In the weeks now that Californians have been lashed by high winds during epic rainstorms and multiple mudslides as a series of atmospheric rivers moves through the state, I’ve heard from friends across the country, asking if we’re OK. So it’s weird that Rep. Katie Porter seemed not to have heard any of this.
The Orange County Democrat definitely didn’t know that it was less than ideal timing, launching a U.S. Senate campaign with the death toll in her home state still climbing, to 19 as of Wednesday night. Floodwaters ripped a 5-year-old out of his mother’s arms, and cars were being swallowed whole by sinkholes. There was kayaking on the streets of Santa Barbara, evacuations from Montecito, and whole roads turned into rivers. Yet this ongoing disaster didn’t rate even a passing mention in Porter’s announcement video, which focused on the need for “a warrior in Washington.”
Last I checked, Washington was lousy with warriors. Porter, however, I would until this week have described as refreshingly unlike other lawmakers — a brainy and unvarnished single mom and singular communicator. Every fact fancier has to love her way with a whiteboard.
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