Former Rep. Katie Porter, a candidate for California governor<\/a>, continues to face questions about her temperament and addressed the issue at a debate Tuesday night.<\/p>\n Porter, who drew fresh criticism this week after releasing a campaign ad that jokes about her past outbursts, raised the issue of scrutiny over viral videos of her berating a staff member and threatening to walk out of an interview with a journalist. Her conduct also was raised by the moderator later in the CNN debate.<\/p>\n Katie Porter participates in a California gubernatorial debate hosted by CNN at East Los Angeles College in Monterey Park, Calif., on May 5, 2026.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Ethan Swope\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI can\u2019t believe that on a stage with 30 minutes of interrupting and bickering and name-calling and shouting and disrespect \u2026 that anyone wants to talk about my temperament,\u201d Porter said.<\/p>\n Porter also repeatedly called out her opponents during the debate for what she characterized as unruly behavior, at one point telling them: “Boys, enough with the bickering.”<\/p>\n \u201cNot one of them, not one of these men, have said, in this entire campaign, I’ve made a mistake,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Democratic strategist Maria Cardona said she thought Porter handled the exchange well.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI thought it was smart of her as the only woman on the stage to point out to the cattiness and nastiness of the men going after one another, and then apologizing again for what she had done,\u201d Cardona said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tim Krebs, political science professor at the University of New Mexico, told ABC News that a double standard applied to female candidates is well-documented in politics.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is often labeled as \u2018too emotional,\u2019 \u2018too aggressive,\u2019 or lacking the \u2018right temperament\u2019 in a woman candidate is frequently interpreted as toughness, strength, or decisiveness in a male candidate,\u201d Krebs said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cPorter was also correct to point out the inconsistency of male candidates — including one backed by President Trump, whose political brand is built on speaking in an openly confrontational and unfiltered style,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n But, Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Law School professor, told ABC News that \u201ctwo things can be true\u201d — \u201cher past behavior, which she apologized for, can be problematic. And I think that at least for some people, their view of that behavior can be colored by the fact that she’s a woman.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBeing governor of California depends not just on your policy views, but on your temperament,\u201d Levinson said. \u201cYou have to work with the state legislature. You have to compromise. And I think that for some people, it’s not, does she have a bad temper? It’s is her temper going to undermine her ability to be successful as governor?”<\/p>\n A video surfaced in October 2025 showing Porter telling a staffer during a 2021 video call to “get out of my f—ing shot.” Porter has said she\u2019s taken responsibility and apologized for the incident.<\/p>\n California gubernatorial candidates former Rep. Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, Steve Hilton, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan look on during a CNN California Governor Primary Debate at East Los Angeles College, on May 5, 2026, in Monterey Park, Calif.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Her campaign released an ad this week that seemingly made light of the situation, ending with Porter smiling and asking the crowd behind her, “Now, can you guys please get out of my shot?”<\/p>\n Among the eight most prominent gubernatorial candidates, Porter is the only woman who remains in the race. Influential organizations and lawmakers such as EMILYs List, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and three sitting members of California\u2019s congressional delegation have endorsed her.<\/p>\n According to the U.S. Census Bureau, women make up\u00a0just over half<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of California’s population, and they make up about\u00a057% of likely Democratic voters<\/u><\/a>, per the Public Policy Institute of California. The state has never had a female governor.\u00a0<\/p>\n From referencing driving her minivan to feeling the financial strain at the grocery store, Porter says she intimately knows the affordability issues many Californians face, and highlighting her working, single-mother lifestyle a focal point of her campaign\u2019s messaging.<\/p>\n Dan Schnur, a political science professor at University of California, Berkeley and the University of Southern California, credited Porter for “trying to address something that has created a real problem for her campaign” — but “she tends to sound annoyed that she has to address it, which makes it less effective.”<\/p>\n \u201cI’m also not sure that ‘I behave myself most of the time’ is a message that will work with voters who have seen the videos,” Schnur added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"College](\"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/fd2d9606-218b-44d1-836c-4b9d88ba9c36\/katie-porter-ap-jt-260506_1778106648739_hpMain.jpg?w=375 "\\"College")
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