Rep. Katie Porter voted in favor of Proposition 36, a controversial ballot measure in California to increase penalties for certain shoplifting and drug possession charges, even as she had reservations about the measure that divided top Democrats.
Her comments on the issue on CNN Friday could be an attempt to appeal to California voters who overwhelmingly approved the ballot measure — as she considers a possible run for governor in 2026.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is serving his final term, opposed the measure and Vice President Kamala Harris declined to say whether she voted for it.
“I support higher penalties for retail crime, that is a problem here. We need to give our police officers and our businesses more tools to deal with this,” Porter told CNN’s Brianna Keilar. “At the same time, drug use is part of this. We know that locking people up for substance use is incredibly expensive for taxpayers and doesn’t actually heal people.”
Porter did not directly address Harris’ dodge on Prop 36, saying, “I can’t speak for her.” She added that it is important to tell voters “the truth” and “show respect towards them.”
Porter also expressed confidence that Senator Dave Min will win her seat in the House of Representatives, which she gave up due to a failed Senate bid. The race is extremely close and has not yet been called given the lengthy process of counting votes in the state.
“People don’t understand how election counting works in California, and that’s why we have the same kind of panic every year,” she said on CNN. “But I’m here to tell you that as someone who has been through this three times, I never got to celebrate Election Day, and I always had to go to Congress. It will be exactly the same for Dave Min.
Porter predicted optimism that Democrats still have “a chance to control the House of Representatives,” even though Republicans will likely retain control of the chamber with about 20 uncalled races remaining.
Still, she said the fierce battle for control of the House of Representatives is “really a wake-up call” for all members of Congress to “connect directly with the biggest challenges facing families.”
“We need a strong economic message, and the party that figures out how to do that will be the party that wins back control in 2026,” she said. “I feel really good that Democrats can do that.”
Porter accused newly elected President Donald Trump of “sucking up a lot of oxygen” in both the presidential race and even in her failed bid for Senate, as Democrats portrayed him as a threat to democracy without also showing voters how his economic policies would affect their daily lives. lives.
“I think this abstract talk about democracy is obviously the foundation of our entire government, so you can never downplay it, but how you connect that to what’s happening in people’s lives, I think that’s where our local candidates, our state candidates, our congressional candidates really had a little bit more success in getting through and getting through to voters,” she said.
