David Johansen, singer from the seminal punk band the New York Dolls, dies at 75

• March 1, 2025

By Mark Kennedy | Associated Press

NEW YORK — David Johansen, the wiry, gravelly-voiced singer and last surviving member of the glam and protopunk band the New York Dolls who later performed as his campy, pompadoured alter ego, Buster Poindexter, has died. He was 75.

Johansen died Friday at his home in New York City, Jeff Kilgour, a family spokesperson told The Associated Press. It was revealed in early 2025 that he had stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor.

The New York Dolls were forerunners of punk and the band’s style — teased hair, women’s clothes and lots of makeup — inspired the glam movement that took up residence in heavy metal a decade later in bands like Faster Pussycat and Mötley Crüe.

“When you’re an artist, the main thing you want to do is inspire people, so if you succeed in doing that, it’s pretty gratifying,” Johansen told The Knoxville News-Sentinel in 2011.

‘Mutant children of the hydrogen age’

Rolling Stone once called the Dolls “the mutant children of the hydrogen age” and Vogue called them the “darlings of downtown style, tarted-up toughs in boas and heels.”

“The New York Dolls were more than musicians; they were a phenomenon. They drew on old rock ‘n’ roll, big-city blues, show tunes, the Rolling Stones and girl groups, and that was just for starters,” Bill Bentley wrote in “Smithsonian Rock and Roll: Live and Unseen.”

The band never found commercial success and was torn by internal strife and drug addictions, breaking up after two albums by the middle of the decade. In 2004, former Smiths frontman and Dolls admirer Morrissey convinced Johansen and other surviving members to regroup for the Meltdown Festival in England, leading to three more studio albums.

In the ’80s, Johansen assumed the persona of Buster Poindexter, a pompadour-styled lounge lizard who had a hit with the kitschy party single “Hot, Hot, Hot” in 1987. He also appeared in such movies as “Candy Mountain,” “Let It Ride,” “Married to the Mob” and had a memorable turn as the Ghost of Christmas Past in Bill Murray-led hit “Scrooged.”

Johansen was in 2023 the subject of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s documentary “Personality Crisis: One Night Only,” which mixed footage of his two-night stand at the Café Carlyle in January 2020 with flashbacks through his wildly varied career and intimate interviews.

“I used to think about my voice like: ‘What’s it gonna sound like? What’s it going to be when I do this song?’ And I’d get myself into a knot about it,” Johansen told The Associated Press in 2023. “At some point in my life, I decided: ‘Just sing the (expletive) song. With whatever you got.’ To me, I go on stage and whatever mood I’m in, I just claw my way out of it, essentially.”

Named after a toy hospital

David Roger Johansen was born to a large, working-class Catholic family on Staten Island, his father an insurance salesman. He filled notebooks with poems and lyrics as a young man and liked a lot of different music — R&B, Cuban, Janis Joplin and Otis Redding.

The Dolls — the final original lineup included guitarists Sylvain Sylvain and Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane and drummer Jerry Nolan — rubbed shoulders with Lou Reed and Andy Warhol in the Lower East Side of Manhattan the early 1970s.

They took their name from a toy hospital in Manhattan and were expected to take over the throne vacated by the Velvet Underground in the early 1970s. But neither of their first two albums — 1973’s “New York Dolls,” produced by Todd Rundgren, nor “Too Much Too Soon” a year later produced by Shadow Morton — charted.

“They’re definitely a band to keep both eyes and ears on,” read the review of their debut album in Rolling Stone, complementary of their “strange combination of high pop-star drag and ruthless street arrogance.”

Their songs included “Personality Crisis” (“You got it while it was hot/But now frustration and heartache is what you got”), “Looking for a Kiss” (I need a fix and a kiss”) and a “Frankenstein” (Is it a crime/For you to fall in love with Frankenstein?”)

Their glammed look was meant to embrace fans with a nonjudgmental, noncategorical space. “I just wanted to be very welcoming,” Johansen said in the documentary, “’cause the way this society is, it was set up very strict — straight, gay, vegetarian, whatever… I just kind of wanted to kind of like bring those walls down, have a party kind of thing.”

Rolling Stone, reviewing their second album, called them “the best hard-rock band in America right now” and called Johansen a “talented showman, with an amazing ability to bring characters to life as a lyricist.”

