On the past past Sunday in the

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Celine Marcos was giddy after talking to Rep. Katie Porter and getting the

Democratic

Irvine congressman signs a copy of her newly released

memoir book

“I swear, politics is messier than my minivan.”

The moment wasn’t just fangirling for book lovers. Marcos lives in the

Glendale

district of Rep. Adam B. Schiff, a rival of Porter’s in California’s 2024 Senate race, and felt “torn between the candidates” in what promises to be

a

fire campaign.

While although

she had followed Porter’s

career work

Marcos, 28, who works for the LA Community College District, was in Congress for some time and was struck by the way Porter’s appearance on the

book

festival “was much more on a personal level” than about politics. The one-on-one experience certainly helped shift Marcos’ preference in the Senate race in Porter’s favor.

Porter is far from the first politician to try to raise her profile and charm voters

potential donors

by releasing a memoir as he launched a campaign for higher office. But Porter’s strategy

is

another example of how a senate campaign in California, a vast area home to nearly 40 million people, can require almost quasi-national campaign tactics.

Book tours are practically de rigueur for future presidential candidates, such as former vice president

Mike

Penny, Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis and

south carolina

Senator Tim Scott has shown for the past year.

Porter’s work, which peaked

No. 6 #6

on the New York Times bestseller list, afforded her the chance to speak to large crowds in the state and across the country. Already a popular talk show guest, she booked another round of appearances on ABC’s “The View,” NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” and HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” along with a slew of podcasts, magazine interviews, and radio.

broadcast hits

.

She also did in-person events in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Francisco, Chicago, the San Diego area, Washington, DC and Chicago.

“Playing ‘The View’ was one of the best performances I could do,” Porter said at the book festival in late April.

I

as she scrambled through USC

University of Southern California

campus to get from her performance to the signing session. “‘The View’ is a program that people come to because they’re interested in hearing from smart women addressing a wide variety of issues, whether it’s buying new tableware or talking about abortion rights. I think For those audiences, inserting politics into conversation areas that are part of bigger things is important.”

Political consultant Bill Carrick said the book circuit allowed Porter to tell her story on her own terms, offering readers and voters a reason why the nominee-cum-author should be chosen. In 2021, Schiff, fresh from leading the House effort to impeach then-President Trump, released a book about his efforts to counter Republican demagoguery and

democratic

relapse.

The Burbank congressman tome was a New York Times bestseller and helped him maintain a national profile by also jumping onto the national talk show circuit. “Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could” even won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the current interest category.

“These books answer the question that everyone who votes asks, ‘Well, what are you for? What are you going to do when you get into the Senate?'” Carrick said.

An added benefit to Porter’s is hair

campaign is that it did not have to pay for the travel associated with the book promotion. stacy stone,

a Crown Publishing Group

spokeswoman, told The Times that all travel arrangements were made by the publisher.

Rose Kapolczynski, former political adviser to Senator Barbara Boxer, noted

said

that into

prior previous

eras it was rare for

search

a new congressman like Porter to write a book and do national tours

like these

.

“One thing a book tour does for you, it gives you a news hook without reporters having to talk to your opponents,” Kapolczynski said. “There’s also a voter outreach side because you can’t get elected without being known. Simply becoming a more familiar name to voters is a huge step forward. If you can do it for free through a news appearance, it will save more money for your campaign later on.

The strategy has been used by previous candidates for statewide office in California with mixed results. Republican Meg Whitman, a former EBay CEO, released “The Power of Many: Values ​​for Success in Business and in Life” during her 2010 campaign for governor, which she ultimately lost to Democrat Jerry Brown. Vice President Kamala Harris published “Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer” in 2009 while successfully running for California Attorney General.

P

orter’s appearance op

account

from Maher

show

included a clash with former CNN host Piers Morgan over the eviction of

several three

Tennessee lawmakers and whether transgender athletes had a place in women’s sports. On

Meyers’ program, Late Night with Seth Myers,

she had a welcoming audience

who listened to her about launched on

Tucker Carlson’s recent firing

from Fox News

.

Porter used the appearance to

discuss talk about

Topics in her book and defusing possible attacks against her during the campaign. On ‘The View’ she found a congenial forum to talk about

discuss

her contentious divorce and accusations that she is a bad boss. She accused her critics of using painful moments in the lives of her three children as a weapon

children

for political gain.

“It only comes up in these contexts where people are trying to put down a strong, outspoken woman,” Porter told the hosts of “The View” about her husband.

‘

allegations of domestic violence against her.

Like many political tomes, Porters is part memoir, part manifesto. She writes about her upbringing in rural Iowa during the 1980s agricultural crisis and the lessons she learned from her 2018 underdog victory in

for

a

traditionally Republican

Orange provincial house

district seat

. She denounces the influence of big business in Washington and offers

how

tips

about how for readers

become politically engaged.

But Porter’s book also deviates from the norm, exploring topics that are normally taboo, such as the strain her job has placed on her finances, her family, and her self-image. She calls out fellow Democrats and names for out-of-touch behavior and writes about the minor and major indignities of serving in Congress.

For example, during her performance at the

Los Angeles

Times Book Festival, she was asked about her bracingly honest writing about her weight. This is addressed in the second chapter of the book

of the book

but Porter said it was the first chapter she wrote and remembers it

How

after she won

to win

in 2018, social media commentators said so

discussed how

her ascent was a victory for “big positivity.”

“I say in the book, I remember crying and thinking, ‘First of all, I never really knew I was fat,'” she told a laughing

sold out sold out

crowd who had all paid $5 to reserve a seat. “Like most middle-aged women, the struggle is real, and I definitely didn’t feel positive about it.”

Her session at the festival was a mix of light-hearted one-liners and serious comments about the state of American politics. She offered a high-level analysis of the Senate race and an explanation of why she thinks California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein should serve out the remainder of her term.

At one point, she dodged a question about whether the calls for Feinstein to resign were sexist, saying, “We need to think about how we can modernize Congress so that when we have situations like this, we have a set of rules and policies in place so that it doesn’t get a little bit personalized or politicized, and we don’t allow any bias to the

discussion.”

Kiely Wilcox, 28,

from Costa Mesa,

a product manager for a technology company,

from Costa Mesa

said she was excited by the chance to see the congresswoman in a unique location.

I think if you’re going to see politicians at rallies, it’s very scripted. Kind of like getting in and out,” Wilcox said. “It’s really nice to hear her honest, first thoughts.”

The room was

compelling delight

when Porter talked about Trump

other

After the event, Palos Verdes retired. Ros Wolf was at the very back of a line of nearly 200 people eager to get in touch with a political hero.

The 76-year-old former attorney wanted Porter Rep. Showing Katie Porter photos she had of volunteering for the Irvine native’s campaign in 2018, which launched her political career. And yet Wolf, who said she loves Porter, has not made up her mind

whose

she’s going to vote

for

in the 2024 California State Senate primary.

“I’ve supported Barbara Lee for 20 years,” she said, referring to the Oakland congressman and senate candidate.

Wolf said hearing Porter helped her grapple with the tough decision about

whose

back inside

than next year’s

primary.

“Today I really heard her speak for the first time in a long time, and I thought she was very powerful,” said Wolf.