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\n Tom Steyer and Katie Porter prepare to debate.
\n Photo: Jason Henry\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
Much of the strategic buzz over the strangely low-profile yet high-stakes California gubernatorial race has revolved around two issues. First, there\u2019s the fear among Democrats that, owing to their crowded field and the state\u2019s nonpartisan top-two primary system, there could be a \u201cRepublican lock-out.\u201d<\/a> If Steve Hilton<\/a> and Chad Bianco<\/a> finish first and second in the June 2 primary, the heavily Democratic state will be forced to elect a Republican governor in November. Second, there\u2019s the search for a Democratic successor in the center-left \u201clane\u201d<\/a> previously occupied by early front-runner Eric Swalwell<\/a>, whose candidacy imploded spectacularly<\/a> over allegations of criminal sexual misconduct. The apparent winner of that sweepstakes has been former California attorney general and Biden-administration HHS secretary Xavier Becerra<\/a>, who had a big polling surge after Swalwell\u2019s exit and has attracted some serious money.<\/p>\n Now a third issue is gaining steam, just as mail ballots were sent out to every California voter: Who\u2019s progressives\u2019 best bet, Congresswoman Katie Porter<\/a> or reformed hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer<\/a>?<\/p>\n Porter has lots of lefty street cred. A prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of Elizabeth Warren<\/a>\u2019s, she won an Orange County congressional seat in 2018 and, as New York\u2019s Rebecca Traister once explained<\/a>, quickly became a prominent progressive figure in Washington:<\/p>\n In her short time in the House, she has earned national recognition thanks to viral clips of her fisking gun-industry lobbyists, health-care CEOs, and big-bank chiefs, often making use of her trademark whiteboard. In 2019, she leveled JPMorgan Chase head Jamie Dimon by asking him to figure out a monthly budget for a single mom who works as an entry-level employee at Chase for $35,070. \u201cI don\u2019t know; I have to think about it\u201d was all Dimon could repeat, helplessly, as she reminded him of his $31 million salary.<\/p>\n When Porter sought a promotion to the U.S. Senate in 2024, however, her ambitions were thwarted by an expensive negative campaign against her<\/a>. This was financed by crypto executives she had annoyed, and her better-funded House colleague Adam Schiff<\/a> capitalized on it while also building up support for Republican Steve Garvey<\/a> to block Porter from a top-two spot in the general election. It worked. Porter\u2019s comeback in this year\u2019s gubernatorial race has been hobbled by two viral videos showing her dismissing a journalist<\/a> and cursing a campaign staffer<\/a>, which haven\u2019t been good for her personal image. But her name ID and past record have kept her in the race, typically polling near but not at the top.<\/p>\n Steyer, meanwhile, has made himself viable via massive spending from his own fortune, which he has mostly devoted to progressive good works since curtailing his hedge-fund career (with the self-indulgent exception of a brief presidential run in 2020<\/a>). This year, he has spent well over $100 million \u2014 far, far more than his rivals could muster \u2014 on ads touting himself as a \u201cclass traitor\u201d and as \u201cthe billionaire who wants to tax billionaires,\u201d<\/a> clearly bidding for lefty support. He has also come out for single-payer health care and an end to Proposition 13 tax-rate protections for commercial real estate while restating his long-standing positions favoring climate-change prevention. He has earned endorsements from Bernie Sanders\u2019s Our Revolution organization<\/a> and from several progressive unions<\/a>.<\/p>\n With her back against the wall, Porter is fighting Steyer\u2019s efforts to crowd her out of the left lane of the gubernatorial race. In a high-profile debate on May 5 nationally televised by CNN, Porter tweaked Steyer for how he earned the wealth he is so lavishly utilizing in the race, as LAist reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n Porter, once a rising national progressive star, got in a dig at Steyer, who has consolidated support among many of the party\u2019s most left-wing activists. She criticized the fortune he made in part by investing in fossil fuels when he tried to tout his climate-friendly credentials and policy of \u201cmaking polluters pay.\u201d Steyer has said that he subsequently divested from those investments and devoted himself to addressing climate change.<\/p>\n \u201cHow about profiteers pay?\u201d Porter asked pointedly.<\/p>\n But Porter also criticized the famous \u201cbillionaire tax\u201d that is likely to appear on November ballots in California, which Steyer has supported as the symbol of his willingness to tax people like himself, as the New York Times noted<\/a>:<\/p>\n Ms. Porter, asked to explain why she opposes the proposal, said it was \u201csimply not good tax policy.\u201d<\/p>\n Then she counted the ways: It would only tax billionaires once, but the state has ongoing needs for revenue; it would only tax billionaires, but \u201chalf billionaires\u201d should pay more, too; and 90 percent of revenues would go toward health care, leaving out other programs.<\/p>\n Porter also sought to address questions about her \u201ctemperament\u201d raised by the viral videos depicting her as abrasively irritable by calling on the other (all-male) candidates in the debate to stop \u201cbullying and bickering.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n It remains to be seen if Porter has the time and the resources to counter Steyer\u2019s money and momentum, particularly at a time when Democratic voters continue to fear spreading their votes so thinly that Republicans lock them out. But for progressives who just can\u2019t abide voting for a billionaire, she\u2019s still an option.<\/p>\n