Decades later, the Dolls’ influence would be cherished. Rolling Stone would list their self-titled debut album at No. 301 of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, writing “it’s hard to imagine the Ramones or the Replacements or a thousand other trash-junky bands without them.”

Blondie’s Chris Stein in the Nolan biography “Stranded in the Jungle” wrote that the Dolls were “opening a door for the rest of us to walk through.” Tommy Lee of Motley Crue called them early inspirations.

“Johansen is one of those singers, to be a little paradoxical, who is technically better and more versatile than he sounds,” said the Los Angeles Times in 2023. “His voice has always been a bit of a foghorn — higher or lower according to age, habits and the song at hand — but it has a rare emotional urgency.”

‘Dirty angels with painted faces’

The Dolls, representing rock at it’s most debauched, were divisive. In 1973, they won the Creem magazine poll categories as the year’s best and worst new group. They were nominated several times for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame but never got in.

“Dirty angels with painted faces, the Dolls opened the box usually reserved for Pandora and unleashed the infant furies that would grow to become Punk,” wrote Nina Antonia in the book “Too Much, Too Soon.” “As if this legacy wasn’t enough for one band, they also trashed sexual boundaries, savaged glitter and set new standards for rock ‘n’ roll excess.”

By the end of their first run, the Dolls were being managed by legendary promoter Malcolm McLaren, who would later introduce the Sex Pistols to the Dolls’ music. Culture critic Greil Marcus in “Lipstick Traces: A Secret History of the Twentieth Century” writes the Dolls played him some of their music and he couldn’t believe how bad they were. “The fact that they were so bad suddenly hit me with such force that I began to realize, ”I’m laughing, I’m talking to these guys, I’m looking at them, and I’m laughing with them’; and I was suddenly impressed by the fact that I was no longer concerned with whether you could play well,” McLaren said. “The Dolls really impressed upon me that there was something else. There was something wonderful. I thought how brilliant they were to be this bad.”

After the first demise of the Dolls, Johansen started his own group, the David Johansen band, before reinventing himself yet again in the 1980s as Buster Poindexter.

Inspired by his passion for the blues and arcane American folk music Johansen also formed the group The Harry Smiths, and toured the world performing the songs of Howlin’ Wolf with Hubert Sumlin and Levon Helm. He also hosted the weekly radio show “The Mansion of Fun” on Sirius XM and painted.

He is survived by his wife, Mara Hennessey, and a stepdaughter, Leah Hennessey.

​ Orange County Register 

Well-trained ‘true mutt’ PJ loves to play and learn

• March 1, 2025

Breed: A “true mutt” mix of many breeds, primarily Chihuahua

Age: 3 years

Sex: Neutered male

Size: 35 pounds

PJ’s story: PJ is looking for adopters who can be consistent in his training, have a yard and either don’t have a dog or have a confident, well-adjusted one. PJ is working hard to build his confidence and needs someone to continue to help him grow. He’s an athletic boy who enjoys playing fetch and tug. He also loves his food and treats, especially when there’s a game involved such as finding treats hidden in another room, a puzzle toy or pressing a button to release kibble from a slow feeder. When it’s time to relax, PJ wants belly rubs, then curls up under a blanket nearby for a snooze. He prefers to be with you 24/7 and is observant and learns quickly. He knows sit, both paws, and stay and is working on place, break and heel. He has a strong prey drive, especially with birds and squirrels, but is doing very well learning to leave it when he sees them.  PJ is microchipped and up-to-date on vaccinations. His adoption fee is sponsored, so no cost for his adopters.

Adoption procedure: If you’re interested in meeting or adopting Star Bright, please fill out the adoption application on Leashes of Love’s website. A phone interview, meet and greet and home check are required.

​ Orange County Register 

Orange County scores and player stats for Saturday, March 1

• March 1, 2025

Support our high school sports coverage by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribe now

Scores and stats from Orange County games on Saturday, March 1

Click here for details about sending your team’s scores and stats to the Register.

The deadline for submitting information is 10:45 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 p.m. Saturday.

SATURDAY’S SCORES

BOYS BASKETBALL

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

Championship finals

DIVISION 4AA

Santiago/GG 64, Ramona 49

San: De La Mora 28 pts (4 3-ptrs). Baude 12 pts. 7 reb. Guidry 10 pts, 6 reb.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

Championship finals

DIVISION 5AA

Hillcrest 39, Santa Ana 36

SA: Diaz 15 pts (5 3-ptrs). Solis 10 pts. Silva 9 reb.

