Cryptocurrency industry spends millions attacking Katie Porter in California Senate race

There's an unexpected player in the race for California's open U.S. Senate seat: the super PAC Fairshake, which is backed by the heads of several cryptocurrency companies.

The political action committee has spent millions on ads disparaging Rep. Katie Porter. Rep. Adam Schiff led in most polls as of Thursday, but who he would face in November remains unclear.

Porter and Republican Steve Garvey have been virtually tied in the polls, and that's why crypto's big bet against Porter could have an impact.

"Big corporations understand that I am in the fight for a more fair economy. This isn't really about crypto. It is about a handful of the most ultra-wealthy billionaires in the country who don't want someone to go to Washington who will focus on making our economy more fair and they're running negative shady ads," said Porter.

Three House Democrats - Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee - and former Dodgers star Steve Garvey clashed in a debate as they vie to fill the seat once held by the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

But it's not just crypto that Porter has to fight off. Schiff has been running an ad that attacks Garvey, who Porter says Schiff would rather face in November than her.

"He is trying to lift up a republican in order to eliminate a qualified democratic woman from the ballot which is me and that short-changes Californians. We haven't had a robust debate about the future of California in a number of years. We haven't had an open senate seat in a long time. We need to have two democrats on the ballot all the way through to November so we can talk about what's different between us," said Porter.

In an interview on Thursday, ABC7 asked Schiff about whether he's trying to boost Garvey.

"It's totally fair game to set aside and set out the differences between myself and republican leading candidate in this race Steve Garvey. We're all on the same ballot and Mr. Garvey is out on fox attacking me. Representative porter is talking about one of the other republicans in the race in her ads on fox so I don't really think she's in a position to criticize," said Schiff.

Something else that will impact this race, the very low turnout that's already being seen. Porter argues that the best way to boost turnout is to have a competitive runoff in November between two Democrats -- herself and Schiff.