Although the district includes her hometown of Irvine in Orange County, about 70 percent of the voters are new to Porter due to redistricting. California lost one congressional seat during the reshuffling of congressional districts last year.
“They added Irvine and took out Garden Grove and Westminster,” Porter’s Republican challenger, Scott Baugh, a lawyer and small businessman in Huntington Beach, told The Epoch Times. “It’s a different district, and she’s never represented at least two-thirds of it.”
Baugh served as a state assemblyman from 1995 to 2000 including a two-year stint as Assembly Republican Leader. He served as Orange County GOP chairman from 2004 to 2015.
Porter, a single mother of three, previously taught bankruptcy law at the University of California–Irvine. Elected in 2018, she currently represents California’s 45th Congressional District.
Inflation
With gas prices more than doubling in some areas of California since President Joe Biden was sworn into office last January, Baugh blames Democrats and the Biden administration for failing energy policies and excessive spending.“You can’t inflate the money supply and cut off the production, and not be surprised that the price of fuel is six, seven, and eight bucks a gallon,” Baugh said.
Baugh said many Americans, including people in his district, believe the country is printing too much money and is not focused on production.
“When you pay people not to produce, they tend not to produce, and if you print too much money … you’re going to get higher prices, and so this mentality that we can spend money on anything we want and there’s never a consequence has to stop,“ he said. ”We are $31 trillion in debt, and if that doesn’t get turned around quickly, our country’s going to go deeper and deeper into financial trouble.”
She has proposed legislation that would “crack down on fossil fuel companies that price gouge consumers,” and claims she is “working to address the root causes of inflation, such as supply chain disruptions and market monopolies.”
Porter did not respond to a request for an interview, nor did her campaign staff.
The Economy
While Porter wrote on her campaign website she believes in capitalism and a strong economy “built on competition,” Baugh contends that her actions suggest otherwise, claiming that she is “working to dismantle our capitalist economy, punish taxpayers, and increase the reach and power of the federal government.”Porter, the deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, states her main priority in Congress is “lowering the costs people face every day—at the gas pump, in the grocery store, at the pharmacy, and for things like childcare and college.”
She has pushed for a crackdown on “anticompetitive behavior that drives up prices for consumers—whether that anticompetitive behavior comes from Big Tech, airlines, or major poultry companies.”
Porter also seeks to reform the tax code and has introduced the Supporting Americans with Lower Taxes Act to lower taxes for Californians making less than $400,000 per year.
“Our country needs tax reform so big corporations and ultra-wealthy tax cheats pay their fair shares, just like the rest of us do,” Porter wrote on her website.
She claims more than 50 of the largest corporations paid no federal income tax in 2020, and supports “giving the IRS the resources it needs ... to go after tax cheats.”
Baugh accused Porter of falsely portraying herself as a capitalist and of pushing for government involvement in “every area of our lives.”
“That’s how we got into this mess in the first place: government intrusion. And, Porter advocates a Medicare for all policy, which is simply another name for socialized medicine,” he said.
“She wants open borders and cash payments to illegal immigrants. Plus, she wants reparations on top of that. It’s just more and more and more government spending,” he said. “That is her entire mantra … and that leftward tilt is not even liberalism anymore.”
He claims Porter has voted for $22 trillion in new spending in the nearly four years she has been in office “on top of voting for $2 trillion in new federal taxes.”
“It’s absurd she claims she is reducing the price of gas while adding taxes to it,” Baugh said.
Immigration and Border Security
Baugh said he supports reestablishing border security and curbing illegal immigration, and opposes “crazy sanctuary city laws that defy the U.S. Constitution and tie the hands of law enforcement.”People who’ve intentionally violated immigration laws, should not be granted amnesty, he said.
“And that’s not counting the ones that got away. You have human traffickers, you have terrorists, [and] you have fentanyl drug dealers,” he said. “The rule of law and a secure border are the cornerstone of any republic. The left is making a mockery of our borders.”
Baugh said America already has one of the most generous immigration policies in the world, and prospective immigrants should respect the process and the rule of law.
Abortion
Porter said she “believes every American should have the right to a safe and legal abortion” as a “matter of liberty and freedom,” and has opposed efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, according to her campaign website.Baugh said “the policy of allowing abortions in the third trimester is disturbing, and I trust the voters will reject that extreme position.”
Environment
Baugh and Porter both oppose offshore drilling along the California coastline.“Here in Orange County, we’ve seen what failing to protect our environment looks like: Oil leaks that close our beaches and shutter local businesses, and deadly wildfires that destroy homes and pollute our air,” Porter wrote on her campaign website.
Porter said she aims to “stand up to Big Oil companies,” and wants to create an independent National Disaster Safety Board to study wildfires and make recommendations for how to protect Americans and save tax dollars.
Meanwhile, Baugh said there are plenty of other oil resources, including the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Keystone Pipeline.
“There are so many readily available sources for drilling oil that we don’t need to take the extra risk in drilling more offshore near the pristine beaches of Orange County,” he said.
