Democratic Rep. Katie Porter faces off against Republican Scott Baugh in California's 47th Congressional District election

• Rep. Katie Porter is running against Republican Scott Baugh in California's 47th Congressional District.
• The 47th District is located along the California coastline in Orange County.

Democratic Rep. Katie Porter faces off against Republican Scott Baugh in California's 47th Congressional District.

California's 47th Congressional District candidates

Porter is running for her third term in the House and sits on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Prior to being elected to Congress in 2018, she taught bankruptcy law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law and served as a consumer and bankruptcy attorney for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the World Bank, the Federal Judicial Center and the Uniform Law Commission. She also clerked for Judge Richard S. Arnold of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The 48-year-old Irvine Democrat has a massive campaign war chest — she ranks in the top five among congressional fundraisers.

Porter was elected to the House in 2018, flipping the seat held by former Republican Rep. Mimi Walters to become the first Democrat in history to flip the 45th Congressional District, a longtime Republican stronghold. In 2020, she retained her seat against Republican Greg Raths.

She is a strong supporter of abortion rights and helped pass the Women's Health Protection Act in the House, which would codify Roe v. Wade abortion protections if enacted.

Baugh, Porter's challenger, is an attorney who owns the business law firm, Scott Baugh & Associates. Prior to running for Congress, Baugh represented Orange County in the California Assembly, served as its Republican leader, and chaired the Orange County Republican Party for 11 years.

This is Baugh's third time running for the 47th Congressional District seat. In 2018, Baugh came in fourth in a crowded, nonpartisan primary, which put him out of the general election. And in 2020, he withdrew from the primary.

Baugh came in second to Porter in the 2022 nonpartisan primary, bringing in 30.8% of the vote to Porter's 51% — enough to qualify him for the general election.

On abortion, he told the Orange County Register, "Others may disagree as to precisely when life begins, but there should be no disagreement as to whether it is OK to abort children who have reached the point of viability. We need to promote a culture of life in America — not a culture of termination."

Voting history for California's 47th Congressional District

California's 47th Congressional District is an affluent coastal district that covers a large swath of Orange County. It includes the inland city of Irvine, where Porter taught consumer law at the University of California, Irvine, as well as the coastal cities of Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach, and Newport Beach.

After the district lines were finalized, Porter announced she would switch districts to run in the new 47th District, a coastal district that encompasses her hometown of Irvine.

The money race

According to OpenSecrets, Porter has raised $22.7 million, spent $24.1 million, and has about $8.9 million on hand, as of October 19. Her opponent, Baugh, has raised $2.7 million, spent nearly $2.6 million, and has $139,000 cash on hand, as of October 19.

As of late October, several dozen super PACs, national party committees, politically active nonprofits, and other non-candidate groups have together spent about $8.2 million to advocate for or against candidates in this race, including during the race's primary phase. Nearly all of this outside money has been spent to boost Baugh, with Republican super PACs Congressional Leadership Fund and Club for Growth Action leading all others.

What experts say

The race between Porter and Baugh is rated as "lean Democratic" by Inside Elections, "toss-up" by The Cook Political Report, and "leans Democratic" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.