California congresswoman urges Chapman students toward civic engagement

California Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who serves the 45th Congressional District, discussed the importance of youthful voices in democracy at a May 6 Chapman event that partnered with A Starting Point and BridgeUSA. RENEE ELEFANTE, Staff Writer

Katie Porter, representative of California's 45th Congressional District. WikiCommons

Seated since 2019 as the representative of California’s 45th Congressional District, Katie Porter — the first Democratic representative to oversee part of Orange County —  believes the political engagement from younger generations is the key to shaping the future of democracy. 

Porter spoke to 350 Chapman University students May 6 at the “Voting and Democratic Reforms” event, the second in the “Campus Conversations” series created by civic engagement platforms A Starting Point and BridgeUSA. 

“You have the same ability to learn about an issue, to question your representative (and) to ask them to take actions as anybody else,” Porter said at the event. “Don’t be deterred that you don’t know a lot about tax policy or you don’t know a lot about what’s happening in Yemen. You’re a student; your full-time job is to learn, and that means learning about our Democracy too.”

A Starting Point and BridgeUSA partnered up to work with five undergraduate fellows from different universities to host and co-moderate their own campus discussion alongside Ross Irwin, the chief operating officer for BridgeUSA. The Chapman event was moderated by freshman political science major Juhi Doshi.

The event kicked off with a pre-recorded video appearance by 34th District State Sen. Tom Umberg (D-CA), who echoed Porter’s emphasis on the importance of getting the younger generations to participate in politics.

“The best way I can (represent you) is if I know what you need (and) want. You’re the next generation of leaders in this country,” Umberg said in the video. “You’ve got big things to deal with: climate change, electoral reform, gerrymandering. You have to be the driving force for the change our country needs.”

Throughout the event, Porter discussed controversial and heavily debated topics such as the Electoral College, earmarks and voter suppression.

Porter weighed both the objective benefits and drawbacks of the Electoral College and then delved into her own perspective as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. She explained that the primary argument in opposition of the system is that senators are restricted to two individuals per state, while the number of representatives per state varies based on population. 

“I want to tell people, please don’t make it your senior thesis project to get the Electoral College abolished,” Porter said during the event. “It’s in our Constitution, and it would be a time-consuming, difficult process to change it, but we should never let that stop us from having the conversation: is this the kind of democracy that we want to have? We can’t be afraid to have that debate as long and as often as we need to.”

One solution some have suggested is increasing the number of representatives in the House of Representatives. However, Porter said she doesn’t believe increasing the already-abundant number of 435 representatives will help balance out the power that each state has.

Porter also gave students insight into the February 2021 announcement of the return of earmarks. Originally banned in 2011, the practice allows congressional funds to be allocated toward certain projects that benefit a given Congressmember’s district.

Porter told The Panther that she is the only Democrat in the House of Representatives who does not earmark.

“When we get down to funding specific projects in a particular representative’s district … there’s a history of these leading to both perceptions and sometimes realities of self-feeling or undue influence,” Porter told The Panther.

At the event, some Chapman student attendees pre-recorded their questions, which were displayed in a video format and opened a Q&A segment. In this portion, panelists were asked about issues related to voter suppression and fact-checking information from the internet.

Claire Johnson, a sophomore environmental science and policy major, asked how lawmakers are dealing with voter suppression concerns — a highly controversial topic in states like Georgia, Florida and Texas, where Republicans are trying to roll back voting access.

Porter noted that H.R.1, also known as the “For the People Act,” was passed in the House of Representatives March 3 and works to combat this issue. It expands voter access by mandating that states offer online and same-day voting registration and create a way for voters to automatically become registered if they visit a Department of Motor Vehicles office or other state agency, among other requirements.

Recently proposed, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act seeks to update the jurisdiction formula used for voting that was included in the original Voting Rights Act. A 2015 post published in Cornell University’s Roper Center for Public Opinion Research revealed that 56% of white people and 86% of Black people felt that the Voting Rights Act was still needed, compared to 91% and 97%, respectively, in 1965.

The Advancement Act was created after the Supreme Court ruled in the 2013 case, Shelby County v. Holder, that the formula could not be used anymore, thus prompting Congressmembers to determine how it could be fixed. Porter noted that the Advancement Act would combat racial discrimination when it came to voting.

“Many of these voter suppression policies are not only about partisanship, but are literally about depriving certain people based on a right to vote based on the color of their skin,” Porter said during the event. “That has no place in our democracy.”

Porter said she does not think that either Republican or Democratic Party leaders should condone voter suppression policies, and she urges the federal government to reinstate the Voting Rights Act.

Irwin told The Panther that facilitating the “Campus Conversations” series aligns with BridgeUSA’s goal to promote informed and productive political dialogue. He encourages students to get involved in civic engagement and contact their state or congressional representatives.

“We can talk productively to them and we can have a good exchange of information between these people,” Irwin said. “This is just one of the kinds of events we do, but very much in line with what we do to produce it as a whole.”