Rep. Katie Porter (D–Irvine) claimed on social media that the California Senate election was “rigged by billionaires.”
As of the latest count, Porter is at 13.9 percent in the race, far behind Rep. Adam Schiff (D–Burbank) at 33.4 percent and former baseball star Steve Garvey at 3.6 percent.
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The big picture: “Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign and voted to shake up the status quo in Washington,” Porter posted on X. “Because of you, we had the establishment running scared – withstanding 3 to 1 in TV spending and an onslaught of billionaires spending millions to rig this election.”
- After receiving immediate blowback for her claim that the election was rigged, Porter released a statement explaining what she meant by her claim.
- “‘Rigged’ means manipulated by dishonest means,” Porter said. “A few billionaires spent $10 million+ on attack ads against me, including an ad rated ‘false’ by an independent fact checker. That is dishonest means to manipulate an outcome. I said ‘rigged by billionaires’ and our politics are – in fact – manipulated by big dark money. Defending democracy means calling that out. At no time have I ever undermined the vote count and election process in CA, which are beyond reproach.”
Democrat pushback: Porter received backlash from members of her own party, criticizing her for her claim.
- “The election in California was not rigged,” Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz posted on Twitter.
- Sen. Alex Padilla told Politico that claims that the election was rigged are “ridiculous.”
- “It’s not rigged,” Padilla told Politico. “As the former secretary of state of California, I can assure you of the integrity of the elections and the results.”
