CA governor candidate nearly walks out of interview. ‘Don’t want all this on camera’

Candidates for California governor criticized Democratic frontrunner Katie Porter after a clip showed the former Orange County congresswoman threatening to walk out of an interview with a news reporter. At least one other candidate is calling on the former congresswoman to drop out of the race.

In the sit-down interview, CBS California investigative reporter Julie Watts asked Porter: “What do you say to the 40% of California voters — who you’ll need in order to win — who voted for Trump?”

“How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?” Porter responded before turning to someone off camera and laughing.

The candidate said she would not need the support of Trump voters if she faces a Republican candidate in the November 2026 general election.

“What if it’s you versus another Democrat?” Watts asked.

“I don’t intend that to be the case,” Porter responded.

After a bit of back-and-forth, the candidate said the interview felt “unnecessarily argumentative” and threatened to walk out. “I don’t want to keep doing this. I’m going to call it,” she said, reaching for her microphone. “Not like this … Not with seven follow-ups to every single question you ask.”

“Ma’am, I don’t want to have an unhappy experience, and I don’t want this all on camera,” Porter said shortly before the clip ends. According to CBS, Porter stayed and kept answering questions.

Criticism comes from social media

The three-minute clip drew harsh critiques on social media from other candidates running for governor.

“We need a leader who will solve hard problems and answer simple questions,” said former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Villaraigosa turned the entire three-minute clip into an ad that is scheduled to run on Sacramento’s CBS channels Thursday. His campaign said it is the first three-minute ad broadcast for a governor’s race in state history.

“Katie Porter doesn’t have the temperament to be governor,” former state Controller Betty Yee said. “As a candidate, I welcome the hard questions — the next governor must be accessible and transparent. No place for temper tantrums. No place for dodging the public’s right to know.”

In a statement to reporters, Yee called on Porter to drop out of the race. “Without scripted soundbites or her whiteboard scrawls, voters now see what many have long known: Katie Porter is a weak, self-destructive candidate unfit to lead California. The stakes are simply too high for her to stay in this race,” she said.

“If Katie can’t handle election results or reporters questions, how the heck can she handle California?” said former hospitality CEO Stephen Cloobeck.

”I’m not interested in excluding any vote,” former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra wrote on social media. “Every Californian deserves affordable health care, safe streets, a roof over their head and a living wage.”

Republican candidates weigh in, too

Republican candidates also jumped on the interview.

“It’s absolutely amazing, this Katie Porter interview,” former Fox News host Steve Hilton said in a brief video on social media. “For 15 years Democrats have run this state into the ground …. They can’t withstand the most basic questions. They totally crumble.”

Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco accused his opponent of “(throwing) a temper tantrum on TV because you do not like the question. Katie Porter is just another unhinged Democrat who would complete Gavin Newsom’s destruction of our beautiful state.”

Porter has not addressed the interview on social media since Tuesday, when it began making the rounds. Her campaign noted that she continued answering questions for another 20 minutes.

Polls have shown Porter as the leading Democrat in the 2026 campaign for California governor, though a majority of voters are still undecided in the race.

The three-minute clip was part of a 30-minute segment from the station in which candidates for governor answered questions about redistricting and Proposition 50.