Katie Porter

A consumer advocate who knows how to fight

Rep. Katie Porter ran for reelection to Congress. She has spent nearly 20 years as a consumer advocate taking on Wall Street banks and powerful financial institutions that try to take advantage of middle-class families. The daughter of a farmer and a teacher, Rep. Porter saw firsthand how the farm crisis of the 1980s hurt families and communities. After graduating from Yale University, she went to Harvard Law School and learned bankruptcy law from influential professor Elizabeth Warren, with whom she co-authored a book on debt and credit law. She has earned national acclaim for her fights against unfair practices by Wall Street banks, credit card companies, student loan servicers, and predatory lenders. In 2012, she was raising her three young children and teaching law at the University of California – Irvine, where she founded a consumer protection legal clinic, when Vice President Kamala Harris, who was then attorney general of California, asked her to serve as the California Monitor of the National Mortgage Settlement. The five biggest Wall Street banks had promised billions in relief to the homeowners they had cheated, and she held the banks’ feet to the fire — securing $18 billion for California homeowners and helping tens of thousands of families in the state. Rep. Porter has worked to bring down credit card fees and is dedicated to ending the predatory banking practices that hurt women and families. Rep. Porter ran for Congress to get our economy working for all Californians and to fight back against a dangerous agenda that puts powerful interests ahead of people and families. 

A champion for California families

Rep. Porter is committed to increasing economic opportunity for middle-class families and taking on the special interests that take unfair advantage of those pursuing the American dream. Upon taking office, she quickly earned a reputation as a highly skilled, formidable, and savvy questioner in Congressional hearings, demanding answers and accountability on behalf of the people she serves. “It’s not about hearing yourself talk; it’s about getting answers for the American people,” she has said. Rep. Porter has worked tirelessly to help pass the landmark COVID-19 relief package. “This bill is meaningful help for American families who have already waited far too long,” she has said. Rep. Katie is focused on the work ahead to build on the progress she has helped make. “Every elected official brings their own perspective, and mine is [a] single mom of young children in Congress,” she has said, and she champions commonsense policies to give women and children a fair shot. “We need to use the sheer number of women who have exited the workforce, and the overall effect that the pandemic has had on women’s work, to drive home why investments in child care are investments in economic growth or even global competitiveness. Just as you take a road to get to your workplace, child care is infrastructure that allows people to work.” Rep. Porter serves on the Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Committee on Natural Resources. She serves as chair of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, which is responsible for holding polluters accountable and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in areas including the climate crisis, public lands, wildfire management, and tribal affairs. “Californians are already experiencing the devastation of the climate crisis, including record wildfires and deteriorating air quality,” she has said. “I’m humbled and excited to hold polluters accountable, safeguard all of our communities, and help spearhead solutions to the climate crisis.” Now more than ever, we need her experience and perspective in Congress.

Victory in a must-win reelection fight

Rep. Porter flipped this seat blue in 2018, and she successfully defended it in 2020 — and again in 2022. Weshowed Rep. Porter the full support of the EMILY’s List community and helped keep this champion for California working families in the House.