Baugh also contends governments and businesses need to respect “legitimate science” and “reject the science manipulators” in order to work together and effectively deal with the environment in ways that don’t cost jobs or harm the economy.
Education
With parents raising red flags about the tenets of critical race theory being taught in classrooms and “gender-affirming” policies being pushed in schools, Baugh said parents should have the ultimate say in the education of their own children.“Hispanics, Asians, and parents of all races and ethnicities are basically saying, this is all nonsense,” Baugh said. “The left is basically saying that we, as parents, don’t have much to say with respect to our kids’ education. That’s offensive. It’s wrong.”
Baugh said he believes in giving parents and students choices so they’re not trapped in poor-performing schools or other negative situations.
“Those choices mean public schools, charter schools, private schools, and homeschooling,” he said.
He also said he supports the creation of education savings accounts that allow parents and students to access the state’s allocated per-pupil spending to pay tuition at private schools or spend on other expenses at any eligible school of their choice.
Second Amendment Rights
A gun control advocate who has “had enough of politicians who are too afraid to stand up to the gun lobby,” Porter supports a ban on assault weapons, advocates for mandatory background checks on all gun sales, and has pushed for studies on gun violence as a “public health crisis,” according to her campaign website.She has introduced legislation that would require Congress to issue a report on the impact of firearm possession on victims of domestic violence and has voted in favor of legislation to enhance background checks on firearm purchases.
Baugh said he fully supports the Second Amendment.
“Taking constitutional rights away from law-abiding citizens is never the answer,” Baugh said, “but I support laws that restrict criminals and people with mental illness from having access to weapons.”
Homelessness
Baugh advocates for community-based solutions to the “tragic problem” of widespread homelessness and opposes the proliferation of homeless encampments in local neighborhoods. He has pushed to make public safety and the respect of private property high priorities and supports better and early intervention for the mentally ill.Other Issues
Baugh said his mission is “to be a voice for limited, constitutional government” in Congress. He said he believes in “lower taxes, more freedom, and strong borders.”“Congress doesn’t know how to stop spending. There is no spending itch they won’t scratch, and that’s why I’m running,” he said. “We need to quit deficit spending. We need to get our own economic house in order immediately.”
On foreign policy, Baugh is a strong supporter of Israel and believes Russian President Vladimir Putin is an adversary who should not be taken lightly. He supports a “strong and effective military” with well-equipped troops at the ready and has promised to fight for reforms in the Veterans Affairs Department.
As a small business owner, Baugh said he’s opposed to excessive regulations that drive businesses and jobs away and has vowed to lighten the regulatory burdens on businesses to spur economic growth. He is opposed to wasteful programs that bespeak of a “bloated” and inefficient government that has shown “no fiscal discipline,” he said.
Porter said she has “never taken a dime” from corporate political action committees and puts families before powerful special interests. She also “refuses donations from executives who work for Big Banks, Big Oil, and Big Pharma,” according to her website.
She is a member of the House Oversight Committee and co-founder of the End Corruption Caucus in Washington, D.C. She is running on a “zero tolerance for corruption” platform and introduced legislation that would ban all members of Congress from trading stocks and require them to “tell the American people when they personally benefit from government grants, loans, and contracts.”
Accomplishments
Baugh is an attorney with his own business law practice. He is a founding board member of Angel Force USA, a non-profit organization focused on suicide prevention among military veterans. He is the chairman of the Orange County Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership, which works with local law enforcement to keep children and teens from joining gangs. He is also a board member of the George T. Pfleger Foundation which helps fund environmental research and other projects from health matters to drug addiction.Baugh is a founding trustee of Pacifica Christian High School of Orange County, the founding chairman of the Institute for Fair Elections, and the founding chairman of the OC Marathon Foundation, which has trained more than 40,000-grade school children on nutrition and exercise.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration and owns and operates other small business ventures aside from his law practice. Baugh, and his wife, Wendy, live in Huntington Beach with their son Jackson. Baugh has lived in the city for more than 30 years.
Porter was a law professor at the University of California–Irvine and other universities, and has served as consumer and bankruptcy attorney for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the World Bank, the Federal Judicial Center, and the Uniform Law Commission, according to Ballotpedia. She also served as a clerk for Judge Richard S. Arnold of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Endorsements
Porter is endorsed by groups such as Planned Parenthood, the Californian Nurses Association, California Environmental Voters, the California Federation of Teachers, Brady United Against Gun Violence, Council for a Livable World, League of Conservation Voters, Equality California, and the Orange County Labor Federation.She’s also endorsed by former President Barack Obama, Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), and former Mayor of Irvine Beth Krom.
Baugh is endorsed by groups such as the Congressional Leadership Fund, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, The Club for Growth, and The American Council, as well as many local Republican organizations.
He is backed by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel (R-Calif.), U.S. Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.), former state Sen. and Orange County Treasurer John Moorlach, former U.S. Rep. Mimi Walters, and Irvine Vice Mayor Anthony Kuo. He is also endorsed by Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes and Pastor Rob McCoy.
