KATIE PORTER, THE former Democratic congress member from Orange County who became a progressive star with her vigorous interrogations during committee hearings, is running for governor of California.
After months of hinting that she would run, Porter formally launched her 2026 gubernatorial campaign Tuesday with a video posted to social media in which she touts her independence from corporate interests and lambastes President Donald Trump.
“I first ran for office to hold Trump accountable. I feel that same call to serve now to stop him from hurting Californians,” Porter said in the video. “As governor, I won’t ever back down when Trump hurts Californians — whether he’s holding up disaster relief, attacking our rights or our communities, or screwing over working families to benefit himself and his cronies.”
Her announcement follows just a year after her unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate. That race ended acrimoniously when Porter, who finished a distant third in the primary, called the election “rigged by billionaires,” for which she received enormous criticism.
But the national exposure has helped make her an immediate frontrunner to replace the termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Several independent polls since last fall show Porter with a clear lead over other announced and expected gubernatorial candidates. She also begins with more than $1.4 million left over from her Senate campaign — though the race for governor could ultimately require tens of millions of dollars in fundraising.
Porter, who flipped a Republican seat in 2018, left Congress in January after three terms and returned to teaching at the UC Irvine School of Law.
Porter aims to protect Californians from Trump
Though she’s touting “fresh blood and new ideas,” her platform is so far light on specifics. In her campaign launch video, Porter mentions protecting abortion rights, LGBTQ rights and immigrant communities and never letting “big banks, Big Pharma or Big Oil screw people over.”
“I’ve only ever been motivated by one thing: Making Californians’ lives better,” she said. “And I’ll go toe-to-toe with anyone who tries to hurt Californians. Because that’s what it means to have the courage to solve our toughest problems.”
Her focus on the ongoing ideological and political clashes between California and the federal government could position Porter as the state’s leading anti-Trump voice as Newsom instead tries to curry favor with the president to secure federal disaster aid for the devastating January fires in Los Angeles. Fewer than a third of adults approve of Trump in heavily Democratic California.
“I’ll go toe-to-toe with anyone who tries to hurt Californians. Because that’s what it means to have the courage to solve our toughest problems.” Former Rep. Katie Porter, gubernatorial candidate
That might bolster Porter in a crowded race where the major Democratic candidates — Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Controller Betty Yee — have so far mostly leaned into their personal biographies and messaging about affordability.
Attorney General Rob Bonta, who has already sued the new Trump administration more than a half dozen times, recently announced that he would forgo a run for governor and seek re-election.
Candidates wait for Harris decision
But the possibility that former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, could still enter the field looms large. Politico reported last week that Harris plans to decide by this summer whether she will run for governor — a decision that would likely force other candidates out of the race because of her advantages in fundraising and name ID.
The June 2026 gubernatorial primary is an open election from which the top two candidates will advance to a runoff, regardless of their party affiliation. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, and moderate Democrat Stephen Cloobeck, the founder of a timeshare company, are among the other announced candidates.
This story originally appeared in CalMatters.