The day after Rep. Katie Porter flipped an Orange County congressional seat blue in 2018, she set her sights on what would be a defining issue in her congressional career: campaign finance reform.
Money in politics, namely campaigns, is what she focused on after losing the primary for California’s open U.S. Senate seat last month — firing off a tweet and then having to field criticism over the language used in it — but it’s also a spot where she feels she can be helpful to other Democratic congressional candidates moving forward.
Porter, an Irvine Democrat, will leave Congress in January after six years. She opted not to run for re-election this year, instead choosing to vie for the rare open U.S. Senate seat in California. And although she was first out of the gate to announce her candidacy, Porter didn’t make it past the primary and is preparing to leave elected office.
At least for now.
Porter plans to return to her pre-congressional work as a law professor at UC Irvine, picking up some of her old classes (secured transitions, consumer law) and dabbling in some new ones that draw on her experiences in Washington, D.C. (legislation, regulation, statutory interpretation).
She is also sharing her fundraising prowess with other congressional Democrats in California, something you may already know if you’re on her oft-used email list.
Aside from state Sen. Dave Min, who she endorsed to replace her in Orange County’s 47th district, she has sent out the call to support Will Rollins in the 41st congressional district and Rep. Josh Harder, who represents CA-9 up north. She plans to continue to work on her “Truth to Power” PAC, lending aid to like-minded Democrats or President Joe Biden’s re-election effort.
Porter is “focusing a lot right now on electing candidates who refuse corporate PAC money and understand how important it is to combat the influence of money in politics,” she said in an interview.
Shortly after it became clear…
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