() Former Democratic representative and California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter has gone viral after attempting to cut short an interview she deemed “unnecessarily argumentative.”

“What do you say to the 40% of California voters, who you’ll need in order to win, who voted for Trump?” CBS News correspondent Julie Watts asked.

Porter responded: “How would I need them in order to win, ma’am?”

When asked about her chances of winning over the other 60% of California voters, Porter said she was confident in a general election.

“If it is me versus a Republican, I think I will win the people who did not vote for Trump,” she said.

Porter led the race with 17% percent of the vote in an August poll from the University of California, Berkeley.

Her two closest competitors Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat banked 10% or less of the vote, and nine other candidates earned 6% or less. A majority, 38%, of voters remained undecided.

When asked further about her odds, this time against another Democrat, Porter said she had secured recognition among voters already and didn’t “intend that to be the case.”

Watts pressed again about her odds, and Porter attempted to cut the interview short.

“I don’t want to keep doing this. I’m going to call it. Thank you,” Porter said, adding that she said she wouldn’t continue the interview “like this.”

“Not with seven follow-ups to every question you ask … I don’t want to have an unhappy experience with you, and I don’t want this all on camera,” she said.

The interview, released Wednesday, was filmed last month and lasted for an additional 20 minutes after the altercation, Porter’s team told media outlets.

Criticism grows, odds drop for Katie Porter

Although the race remains in Porter’s favor, the odds of her winning dropped on the event-based trading site Kalshi after the interview.

Fellow Democratic candidates vying for the governor’s seat quickly admonished Porter after the video’s release.

“No candidate for Governor should hide from the press or mistreat them we owe it to the public to be transparent,” State Superintendent Tony Thurmond said. “If she can’t answer basic questions from a reporter, how can Californians expect her to stand up to President Trump?”

Antonio Villaraigosa, former California state speaker, said the state deserved a leader who would “solve hard problems and answer simple questions.”

Before entering the gubernatorial race, Porter served in the House of Representatives from 2019 to 2025. She ran for U.S. Senate, but was defeated by Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in the primary.

partner The Hill contributed to this report.