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Orange County has traditionally been seen as a Republican stronghold in the midst of the otherwise largely blue Southern California, and this midterm election cycle, all eyes are on several districts in the OC that could have a hand in shifting control of the House of Representatives.

One of those is the California’s 45th Congressional District, where consumer protection attorney and UC-Irvine law professor Katie Porter, running as a Democrat, is challenging Republican Congresswoman Mimi Walters

Polls show a tight race shaping up between the two. A recent survey done by the New York Times and Siena College showed Porter with a 4.5 percentage point lead over Congresswoman Walters 48-43, with 8 percent reporting they are still undecided.

Today on AirTalk, Larry Mantle sits down to interview Katie Porter about her bid for Congress and some of the key points of her platform.

AirTalk has made repeated attempts to contact Congresswoman Mimi Walters’ campaign and invite her to join us on the air today for a debate with Katie Porter, but as of the airing of this segment we have not received any response from anyone with the Walters campaign. We will continue to pursue an interview with the Congresswoman and update this segment if we are able to do so.

Ready for Election Day? Get up to speed on what you need to know with our Voter Game Plan at elections.laist.com. Read up on the candidates and ballot measures, find out about registration deadlines or ask us your questions.

Guest:

Katie Porter, Democratic candidate for Congress in California’s 45th Congressional District, which is based in Orange County and includes the communities of Irvine, Tustin, North Tustin, Villa Park, Orange, Anaheim Hills, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, parts of Aliso Viejo, parts of Laguna Niguel, Rancho Santa Margarita, and Mission Viejo; she is also a consumer protection attorney and professor of law at UC-Irvine; she tweets @katieporteroc