Former Rep. Katie Porter speaks after a gubernatorial debate on April 22, 2026 in San Francisco.
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Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks during a California Chamber of Commerce panel discussion in Sacramento on June 4, 2025.
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Chad Bianco and Katie Porter take part in a California gubernatorial debate in Claremont (Los Angeles County) on April 28, 2026.
Jae C. Hong/Associated Press
SACRAMENTO — Former Rep. Katie Porter has been dogged by questions about her temperament in the wake of viral videos of her being testy with a reporter and yelling at a staffer, even as her male challengers have avoided the same type of scrutiny for their own televised outbursts and tangling with reporters.
Porter called attention to that dynamic at a Tuesday debate hosted by CNN, which was characterized by interruptions, arguing and cross talk among all of the candidates, who attacked one another on everything from embarrassing scandals to inconsistencies in their policy positions.
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“I can’t believe that on a stage with 30 minutes of interrupting and bickering and name calling and shouting and disrespect for everyone up here who’s stepping into public service, that anyone wants to talk about my temperament,” said Porter — the only remaining woman among the leading eight candidates.
She paused, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco interjected to tell her that “you were interrupting, too.”
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Later, when asked directly about the video where she berated her staffer, Porter said she had apologized and called out the gender discrepancy directly.
“If these boys’ bullying and bickering hasn’t been enough to raise questions about their temperament, I would really challenge that,” she said.
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The interactions on the debate stage illustrated the double standard by which female candidates are judged in comparison to male candidates, said Melissa Michelson, a dean and political science professor at Menlo College.
“The tricky thing for women candidates is there is gender bias in the electorate — they want a leader, they want somebody forceful,” Michelson said. “But often when women exhibit those qualities they are seen as bossy or unpleasant. So there’s this bind for women candidates when they are trying to exhibit the leadership qualities that voters want. It can backfire, even if they’re doing the exact same thing as male candidates.”
Porter came under intense scrutiny when she threatened to walk out of an interview last fall.
“What do you say to the 40% of California voters who you’ll need in order to win who voted for Trump?” CBS reporter Julie Watts asked Porter.
Porter furrowed her brow quizzically and responded: “How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?”
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The two went back and forth over the question and Porter threatened to walk out of the interview, suggesting that Watts was being overly combative. She ultimately stayed and continued answering questions, but the damage was done. Soon after, Politico published a video showing Porter yelling at a staffer in 2021 to “get out of my f—ing shot” during the filming of a promotional video. The video was from five years earlier, but together the clips appeared to give credence to reports during her tenure in Congress that Porter was both tough on staffers and difficult to work with.
Porter’s rivals pounced on the clips, arguing they showed she did not have the temperament to lead the state. She had been a leader in the polls, but her support leveled off after the videos surfaced. When former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out amid allegations he sexually assaulted a former staffer, Porter did not see a bump in popularity the way some of the other candidates have.
Porter has tried to course correct. She was very polite to Watts at a CBS debate last week and released an ad this week referencing the video with her staffer. In the ad, Porter describes herself as a single mother struggling with the same daily frustrations as regular Californians, like high gas and food prices. In the final shot, supporters crowd around her holding whiteboards — a reference to her penchant for using whiteboards during congressional hearings to question Trump administration staffers and CEOs.
“To give Californians what they need, it’s going to take standing up to Donald Trump, calling out greedy corporations and stepping on some toes along the way,” she says, smiling, before turning to the supporters behind her. “Now, could you guys please get out of my shot?”
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In an interview with the Chronicle, Porter said she apologized to the staffer she swore at and went on to have a good relationship with her. And she suggested that her aggressive demeanor, which propelled her to national prominence during her tough questioning of Trump administration officials and business leaders, would be an asset if she were elected.
In the meantime, other male candidates have not received similar scrutiny for their own contentious interactions with journalists. Bianco, in particular, is known for being combative with the media.
For its voter guide, news outlet CalMatters asked all eight leading candidates in the race a standard set of questions about policy issues from homelessness to taxes. Bianco berated the reporter when she asked what his relationship would be like with Trump if elected.
“These questions truly show me that CalMatters is the furthest thing from unbiased,” Bianco said. “This is absolutely ridiculous.”
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When NBC San Diego reporter Joey Safchik asked Bianco what he would do to end homelessness in California, he responded by insulting her.
“I blame you,” he yelled. “I blame you in the media for not caring about this until today.”
Safchik continued to push for an answer. He finally said he would get people off the streets by cutting funding for homeless services.
When the Chronicle asked Bianco in March about his certainty that unauthorized immigrants voted regularly in elections, he grew agitated.
“Oh my God, stop, oh my God, stop, this is an absolute fact,” he said in a raised voice. “We absolutely know that illegal aliens are voting. … There’s no point in us even having a conversation again.”
Bianco’s campaign initially agreed to an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle as part of the paper’s series interviewing the leading candidates but canceled at the last minute and ignored subsequent attempts to reschedule.
Former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra faced some criticism from rival Tom Steyer for threatening a reporter in 2019 with a misdemeanor charge for obtaining a list of police officers convicted of crimes provided by a government agency. In his interview with the Chronicle, Becerra defended his handling of the situation, but did not directly address the misdemeanor threat.
Former Gov. Jerry Brown also had a reputation for belittling reporters whose questions he didn’t like. Trump frequently insults and mocks reporters.
Porter has clearly faced a double standard when judged based on her interactions with reporters, Sacramento State political science professor Kim Nalder said, though she noted that it is fair for voters to judge a candidate based on their behavior.
“I do think the evaluations of her temperament are harsher because of her gender, unfairly so,” Nalder said. “But it’s still a valid criteria for voters to think about when they’re considering who they want to lead the state.”
It’s unclear at this point if calling attention to the gender dynamics in the race will help Porter, but calling out the double standard could help assuage concerns from some liberal voters she is trying to win over.
“Political science shows that people sometimes choose candidates because of identity groups, but that’s not the primary consideration. The primary consideration is ideology,” Nalder said. “But pointing out the differential might make some more liberal voters think twice about their own assumptions.”
Raheem Hosseini contributed reporting.