more traction. Right now, he has my vote.

Seen what horrors the billionaire class has inflicted on this country. Also, Steyer has interests in for profit prisons.

California has only had one Latino Governor. Becerra is Latino - but he ALSO has the Bona Fides.

The race is open now.

But he needs to up his campaign skills and gain some traction.

a traditional GOP problem, dishwashers.

She ridiculed them and said it was because people don't load their dishwashers properly.
My dishwasher runs for nearly 3 hours. Why? Because you can't turn off the heated drying, which is completely unnecessary in my mind. I could on all my previous models.

With Swalwell's ostensible exit, a lot of people will start focusing on the race and looking at it with fresh eyes. You want to be as appealing to them as possible.

Instead, here's an adversarial framing from the word go. "Porter is great - if you can handle a woman!"

This stuff only really appeals to white suburban women and the social media spaces that cater to them. Which, if anyone has noticed, is not California's biggest demographic. Rather than appeal, it reinforces an image of Porter that's currently floating around that she's somewhat prickly and unnecessarily confrontational.

So this framing is a choice. Very "with friends like these" coded.

I voted for Porter in the Senate race and am generally positive on her, but yes, her disposition and how that fits into an executive role gives me some pause. I'm Steyer-leaning at the moment, but that is extremely subject to change. But verbiage like this does nothing to nudge me closer to her camp. It gets an eye-roll at best, but it's really just cloying an irritating. We're going to start this shit now, are we?

Porter has a lot of plusses going for her. Let's emphasize that if we're aiming for a re-introduction of the race.

Discussion of why women have a tougher time winning in presidential and governors races in the U.S. deserves attention

The governorship from. California is practically a catapult to the White house.

If we want a wider and deeper bench of women for president then get them in the governors offices.
This CA race started off very diverse.
Two women couldn't gain traction and ran in different races.
By the time swalwell entered the top two vote getters were two white male Republicans.
Then Swalwell entered and he was rising quickly.

From diversity to status quo.

In 2026 the U.S. still has a low rating for political diversity. Globally, we won't reach gender equality for 130 years at the rate we are headed.

Gender equality is essential to reach the UN sustainable goals.

The fact we have Trump in office is based in sexism.
Fight for women in leadership.

But since then, I have cooled on her based on her own behavior - not from any internal bias.

And that behavior would sour me just as much with a male candidate.

I was a solid no on Swalwell from the start. Not only because of the rumors, but because I just plain did not like the man.

In a just world, in a fair world, Betty Yee would be crushing it. I like her, I've always liked her, and I believe she's one of the most competent people in the race. I still may yet vote for her just to show support if it looks as if a Democrat is safely positioned to be in the general.