Democratic California Rep. Katie Porter rightly pointed out that election outcomes are “manipulated” by “big money” after losing her primary race –but Democrats like her aren’t the usual victims.
Porter initially claimed the California Senate primary race to replace the late Dianne Feinstein was “rigged” after she placed third.
“Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign and voted to shake up the status quo in Washington,” Porter posted on X. “Because of you, we had the establishment running scared — withstanding 3 to 1 in TV spending and an onslaught of billionaires spending millions to rig this election.”
Porter told “Pod Save America” host Jon Lovett she regrets using the word “rigged” to describe her loss but doubled down on the assertion that her race was affected by malign factors.
“Big money does influence our elections,” Porter told Lovett, adding the election system itself in California is not the culprit. “Outcomes are manipulated and distorted when you have people coming in, spending millions and millions of dollars at the last minute and that money is not disclosed until after the election.”
Porter is right: Big money does manipulate election outcomes. And it’s not just via above-board campaign donations, either.
But it’s not Democrat candidates like Porter who are the primary victims — it’s Americans whose votes are diluted by the effects of billionaires funneling millions into local races to fundamentally alter how elections are conducted. Further, those millions have been shown to be skewed in
