Things had been looking up for Katie Porter\u2019s bid to become the next governor of California.<\/p>\n
In July, Kamala Harris decided not to run<\/a> in next year\u2019s contest, opening the door for candidates with less name recognition. And Ms. Porter, a former congresswoman known for her sharp tongue on Capitol Hill, has been the top-polling Democrat in a large field hoping to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom of California when he leaves office.<\/p>\n But late Tuesday, Ms. Porter went viral for the wrong reasons after a video<\/a> of her exchange with a local television journalist became a must-see clip for the political set. In the three-minute video, she dismissively rejected a question that suggested she needed to reach out to Republicans and threatened to abandon the interview after she was frustrated with several follow-ups.<\/p>\n Rivals from both parties seized on the interview to mix it up in what\u2019s been, until now, a very sleepy race.<\/p>\n Fellow Democratic candidates said Ms. Porter \u201cthinks she\u2019s already won,\u201d \u201ccan\u2019t answer basic questions\u201d and that the governor\u2019s race is \u201cno place for temper tantrums.\u201d One opponent called on her to drop out of the race.<\/p>\n Megyn Kelly, the conservative commentator, called it<\/a> \u201cthe most entertaining, unifying thing since tiger king!\u201d<\/p>\n By Wednesday afternoon, a video<\/a> of the exchange posted by an Axios reporter had racked up two million views on X, far more than the original segment probably would have attracted.<\/p>\n It all started when Julie Watts, a CBS News reporter in Sacramento, asked Ms. Porter about Mr. Newsom\u2019s plan to gerrymander congressional districts<\/a> to help Democrats flip House seats and thwart President Trump in the second half of his term. Ms. Porter said she supported the measure.<\/p>\n Ms. Watts then asked what Ms. Porter would say to the \u201c40 percent of California voters, who you\u2019ll need in order to win, who voted for Trump?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow would I need them in order to win, ma\u2019am?\u201d Ms. Porter said, leaning forward and furrowing her brow. She then turned her head, seeming to look at someone off camera, and laughed dismissively.<\/p>\n The two went back and forth over whether she needed to appeal to Republicans, and Ms. Porter said, \u201cI feel like this is unnecessarily argumentative. What is your question?\u201d<\/p>\n After another 40 seconds of sparring, Ms. Porter said she wanted to end the interview because Ms. Watts was asking too many follow-up questions.<\/p>\n She gestured as if she was going to remove her microphone, but did not, telling Ms. Watts, \u201cI don\u2019t want to have an unhappy experience with you, and I don\u2019t want this all on camera.\u201d<\/p>\n The exchange amounted to a self-inflicted wound \u2014 and perhaps some comeuppance \u2014 for a candidate known for her own tough questioning of executives on Capitol Hill. In those cases, Ms. Porter often went viral on social media for making her witnesses squirm. <\/p>\n Her campaign spokesman, Nathan Click, pointed out that Ms. Porter answered questions from Ms. Watts for another 20 minutes after the viral exchange. A CBS spokesperson said on Wednesday that Ms. Porter stayed for the full interview.<\/p>\n