Democrat Rep. Katie Porter of California claimed Wednesday that the election for U.S. Senate had been rigged, after Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) boosted Republican rival Steve Garvey into second place to ensure a win in November.
Porter posted on X (formerly Twitter) that she had faced “an onslaught of billionaires spending millions to rig this election.”
Thank you to everyone who supported our campaign and voted to shake up the status quo in Washington. 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. (1/)
— Katie Porter (@katieporteroc) March 6, 2024
Schiff was the most well-funded candidate, thanks in part to his role in impeaching Donald Trump.
Moreover, as Breitbart News noted, Schiff spent on advertising in which he focused on Garvey as “too conservative for California,” which made Democrats rally around Schiff and also let Republican voters that they actually had a candidate in the race.
In one case, Schiff’s campaign created a fake Facebook news page called “Golden State Pulse,” then used a Fox News headline about Garvey and falsely labeled it “Breitbart.com” so that conservative readers would pay more attention.
Under California’s “jungle” primary system, all of the candidates compete in one pool, regardless of party, and the top two finishers in the primary, from all parties, advance to the November general election, regardless of party affiliation.
Schiff knew that he faced a tougher fight in a deep-blue state if Porter or another Democrat qualified for the general election. Therefore he boosted Garvey — a deceptive yet effective tactic, symbolic of how Schiff has advanced his career.
Porter was once a rising star among “progressive” Democrats, but was forced to court moderate voters in a failed effort to finish second to Schiff. (Her mentor, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), is notorious for calling the system “rigged.”)
Democrats are furious at Porter for claiming the election was “rigged,” after their party’s entire message for the past four years has been the Trump and his supporters are a threat to democracy because of doubts about the 2020 election.
Porter voted to impeach Trump — a second time — for allegedly inciting the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, by claiming that the election had been rigged against him.
Porter will now depart Congress after given up her Orange County seat.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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