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The confrontation became even more uncomfortable after Collins turned to former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and asked whether behavior like Porter’s would be tolerated in his administration.
“That highlighted your opponent here, Congresswoman Katie Porter, threatening to cut off an interview with a reporter,” Collins said.
“That came after a video surfaced of her berating a member of her staff. If a senior official in your government acted as she did in those videos, would you fire them?”
Villaraigosa didn’t hesitate.
“Yes.”
That one-word response appeared to hit Porter hard as Collins pressed further, mentioning that Porter had even launched a campaign ad referencing the controversy while claiming she had apologized.
Collins added, “And you’ve put out an ad of your own now, making light of that interaction that you had with your staffer… which you said you apologized for.”
Porter immediately jumped in, sounding rattled as she attempted to regain control of the moment.
“That is not correct,” Porter responded in a shaky voice. “The ad is about showing Californians what they’ve had a chance to see on this stage tonight and in every other debate stage that we’ve had. Which is that I’m able to take responsibility. I’m able to follow the rules. I’m able to say I’m sorry and I’m able to do better.”
Rather than calming the situation, Porter’s response seemed to intensify the awkwardness. She repeatedly insisted Californians could judge her “temperament” for themselves while accusing the male candidates on stage of acting like “bullies.”
“Everybody in California had a chance to see me on stage with that reporter in the last debate and see exactly how I conducted myself,” Porter said. “Californians can decide for themselves about my temperament based on what they’ve seen here tonight.”
“And if these bullies, these boys bullying and bickering, hasn’t been enough to raise questions about their temperament, I would really challenge that.”
The California congresswoman then acknowledged her conduct again while trying to contrast herself with the other Democrats competing for the governorship.
“I have taken responsibility at this point hundreds of times, and that’s appropriate because I made a bad decision and I treated someone badly,” she admitted.
But the emotional moment took another turn when Porter’s voice began to crack as she accused the other candidates of refusing to admit their own failures.
“I apologized five years ago for it, and we worked together for four more years,” Porter said. “What I haven’t heard is the people on this stage who have made other bad decisions and other mistakes and other failures of leadership. Not one of them, not one of these men have said in this entire campaign, ‘I’ve made a mistake.’”
Porter then attempted to pivot toward criticism of former Biden administration official Xavier Becerra over migrant child labor concerns.
“Not for not being able to account for undocumented children who wound up in child labor. You called that MAGA talking points and a hoax, Mr. Becerra.”
“You, like, I could go down the line. I don’t even want to waste my time on this.”
As the exchange spiraled, Porter closed with an appeal directly to California voters, insisting she had demonstrated accountability and leadership despite the controversies surrounding her campaign.
“I just want to say to California, I have taken responsibility. I have shown that,” Porter said. “And what that ad is about, Kaitlan, is about showing that I can laugh at myself. I can hold myself to account. And I have the fitness, the temperament, and the best ideas to be governor. And everybody’s had a chance to see now in 3 debates now.”
Watch:
The heated confrontation underscored growing tensions inside California’s Democrat primary battle, where candidates are increasingly turning their fire inward as scrutiny intensifies. For Porter, however, Tuesday night’s debate may have reinforced lingering concerns about the temperament issue that continues to shadow her campaign.