Hill: Boulware 10 pts, 15 reb., 6 blks, 4 stls. Jackson 11 reb.

GIRLS SOCCER

CIF-SS PLAYOFFS

Championship finals

DIVISION 4

Sage Hill 0, La Mirada 0 (Sage wins on PK’s, 4-3)

BASEBALL

FIVE TOOLS FESTIVAL

At Dallas, TX

Mater Dei 1, Magnolia Heights (TX) 0

MD: Campbell (W, 5IP 0R). Gerken GW RBI sac fly.

SOFTBALL

HB & PACIFICA FIRST PITCH TOURNAMENT

Huntington Beach 8, El Segundo 7

Millikan 5, Los Alamitos 1

Pacifica 5, Gahr 4

Norco 6, Los Alamitos 5

CYPRESS TOURNAMENT

Cypress 3, Villa Park 1

Granada Hills Charter 17, Irvine 6

Granada Hills Charter 2, Kennedy 1

MAYFAIR / ST. JOSEPH TOURNAMENT

Katella 12, St. Monica 7

SAVANNA SHOWCASE

Southlands Christian 6, Ocean View 3

Sonora 11, Long Beach Wilson 6

Mission Viejo 8, Long Beach Wilson 7

Fullerton 5, Whittier Christian 1

Segerstrom 7, Schurr 6

Capistrano Valley 16, Newport Harbor 1

Rosary 1, Marina 0

Canyon 3, Rosary 2

Newport Harbor 9, Buena Park 3

St. Paul 9, Esperanza 1

Whittier Christian 10, El Dorado 4

Oxford Academy 4, Southlands Christian 3

Fullerton 5, Warren 1

NONLEAGUE

Esperanza 8, Yorba Linda 0

Ontario Christian 14, Crean Lutheran 0

​ Orange County Register 

Tyronn Lue says struggling Clippers are ‘in a good spot’

• March 1, 2025

LOS ANGELES — Coach Tyronn Lue said the Clippers are ready for the challenge ahead, the slew of top teams that they face over the remaining 23 games of the regular season.

“It’s the tough part of our schedule. We play a lot of good teams, a lot of games this last month and a half,” Lue said Friday. “We’re slowly starting to get healthy and the guys we acquired, we just got to continue to get them up to speed.

“But I like where we’re at and it’s in our hands. So, we’re in a good spot, we’re in a good place and now we just got to start building off of it.”

Sunday’s final game this season against the Lakers would be another chance to start building toward the playoffs. The Clippers, who have lost four of their past five games, missed that opportunity in a bumbling 106-102 loss to the Lakers at Crypto.com Arena on Friday, leaving them hanging onto a playoff spot.

Their 32-27 record is equal with the surging Golden State Warriors for the No. 6 spot in the Western Conference, five games behind the Houston Rockets, who sit at No. 5. The Clippers need to play with a sense of urgency and solve their turnovers if they want to avoid a Play-In spot, characteristics that were missing Friday night.

The Clippers resorted to bad habits Friday night. They were careless with the ball, resulting in 17 turnovers, many of them coming in the final minutes. They missed 48 shots, 28 of 37 from 3-point range and failed to contain the Lakers, who were without starters Rui Hachimura (knee) and Austin Reaves (calf).

At the center was James Harden, who seemed listless after logging nearly 40 minutes a game recently while the team got healthy. That might have explained the six turnovers and 1-for-10 shooting from the perimeter and 5 of 22 overall.

The Clippers need Harden to remain at the top of his game as the season heads into the final stretch, and center Ivica Zubac as well.

The former Laker had another big game with a season-high 27 points and 16 rebounds, well above his season averages of 15.5 points and 12.6 rebounds. Yet, he could see where the Clippers slipped against the Lakers.

“In the first half, we gave up seven offensive rebounds or whatever,” he said, adding that allowing offensive boards can be difficult when teams are switching often. The Lakers had LeBron James and Luka Doncic on Zubac at times.

“So, when I contest the shots, I can’t really help rebounding. That’s where we got to turn and check good bodies, box out, go get the ball, there’s nothing else to it. So that hurt.

“Transition points, too, when they leak out and (turn into) turnovers. It’s been an issue for us and that’s something we got to get better at.”

The Clippers can’t afford many more slip-ups.

