Katie Porter, the Democratic congresswoman running for U.S. Senate in California, said Republican women do not count as women when it comes to achieving gender equality in Congress.
"To me, equality is not electing Joni Ernst‚" the Democrat told the Washington Post, referring to the female GOP senator from Iowa. "Like, that’s not helping."
It's funny Porter should mention equality in Congress because she is currently trying to prevent a black woman from being elected to the Senate. Her opponent in the Democratic primary, Rep. Barbara Lee (D., Calif.), would be the first (fully) African American to represent California in the upper chamber.
Nevertheless, Porter persists in challenging Lee's historic candidacy. She apparently believes that what the Senate really needs is yet another privileged white liberal whose fancy education—Phillips Academy, Yale University, Harvard Law—costs more than the median American home.
For the sake of context, Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) has a public school education, which in the Senate makes her an icon of diversity. Ernst has also never been accused by multiple former aides of creating a toxic work environment, unlike Porter. One of her former staff members told the Post that Porter was "wildly unfit" to be a senator.