OF THE DEMOCRATS VYING TO succeed Democratic California Senator Dianne Feinstein, Representative Katie Porter was first out of the gate. Porter, who represents an affluent and narrowly Democratic district south of Los Angeles, declared her candidacy early in January—before the 89-year-old Feinstein officially announced her retirement and before fellow California House members Adam Schiff, 62, and Barbara Lee, 76, announced their candidacies.
Porter, 49, a former law professor and a prodigious fundraiser, has won a national profile by her sharp questioning of financial executives and government officials, and for using her trademark whiteboard to make a point. Her blunt style has also provoked clashes with her party’s leadership.
Porter, Schiff and Lee all have solid progressive credentials and the race for the Democratic Senate nomination is currently a close one. A late February poll by the University of California, Berkeley, and gave Porter 20 percent of the likely Democratic vote, just behind
