way off, so we’ll figure it out later.”
“I don’t know what to make of it,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren said. “There’s a cast of thousands running, and I’m friends with many of them.”
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“I think the major issue is what Vice President Harris does; it’s sort of irrelevant until the vice president makes a decision,” Rep. Ro Khanna said, adding that he was not taking a look at the seat himself.
Porter is the most prominent Democrat to join the governor’s race to date. Her bid also comes with a serious caveat: A spokesperson for Porter told The New York Times she would end her campaign should Harris run.
Last year, Porter came third in the race to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein, losing the seat to Sen. Adam Schiff and garnering less support than Republican Steve Garvey in the state’s primary.
For even Porter’s close allies, Harris has functionally frozen the endorsement field.
Rep. Dave Min, who endorsed Porter for Senate before winning the House seat she vacated, said he was sure she would excel at the job but left it at that.
“She would make a tremendous governor if she’s elected,” Min told NOTUS. “I think that’s what I have to say at this point.”
Rep. Robert Garcia was the only member of California’s congressional delegation to endorse Porter for Senate. He’s not racing out the gates now to back her for governor.
“Obviously Katie’s fantastic,” Garcia said. “Great member. She was a great person in Congress who always fought for the right thing, so I wish her well.”
He’s primarily focused elsewhere: “The big question in California is around the vice president, of course, so I think a lot of folks are waiting to see what that decision is, including Representative Porter,” Garcia said.
“I think she’s probably the only one that can clear the field pretty quickly, but you never know for sure,” Rep. Salud Carbajal said of Harris.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez echoed the sentiment.
“Everybody is waiting for Kamala to see what she’s gonna do. Then we’ll make a decision.” Gomez said. “There’s no reason to declare support for somebody if Kamala Harris jumps in because everybody is gonna fall behind her.”
Harris has said she was seriously considering joining the race, and would wait until the end of the summer to make a decision, Politico reported.
According to recent polling, 57% of likely primary voters in California have said they would support Harris if she decided to run for governor. Only 9% of those voters say they would support Porter for a governor’s seat.
Porter’s campaign announcement followed some of the same themes of her time as a representative: putting a stop to Trump’s agenda in California and supporting families and small businesses from corporate interests.
“As governor, I won’t ever back down when Trump hurts Californians,” Porter said in a campaign announcement video posted on X.
Until now, only state-level Democrats had joined the race to replace Newsom: Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, California Democratic Party Vice Chair Betty Yee and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa all announced their candidacies.
Rep. Scott Peters said he supports fellow San Diegan Toni Atkins: “Most qualified person for governor.”
Most other California Democrats are keeping their powder dry.
“It’s a very crowded field, and I have a lot of friends running. We’ll see what the vice president does,” Bera said. He left some light praise for Porter.
“I mean, she’ll be a competitive candidate.”
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Samuel Larreal and Mark Alfred are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.
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