Democrat declares California Primary “rigged” after losing

Katie Porter has claimed that California’s Senate primary race was “rigged” after she lost a vote on Wednesday.

Porter, a progressive Democrat, came third in the non-partisan primary, losing out to Adam Schiff, a centrist Democrat who has been vocal in his support for Israel.

In response to the results, she blamed billionaires for spending money on attack adverts against her.

Newsweek contacted representatives for Porter by X to comment on this story.

The Context

The Senate seat has become available after Dianne Feinstein, the longest-serving woman in the U.S. Senate, died in September 2023.

Porter, who has represented Orange County, California, since 2019, got 14 percent of the state vote in the election. Schiff got 33 percent of the vote and will face Republican Steve Garvey, a former professional baseball player, who got 32.6 percent of the vote.

It became the most expensive race in the state’s history. At least $65.3 million was spent on adverts, according to Politico, who cited data from political ad-tracking service AdImpact.

Schiff outspent the other candidates and raised more money, according to campaign finance data. He had $35 million on hand at the start of 2024 while Porter had $13.2 million.

What We Know

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, Porter said: “Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign and voted to shake up the status quo in Washington. 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.

“I also want to thank every person who supported us over the past six years. It’s clear Californians are hungry for leaders who break the mold, can’t be bought, and push for accountability in government and across our economy. And that’s exactly what we as Americans deserve.

“Special interests like politics as it is today because they control the politicians. As we’ve seen in this campaign, they spend millions to defeat someone who will dilute their influence and disrupt the status quo. But take my word for it: I’ll never stop fighting for you.”

In a statement added to X, she added: “‘Rigged’ means manipulated by dishonest means. 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.”

Following the result, Schiff’s victory speech was drowned out by people calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Views

Adam Carlson, a former political pollster, said: “New York Democrats are the absolute worst, but California Democrats aren’t far behind,” in response to Porter’s claims.

What’s Next?

It is likely Schiff will win the Senate seat in the November vote as California is a Democratic stronghold. Republicans have not won a state-wide California seat since 2006.

Update 3/7/24, 3:50 a.m. ET: This story was updated with additional information and background.