‘Is Hugo Chavez Involved?’ Pod Save America Hosts Confront Katie Porter on ‘Rigged’ Election Claim
Screenshot via Pod Save America
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) admitted she regrets using the word “rigged” to describe her Senate primary election loss after she was mockingly asked how to “stop the steal.”
Former Barack Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett posed the question on the Pod Save America podcast, referring to a phrase frequently used by Donald Trump supporters who believe the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent.
“How do we stop the steal? Is Hugo Chavez involved, and how do we stop him?” Lovett asked Porter following her loss to Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) in the Senate primary race to find a nominee to replace the late Dianne Feinstein.
“So obviously, I wish I had chosen a different word because what happened with the controversy was it took away from two really important truths,” Porter said.
The congresswoman went on to praise California election workers and claim that election outcomes are “manipulated” through last-minute donations.
“One, our California election officials do a terrific job. I have been through competitive, close elections where it has taken days to count, and so I have tremendous respect for them. So, want to make clear that at no time and in no way would I ever suggest that there’s anything than a careful, thoughtful, amazing election system that actually should be the model for a lot of the country, in my opinion,” she said.
Porter went on to claim that “big money does affect our elections,” pointing to Super PACs as having motivations that should be questioned.
“Big money does affect our elections. 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,” she said.
“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 previously wrote to supporters after her primary loss.
Listen to the entire Pod Save America episode with Porter here.
