LOS ANGELES — Katie Porter finished a distant third in the California Senate Primary race.

During her campaign, she framed herself as someone who would shake up the Senate and railed against corporate interest — who she now blames for her failed Senate campaign.

Senior Politico reporter Melanie Mason wrote a detailed account of Porter’s campaign and she joined “Inside the Issues” host Amrit Singh to break down why Porter’s bid for Senate ended where it did.

The Orange County congressional representative rose to fame for bringing a blunt-style to congressional hearings involving large corporations, often using a whiteboard to emphasize her message. 

Mason says Porter’s campaign was built to attract younger, more progressive voters, which was an issue given this year’s historically low voter turnout.

“If we’re doing the postmortem of what went wrong in that campaign, I think we can see a really discrepancy between the voters she was trying to reach and those that actually showed up on election day,” Mason said.

Skirting political norms is how Porter began her Senate campaign, opting to announce her candidacy before Dianne Feinstein had announced her retirement. 

“That is so quintessentially Katie Porter,” Mason said.

Though the move rubbed people the wrong way for Porter, not showing deference to Feinstein.

“There was a sense of don’t get out in front of this senator who has represented the state since 1992,” said Mason.

Porter finished behind Representative Adam Schiff and Dodger legend and Republican Steve Garvey. During the televised debates, Porter went after Garvey, but didn’t go for any direct confrontation with Schiff early on.

“[Porter] didn’t feel [attacking Schiff directly] would be successful. Perhaps it would turn off some of the voters that she was hoping to win over,” Mason said.

Mason adds she spoke with people who felt not calling Schiff out directly during the debates was a missed opportunity.

Following the results from Super Tuesday, Porter received a lot of flack when she referred to the election being rigged by corporate money. She did qualify her position that she was not questioning the legitimacy and integrity of the election process.

“It felt like a bookend to her campaign… she ends the campaign by using this rigged language that really rubs Democrats the wrong way,” Mason said.

As for what the future holds for Porter, doesn’t believe this will be the end for her in politics, as she has name recognition and still strong support.

“But I do think the note that she went out on, if it was a lot of sour grapes… if that has damaged her ability to build those relationships that she needs for a future race,” Mason said.

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