Former California Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, who ran in the state’s recent gubernatorial primary, said in a July 15 Instagram post that she’s done with politics and campaigning for the time being.
Porter said she’s loved to read since she was little. She said her new non-political username is partially to represent a new chapter of her life and partly to represent turning the pages while reading. She still has another Instagram account with slightly fewer followers that has not been rebranded.
This step away from politics comes after Porter finished fifth in the gubernatorial primary election, receiving 4.4 percent of the vote, or approximately 404,000, despite early polls suggesting she was a frontrunner.
In 2018, Porter flipped the 45th congressional district in Orange County for the first time since its establishment in 1980. After district lines were redrawn, Porter was reelected in the 47th district in 2022, where she served until 2025.
Porter ran for Senate in a failed bid in 2024. She was also previously a professor at the UC Irvine School of Law, which she returned to after her time in Congress.
A Politico survey on Aug. 12, 2025, showed her leading the gubernatorial race with 21 percent, ahead of Republican Chad Bianco at 15 percent, and the eventual primary winners Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra at 10 and 9 percent, respectively.
Her support began to unravel in October after an old video of her berating a staffer surfaced and began spreading.
“Get out of my [expletive] shot!” Porter said after the employee appeared in the background of her video.
Shortly after, an interview with CBS’s Julie Watts went viral after the reporter asked Porter what her message was to the 6 million Californians who voted for President Donald Trump.
“How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?” Porter said as she leaned in with a confused look.
After some back-and-forth, Porter said she represented a politically mixed district in Congress and had won GOP votes before.
“I feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative. What is your question?” Porter asked as the interview’s tone grew in intensity.
When asked if she was not going to do the interview, Porter said: “Nope, not like this. I’m not. Not with seven follow-ups to every single question you ask.”
When told that every other candidate had answered with no problems, Porter said: “I don’t care. I don’t care. … I don’t want to have an unhappy experience with you, and I don’t want this all on camera.”
Porter’s campaign said the interview continued for 20 minutes after the exchange settled down, and Watts later noted that the viral moment occurred in a much longer interview. Some political figures called for Porter to drop out of the race after this incident.
