Ethan Agarwal, a California Democrat gubernatorial candidate challenging former Representative Katie Porter for the state's top job, told Newsweek on Thursday that Porter's recent viral moments reveal "anger control issues."
In contrast, the gubernatorial hopeful applauded Governor Gavin Newsom's social media tactics, calling him "probably the best and most effective counterbalance to [President Donald] Trump."
Newsweek has reached out to Porter's and Newsom's press team for comment via email on Friday evening.
Porter, a three-term Democrat who left office in January and is considered a front-runner in California's governor's race, has been in the political spotlight this week after two videos circulated online, one showing her berating a staffer for being in her video frame and another capturing her cutting short a tense interview with CBS News California Investigates correspondent Julie Watts.
California is America's most populous state and, by itself, the world's fourth-largest economy, making the governorship a high-profile job. Newsom, now term-limited, has climbed into the national spotlight with public clashes with the Trump administration, prompting frequent speculation about his presidential ambitions.
Agarwal, 40, who described himself as a "pro-capitalism" Democrat at a Thursday night event in Manhattan, sat down with Newsweek to discuss the state's leadership and what's going on in the Democratic race.
Outlining his platform's top three policies as housing, making "crime illegal again," and bolstering California's energy sector, Agarwal then turned to one of the top Democratic contenders, Porter, who he called a "smart lady," but has been in the news over her interactions with staff and media.
In response to the viral clips of Porter, Agarwal said, "[Californians] are feeling betrayed a little bit, I think they're feeling frustrated," by her temperament displayed in the videos. "I think people are allowed to have a bad day, everyone has a bad day. It's hard to be on camera all the time," he noted. "But that's not what that was, that was clear evidence of someone that has anger control issues."
He added that her actions in the videos relay to him that "she is not able to deal with someone challenging her. If you can't deal with someone challenging you, how are you going to run the fourth largest economy in the world?"
"I think it's a temperament issue, I like fiery people, I like passionate people...but you still treat people as human beings," Agarwal said, adding that "if you can't control these little, tiny microcosm situations, how are you going to deal with running the state of California?"
Porter said in a statement about the video of her berating a staffer, "It's no secret I hold myself and my staff to a high standard, and that was especially true as a member of Congress. I have sought to be more intentional in showing gratitude to my staff for their important work."
The fallout of the situation extends beyond public perception of Porter, Agarwal said, noting that she's going "to lose the best people," because the "best staffers, advisers, pollsters, campaign strategists are not going to work for Katie Porter anymore, and that's where she's going to lose."
An Emerson College poll of 1,000 Californian voters conducted between August 4 and 5 found Porter leading with 18 percent, followed by Republican political commentator Steve Hilton at 12 percent, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at 7 percent, and former Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa at 5 percent. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Agarwal had not yet announced his run when the poll was conducted.
Turning to the current governor, Agarwal said the state's top Democrat is "probably the best and most effective counterbalance to Trump, and I got to give him credit for that" highlighting Newsom's "all caps tweets," which are a riff off the president's. Over the summer, the governor's social media team changed the style and tone of their posts to mimic Trump's including a stream of all-caps threats and pop culture parodies, aimed at mocking Trump in a snarky tone while countering Republican initiatives in substance.
"I don't see any other Democrats stepping up and fighting Trump as aggressively as Newsom is," he told Newsweek. "With that said, I don't think the Democratic Party's platform should be let's just fight Trump," which is all it is these days -- it's like how can we be against Trump as opposed to being for something? So, I would like us to be for things as opposed to just being anti-Trump."
Political strategist Mike Madrid, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump political action committee, told Newsweek for another story about Porter on Friday: "You can get away with that in a big media market like Orange County, but once you're running for governor, that video plays very differently...[however] The field is still very wide open. It's a long time until June, and a lot of people are going to have second thoughts."
Porter's campaign spokesperson Peter Opitz said in a statement, as reported by Politico: "Californians are hungry for a governor who they trust can fight for them against Trump. They know from her work taking on powerful interests in Washington that Katie is never going to be shy about calling out bullshit, and that is why every poll shows Katie firmly in the lead."
Governor Newsom's press office wrote in an October 10 X post: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM, MANY SAY AMERICA'S MOST LOVED, MOST HANDSOME, AND POSSIBLY MOST IMPORTANT GOVERNOR!! MY BIRTHDAY WISH LIST (THE BEST LIST): NO TROOPS IN OUR BEAUTIFUL CITIES! NO TRUMP ELECTION RIGGING -- NONE! BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT, FAIR MAPS FOR EVERYONE! RESPECT FOR OUR SACRED CONSTITUTION! AND MOST IMPORTANT AND A VERY HUMBLE ASK, A NOBEL PEACE PRIZE (PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD ARE BEGGING ME TO ACCEPT IT!) THANK YOU TO THE AMAZING, TALENTED,HIGHLY ATTRACTIVE PEOPLE OF CALIFORNIA.I LOVE YOU!!!HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!--GCN"
Former California State Controller Betty Yee, who is running for governor, said in an October 8 X post: "Katie Porter is a weak, self-destructive candidate unfit to lead California. The stakes are simply too high for her to stay in this race. It's time for her to drop out of this race."
Political analyst Nate Silver said in an X post about Porter's interview: "TV is a really unnatural medium especially in a studio setting like this. Of course you're supposed to stay more on script if you're running for office but it's a very human reaction."
Political commentator Megyn Kelly said in an October 7 X post: "Are there other terrible interviews with Katie Porter? This is the most entertaining, unifying thing since tiger king!"
The gubernatorial race is still far away. The primaries are scheduled for June 2026, while the gubernatorial election is scheduled to take place on November 3, 2026.