Lue is pinning his postseason hopes on the team getting healthy and having newcomers Bogdan Bogdanovic and Ken Simmons get up to speed. Norman Powell, the team’s leading scorer at 24.2 points a game, has missed five games because of a sore knee but could be back soon.

Lue said Powell played through the soreness before the All-Star break, but the shooting guard needed to switch the medical treatment he was receiving.

“But like I said, he’s getting close, and he’s been doing the things needed to try to get back on the floor and so hopefully sooner than later.,” Lue said.

MILLER GETS NEW DEAL

The Clippers reportedly are converting two-way guard Jordan Miller to a standard contract and will reportedly sign him for three years, $8.3 million. ESPN’s Shams Charania was the first to report the signing.

The 2023 second-rounder has been a standout for the Clippers’ G League team this season, averaging 23.9 points in seven games. His play has earned him minutes with the NBA team, where Miller has averaged 4.7 points, 1.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 30 games.

To make room for Miller on the roster, the Clippers waived MarJon Beauchamp, who was acquired from the Milwaukee Bucks in the Kevin Porter Jr. trade. The team also is expected to waive little-used center Kai Jones and sign G League players Seth Lundy and Patrick Baldwin Jr. to two-way contracts.

Clippers at Lakers

When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday

Where: Crypto.com Arena

TV/radio: FDSNSC/AM 570

​ Orange County Register 

Hillcrest girls basketball team holds off Santa Ana, wins Division 5AA title

• March 1, 2025

HUNTINGTON BEACH — Chloe Wells is a coaching rookie, but she knows what takes to be a champion.

As a high school player, Wells helped the Miller girls basketball program wins back-to-back CIF Southern Section championships.

Wells played overseas for a decade but decided to put the ball down and start her coaching career. She landed at Hillcrest in September and orchestrated a turnaround.

Hillcrest went 7-20 last season, but the Trojans now can call themselves champions after beating Santa Ana 39-36 in the Division 5AA title game Saturday morning at Edison High School.

“God led me here to this school,” Wells said. “When I got here, their heads and shoulders were down, but I saw the greatness in them.

“I call them the comeback kids. To come back from a season like that and overcome adversity at every stop, it has been the time of my life. I’m so proud of their hard work and belief in each other.”

Santa Ana (15-13) overcame obstacles to get to this point, as well, including a coaching change during the middle of the season.

The Saints started Saturday morning’s final on the right foot, scoring the first four points of the contest. Santa Ana was unable to keep that momentum going, however, and made only 9 of 50 shots (18 percent) from the field.

“I’m proud of the girls but we just fell short today,” Saints coach Dana Nguyen said. “We had trouble scoring.”

Hillcrest (21-6) only made 1 of 17 attempts during the opening quarter, but the score was knotted at 7 going into the second period.

The Trojans put together a 10-0 run during the second quarter to take their first lead of the game. Raylene Valadez knocked down a 3-pointer and Zoey Boulware had a putback to lead that charge. Hillcrest took an 18-14 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Hillcrest opened the second half with a 9-4 run to push the lead to nine points. Valadez sank another 3-pointer to kickstart the run and dished a ball to Alexandra Sanchez for an uncontested layup to finish it.

Valadez scored a team-high 14 points for the Trojans in Saturday’s championship game.

“I made my first (3-pointer) then missed a few,” said Valadez, who missed last season with an ACL injury. “You just have to have a mentality that the next one is going in.”

Santa Ana kept battling, thanks in large part to the shooting of Yarexy Diaz. She drained three 3-pointers in the third quarter and finished with a game-high 15 points.

“It felt great making those shots,” said Diaz, who sank 5 of 8 attempts beyond the arc.

Boulware finished the game with 10 points, 15 rebounds, six blocks and four steals. Her putback gave Hillcrest a 35-24 lead with 4 1/2 minutes in the contest.

Santa Ana made one final comeback attempt. Jazmine Solis sank a big 3-pointer, helping the Saints trim the deficit to three points in the final minute.

Hillcrest made only 4 of 12 free throws down the stretch. Santa Ana had an opportunity to tie things up, but Cynthia Silva’s 3-pointer from the top of the arc drew iron. And time eventually ran out on the Saints.

Amaya Branchcomb score eight points for Hillcrest, and Za’Nylah Jackson finished with 11 rebounds off the bench.

Solis scored 10 points for Santa Ana, and Silva led the Saints with nine rebounds.

