Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) raised $1.3 million for her California Senate bid in the first 24 hours after launching her campaign, the Democrat announced.

Porter, a strong fundraiser since winning her first House bid in 2018, became the first prominent California Democrat to announce for Senate in 2024. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) remains mum on her plans, although Democratic insiders are expecting the 89-year-old incumbent to retire next year rather than seek another term.

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“This isn’t going to be easy, and winning will only be possible with grassroots support,” Porter said in an email fundraising appeal. “Small donations are why I won 3 competitive House races even as the GOP spent nearly $10 million attacking me last year.”

In addition to strong initial fundraising, Porter has picked up the endorsement of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, a liberal group active in competitive Democratic primaries. The committee said in a tweet that “Katie is the type of progressive champion Californians need fighting for working families in the Senate.”

Porter was elected to represent an Orange County House seat in 2018, a Democratic wave year. She narrowly won a third term, in California’s redrawn 47th Congressional District, in the midterm elections, holding off Republican Scott Baugh 51.7% to 48.3%. Porter will likely not be the last Democrat to jump into the Senate race in California.

Under the state’s all-party primary system, the top two finishers advance to the general election. In deep-blue California, those two candidates could easily be Democrats. In a poll commissioned for the Porter campaign publicized Tuesday, she led Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and other potential Democratic contenders.

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Porter also led Schiff in a hypothetical head-to-head matchup.

Original Location: Katie Porter reveals fundraising haul and key endorsement for Senate bid

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