McClatchy News: OC District in Play and Praise for Porter

McClatchy Newspaper Group offered this in-depth piece on CD-45 where Democrat Katie Porter is running neck and neck with Trump-supporting Republican Congresswoman Mimi Walters.  Read the whole piece here.

Some takeaways from the article:

• Walters would welcome President Trump to Orange County to campaign for her.
• Republican leaders were happy Porter won, believing she’s more beatable than the other Democrats who ran in the primary.
• But Republican voters disgusted with Trump are likely to flip blue this fall.
• Walters dismissed Trump’s family separation policy at the border saying Obama did the same thing (not quite).
• Walters thinks if the 2016 election were held today, Trump would win OC.
• Walters says voters are pleased with Trump’s results having exceeded expectations

• From the story, this:  While Democratic strategists in Washington say they can convince voters that the congressional GOP agenda hurts voters’ bottom line, some concede that in a wealthy place such as Orange County, a strong economy bolsters the Republican message that Trump isn’t so bad afterall.  As Melissa Fox, a Democrat on the Irvine City Council, told me, Republicans here were horrified by the president. Then their 401(k)s went up. “The sky hasn’t fallen,” she said. “The market is up.”

• And this: “This notion that we’re still Nixon’s Orange County, Reagan’s Orange County, we are not,” said Beth Krom, the former Democratic mayor of Irvine. “This is a very moderate county. The extreme right-wing Republican constituency is dwindling and dying off by the year.”

• Lastly, Katie Porter can win.

I’m convinced after reading the piece that Walters lacks heart and soul.  For the vast majority of working families in CD-45, Trumpcare and the GOP tax plan will hurt economically while benefiting the carpet-bagging Walters who lives in Laguna Beach.

As voters, we should insist that Walters and Porter pitch themselves for the job in a debate.  Porter can do this with a 2 minute warning on where to be.  Walters can’t.