Both teams will begin play in the CIF State playoff beginning Tuesday.

​ Orange County Register 

Jorden De La Mora leads Santiago boys basketball to its first CIF-SS championship

• March 1, 2025

ONTARIO – High school basketball teams usually do not shoot well from outside in large arenas.

Santiago shot 56 percent on 3-point shots Saturday at Toyota Arena en route to a 64-49 win over Ramona in the CIF Southern Section Division 4AA boys basketball championship game.

The Cavaliers won their first CIF championship in the sport in their first boys basketball championship game.

“If you don’t shoot with confidence,” said Santiago’s Jorden De La Mora, “it’s not going to go in.”

Santiago shot with confidence and made 9 of 16 3-point attempts. On all shots Santiago was 22 of 45 (49%).

De La Mora, a 6-2 senior guard, scored a game-high 28 points. He was 8 of 17 on all shots and 4 of 6 on 3s. De La Mora was outstanding throughout the playoffs, scoring 61 points over Santiago’s wins in the quarterfinals and semifinals.

Santiago’s Jayden Baude, also a 6-2 senior guard, scored 12 points with a team-high seven rebounds. Cavaliers 6-4 senior forward Jerell Guidry scored 10 points with six rebounds.

Two important baskets for Santiago were scored by others on the team. With Ramona having sliced the Santiago lead to seven points with under two minutes remaining, Cavaliers 5-6 senior Anthony Bermudez made a 3-pointer as did senior forward Diego Bracamonte seconds later to get the lead to 13 points.

Bermudez finished with six points, Bracamonte with eight.

Ramona shot 30 percent from the floor and 15 percent on 3-point tries.

Santiago (22-11) and Ramona (26-7) continue the season with the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs that begin Tuesday. The regional brackets will be released Sunday.

The Cavaliers finished third in the six-team Coast League. Their first playoff opponent was Coast League champion Los Amigos, which had beaten Santiago by 11 points and 10 points in league games. Santiago beat its league rival 45-42 in the 4AA first round.

“Somehow we just kept winning,” said Santiago coach Matt Moorhouse, in his eighth year in charge of the team.

Santiago started Saturday’s game strong. De La Mora scored 10 points in the first quarter and the Cavaliers had a 22-10 lead going into the second quarter.

The Cavaliers led by as many as 16 points in the second quarter, answering every Ramona surge with clutch baskets. It was 35-23 at halftime.

A 3 by De La Mora put Santiago on top 40-23 early in the third quarter. Ramona put together an 11-2 run late in the quarter to make it 42-34. De La Mora then made a deep 3 to give the Cavaliers a 45-34 lead going into the final quarter.

Santiago’s 15-point win was its largest margin of victory of their five playoff games.

​ Orange County Register 

Susan Shelley: Trump is dismantling the unaccountable bureaucracy

• March 1, 2025

We’re living through history. We have a new president who has already been president, something that has only happened one other time since the founding of the republic.

Watch as the 45th and 47th president of the United States does something no elected official has been able to do since Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal. President Donald Trump is going to outlive the all-powerful, formerly eternal, federal bureaucracy.

For nearly 100 years, an unaccountable bureaucracy made up of thousands of departments, offices and agencies has been running the government while mostly ignoring the officials elected by the voters. Feeding on your income through a tube permanently attached to your paycheck, the bureaucracy became bigger, stronger and hungrier every year. Presidents would come and go, but endless wars, wasteful spending, needless regulations and higher debt would stay and stay.

Now Trump has returned to the White House with a map to the source of the problem. A close look at some of his executive orders, and at the particular way he has fired the heads of independent agencies, seems to reveal a strategy aimed at overturning specific legal precedents that have empowered and protected the bureaucracy. He has invited this fight, which is now barreling toward the U.S. Supreme Court. Will he win?

We’ll all find out together when the justices have the opportunity to reconsider the 1935 case of Humphrey’s Executor v. United States.

William E. Humphrey was appointed by President Herbert Hoover in 1931 to serve on the Federal Trade Commission for a term of seven years. When things didn’t work out as planned for Hoover in the 1932 election, FDR asked for Humphrey’s resignation so there wouldn’t be a conservative overseeing the definitely-not-conservative New Deal.

Humphrey refused to resign, and on Oct. 7, 1933, Roosevelt fired him. Because his termination was purely for reasons of policy and not for “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office” as the FTC Act required, Humphrey had a case, but then he had a different kind of termination, so the case is Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. The executor sued the government for the salary that was owed to the estate for the duration of Humphrey’s appointed term.

