{"id":5990,"date":"2025-10-15T13:45:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/5990\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T13:45:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:45:06","slug":"california-governor-candidate-katie-porter-says-she-could-have-handled-things-better-in-reaction-to-viral-videos-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/5990\/","title":{"rendered":"California governor candidate Katie Porter says she could have \u2018handled things better\u2019 in reaction to viral videos | National"},"content":{"rendered":"

(CNN) \u2014 California governor candidate Katie Porter responded to two viral videos of her abruptly ending an interview with a journalist<\/a> and another of her cursing at a staffer<\/a>, saying that she takes responsibility and has apologized to the staffer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I look at those videos, I want people to know that I understand that I could have handled things better,\u201d Porter said in an interview with KTLA\u2019s \u201cInside California Politics,\u201d posted on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019m known as someone who\u2019s able to handle tough questions, who\u2019s willing to answer questions, and I want people to know that I really value the incredible work that my staff can do,\u201d she said. \u201cI think \u2026 people who know me know I can be tough, but I need to do a better job expressing appreciation for the amazing work that my team does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porter, who served as a Democratic congresswoman from California from 2019 to 2025 and is currently the frontrunner in the state\u2019s Democratic gubernatorial primary, avoided repeated questions as to whether another video of her could surface.<\/p>\n

Porter previously ran in California\u2019s Democratic primary<\/a> to fill the US Senate seat of the late-Sen. Dianne Feinstein. She ultimately lost in the primary with the seat eventually being won by current Sen. Adam Schiff.<\/p>\n

The recent videos are not the first time Porter has made headlines. During her tenure as a representative, videos circulated of her using a whiteboard in congressional committee hearings to explain her points to opponents.<\/p>\n

While she held herself accountable for the recently surfaced clips, Porter said that groups who support her do so because they\u2019re looking for a tough candidate who will fight for the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could have done better, but I\u2019m in this race to make sure that we have a governor who\u2019s not going to sit back, who\u2019s not going to sit quietly, because we are in a moment where we have to tackle our affordability crisis, and we have to withstand the harms that Trump is throwing at California,\u201d Porter said.<\/p>\n

The interview with CBS News Sacramento, released earlier this month, showed Porter seemingly frustrated by multiple follow-up questions and requesting to end the interview. Porter said she wanted a \u201cpleasant, positive conversation\u201d with the reporter. A portion<\/a> of the interview was posted online and widely shared, even as the former congresswoman\u2019s campaign noted she ultimately spoke to the reporter for another 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

Politico also last week resurfaced archival footage<\/a> from 2021 of the then-House member in a meeting with the Biden administration. A staffer cut into the background of the video, correcting Porter on a statement to which she responded by yelling and cursing at the staffer to leave the camera view.<\/p>\n

In the new interview posted Tuesday, Porter took accountability for the incident, saying, \u201cwhat I did to the staffer was wrong\u201d and adding that she \u201cwill continue\u201d to appreciate her staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expressed that I was sorry that I had lost my, you know, temper, that I\u2019d been frustrated in the moment, and I went and told her I was grateful that she had taken the time to correct me,\u201d Porter said.<\/p>\n

Porter, a former law student of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren<\/a>, said that she had not heard from Warren in response to these viral moments, but that other Democrats had reached out. She did not specify who or what the messages said.<\/p>\n

This story has been updated with additional information.<\/p>\n

The-CNN-Wire<\/p>\n

\u2122 & \u00a9 2025 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(CNN) \u2014 California governor candidate Katie Porter responded to two viral videos of her abruptly ending an interview…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,974,100,13],"class_list":{"0":"post-5990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-national","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}