In a post-election outburst that stunned Democratic Party leaders, Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., claimed that her Senate primary contest against establishment leader Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., was rigged by the Democratic establishment.
The claims echo former President Trump’s rhetoric over election fraud and tampering by Democrats, sending shockwaves through the party.
Porter is facing intense backlash after she said her opponent and his billionaire donors made sure the California Senate primary wasn’t fair.
Porter’s claimed that Democratic Party power brokers manipulated the vote through “dishonest means” to block her path to the general election — and has faced stinging rebuke from fellow Democrats.
The accusations were a stunning departure from her party’s official stance that Trump’s claims of widespread Democratic election fraud were nothing but a conspiracy theory.
Porter’s rigging allegations appeared after her distant third-place finish to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who passed away in October. She finished well behind primary winner Rep. Adam Schiff and a Republican candidate, Steve Garvey.
Schiff won 33.22 percent of the vote and Garvey won 32.26 percent to advance to the November runoff. Porter finished with just 14.21 percent, while Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., received 7.63 percent.
A Schiff-aligned Super PAC backed Garvey, a former MLB pitcher, to help box out Porter — tactic that angered Porter, who decried Schiff’s “brazenly cynical” backing of a nominal GOP opponent he would easily defeat in November.
Democratic Party leaders quickly attacked Porter’s accussations. Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz told Porter that “California’s vote was not rigged”, while California Sen. Alex Padilla – the former California Secretary of State overseeing elections – slammed the notion as “ridiculous.”
“It’s not rigged,” Padilla, a Democrat, told reporters. “As the former secretary of state of California, I can assure you of the integrity of the elections and the results.”
The fierce pushback illustrates how Porter’s inflammatory claims strike at the heart of the Democratic establishment’s credibility on fair elections.
Having repeatedly claimed Trump’s fraud claims were undermining public faith in the electoral process, prominent Democrats cannot afford to let similar rhetoric come from within their own ranks.
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The Horn editorial team