FDR’s team argued that the Supreme Court’s decision in a 1926 case, Myers v. United States, confirmed the president’s power to remove officers who were “units of the executive department.” But the justices said the Myers case didn’t matter because the Federal Trade Commission wasn’t really “executive.” It was “quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial.” Therefore, Humphrey could only be fired for cause, not policy.

The 1935 Humphrey’s Executor decision has allowed Congress to create powerful independent agencies that execute the laws but do not answer to the elected chief executive. Lawyers have argued that this decision contradicts the U.S. Constitution by violating the separation of powers, which is key to protecting everybody’s freedom from a government that can rapidly become oppressive when unchecked.

Did Trump selectively fire the heads of independent agencies in order to get sued, get to the U.S. Supreme Court and make the same argument that FDR made in Humphrey’s Executor? You be the judge:

Roosevelt asked Humphrey to resign because “the aims and purposes of the Administration with respect to the work of the Commission can be carried out most effectively with personnel of my own selection.” When Humphrey wouldn’t go, FDR sent him this brief letter: “Effective as of this date, you are hereby removed from the office of Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission.”

Here’s the text of Trump’s letter to Ellen Weintraub: “You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately.”

Here’s the text of the email sent by Sergio Gor, Director of the Presidential Personnel Office, to Hampton Dellinger on Feb. 7: “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Special Counsel of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel is terminated, effective immediately.”

Here’s the text of more than a dozen nearly identical emails sent by Gor to Hannibal “Mike” Ware and other Inspectors General on January 24: “Due to changing priorities, your position as Inspector General … is terminated, effective immediately.”

The email sent on behalf of the president to Gwynne Wilcox, informing her that she was removed from the National Labor Relations Board, echoed FDR with the statement that Wilcox had not “been operating in a manner consistent with the objectives of [Trump’s] administration.”

Trump has this issue teed up like a Titleist Pro V1 on the first hole at Augusta. Can the elected president of the United States replace the top officials in powerful government agencies, or can they pursue their own policy goals, unaccountable and unchecked in their “quasi-legislative and quasi-judicial” unelected positions?

Legal challenges to the firings of Dellinger, Weintraub, Wilcox and others may succeed in the lower courts. But those practice-round victories won’t count in the final score.

This is only one of the court fights that Trump has picked. His executive orders directing spending freezes, workforce reductions and cuts to foreign aid have prompted lawsuits that have landed in federal courts in Rhode Island, San Francisco and the District of Columbia.

Individual federal judges have issued temporary restraining orders that could turn into preliminary injunctions, preventing the president’s policies from being implemented while the lawsuits drag on. This effectively permits one federal judge to take control of the whole executive branch, potentially for years. Watch for the U.S. Supreme Court to ask a few questions about that, sooner rather than later.

What Trump is doing is the opposite of dictatorship. He’s going after government agencies that have spent decades flaunting that they can do anything to anybody at any time. He is limiting their power.

That’s good. Freedom is a condition that exists under a government of limited power.

The United States was the first nation to figure that out. And we will again.

Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley

​ Orange County Register 

For Katie Porter, President Trump’s second term is a factor as she weighs a governor run

• March 1, 2025

Former Rep. Katie Porter says she ran for Congress in 2018 in response to President Donald Trump‘s first term.

Now, as she considers a run for California governor in 2026, she says the early actions of his second administration are “certainly a factor.”

“I am seriously considering it,” Porter said in a recent interview about running for governor.

“Democrats across the state are looking for what more they can do to stand up to what’s going on in Washington and defend our state and values,” Porter said. “What we are seeing this time from Washington is many times more hurtful for our state’s residents and our future.”

Porter left Congress in January after a failed U.S. Senate bid, but she hasn’t stepped away from politics.

In addition to teaching bankruptcy, consumer law and the legislative process at UC Irvine Law, Porter raises money for Democrats through her Truth to Power PAC and remains active with social media, TV appearances, emails to supporters and the occasional Zoom discussion.

But staying relevant in politics as a private citizen — what Porter is now — is more challenging than as an elected official with a public-facing role, especially with the upcoming governor’s race drawing attention to potential candidates.

A February poll indicated former Vice President Kamala Harris would be the frontrunner if she enters California’s 2026 governor’s race, with 57% of Democratic primary voters surveyed saying they would support her. Porter had 9% support in that poll, while 17% of voters were undecided. Gov. Gavin Newsom is term-limited and prevented from seeking reelection.

Without Harris as an option, Porter led with 21% support among Democratic primary voters.

The survey only included registered Democrats, but California’s open primary system means all candidates appear on the same ballot, regardless of party. The race is already crowded, with seven candidates who have officially launched their campaigns, including Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

Harris is also now a private citizen, but as the party’s former presidential nominee and vice president, she would enter the governor’s race with higher name recognition and a funding advantage, making it challenging for Porter to mount a successful campaign against her, political analysts noted.

“It appears that Porter would really like to have the job, but smart enough to understand that running against Harris … would not only be a steep uphill climb but could harm her prospects for running for statewide office in the future,” said Dan Schnur, a former campaign consultant and political messaging professor at UC Berkeley and USC.

A September survey from USC, Cal State Long Beach and Cal Poly Pomona found Porter was favored by the highest percentage of respondents among 13 potential and declared gubernatorial candidates — without Harris as an option. But that poll also showed weak support across the board, with nearly half (49.7%) of respondents unsure of their choice.

In the meantime, Porter is staying involved in current politics.

On Thursday, Feb. 27, she joined Rep. Robert Garcia — a Long Beach Democrat who, like Porter, has emerged as a media darling in his congressional tenure — in a virtual town hall for about 170 people who had donated to her PAC. The event included a discussion on government oversight and how Democrats should respond to the Trump administration’s pledge to shrink federal bureaucracy and root out waste and fraud.

When some attendees asked her Thursday, “What can normal people in California, and around the country, do to push back against Trump,” Porter said Democrats need to invest in candidates with real-world experiences.

“I think people feel like, ‘Do Democrats really know what groceries cost?’”

“I mean, I know, because when the milk is $3.99 per gallon, I’m excited, and I buy two gallons. But we need to elect people who know those things and who are really experiencing some of the harms that the Trump administration is causing so that they can be really, really credible advocates for pushing back,” she said.

Matt Lesenyie, a political science professor at Cal State Long Beach, said voters are signaling through recent elections and polling that they’re looking for a different style of politics and candidates who feel authentic.

“Porter is closer to that ideal point than many California representatives, including Harris,” Lesenyie said. “Porter has more modern political skills and instincts. Some of that is her, and I think some of it comes from her practicing politics in Orange County, which has a lot of Republican political talent and evenly matched party registrations in the electorate. Not the easiest place for a Democrat to win.”

Porter was part of a 2018 blue wave that ousted all congressional Republicans in Orange County amid anti-Trump sentiment.

While serving in the House, Porter was known for her sharp questioning in hearings, particularly her use of a whiteboard to break down complex financial and policy issues. On the House Oversight and Financial Services Committees, she gained a reputation for grilling corporate executives and government officials on issues like consumer protection.

Earlier in the week, Porter criticized Democratic strategist James Carville on her Substack, a subscription-based platform where people can publish newsletters, for proposing a “tactical pause” in opposing the Republican Party. Carville, a veteran Democratic strategist, had called for a “strategic political retreat” by Democrats in a recent guest essay for the New York Times.

“With no clear leader to voice our opposition and no control in any branch of government, it’s time for Democrats to embark on the most daring political maneuver in the history of our party: roll over and play dead,” Carville said.

But Porter argued that would allow Republicans to further rally behind the Trump administration’s push to cut federal programs and services, a key issue Democrats are highlighting for the 2026 campaign.

“I think some of what I’ve heard from some Democrats is, well, give them more rope, and they’ll hang themselves, or let’s just sit back and see how bad it really is. I think that is nuts. That is not who I am, that is not who I think we should be as Americans,” she told attendees during the virtual town hall.

While Porter is “acting and sounding like a candidate for governor,” she has to “decide whether she takes the risk or plays it safe and wait for Harris to make her own decision,” said Schnur, the former campaign consultant.

In the last election cycle, Porter faced some criticism for announcing her run for U.S. Senate before Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who was still in office at the time, had announced a decision about reelection, leading some to view Porter’s move as disrespectful to the longtime senator.

Similarly, if Porter “can be seen as interfering with a Harris candidacy, it could have more of an impact on her long-term political career,” Schnur said.

​ Orange County Register