KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, sat down with KHTS live on-air to discuss her run for Congress this week.
Smith announced her candidacy for the 25th District after the resignation of former Congresswoman Katie Hill in October.
“Giving what you see around the country with special elections, you end up in a dynamic that election gets so much national press because people want to assess the race as some kind of larger political bellwether for where they think the direction is going in the next major general election,” Smith said.
The Assemblywoman spoke on her experience at several different levels of representation, and how that experience would translate to Washington D.C.
“The fantastic thing about public service and the opportunity to serve at every level of government is that you really see the impact of programs that you are implementing and the dollars that you are spending,” Smith said. “You also get a well-measured sense of how to govern, even if you are governing with people across party lines.”
Smith is a longtime Santa Clarita resident who feels the “hometown advantage” gives her a unique perspective to represent the district.
“I jumped in because I really want us to keep the focus on what local needs and interests are in the 25th and the representative we are sending to Washington reflects the dynamic of a changing district,” Smith said.
See Related: Assemblywoman Christy Smith Announces Run For Congress
Smith discussed her priorities if elected to Congress, which include transportation and healthcare reform, as well as supporting education and small businesses.
“Refurbishing our transportation infrastructure and expanding it is going to allow the kind of regional economic growth that we need,” Smith said. “We have maxed out on the number of people willing to hop on the 5 and the 14 every day to go over the hill and find employment.”
Smith said that she wants to focus on bringing employment opportunities to Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and the Antelope Valley in efforts to ease the congestion on the freeways.
The legislator also discussed one of the biggest debates on Capitol Hill: the impeachment of President Donald Trump for charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.
“I would have voted to move impeachment forward based on the hearing that I saw with both the Judiciary and Oversight Committees,” Smith said. “It is clear that we don’t want to be on a path where the president or any elected official can access the outside resources of a foreign government to come to play in our domestic elections.”
Assemblywoman Smith also discussed healthcare and efforts to increase the amount of transparency in the marketplace.
“We need to do more about pricing transparency in healthcare,” she said. “As consumers of healthcare, we are ‘locked out’ of what that pricing is. It is the only consumer market where we are operating blind.”
Smith went on to say that she was in favor of a public option, where consumers are able to keep their private insurance.
The candidate spoke on the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, where thousands of refugees are in makeshift camps, waiting to be heard by an immigration judge.
“The crisis at the border is a humanitarian crisis,” Smith said. “People are fleeing economic and circumstances of violence in their own countries and are coming here because America has always represented that beacon of hope.”
The legislator discussed the need for border security but added most people overstay their visas instead of crossing the border.
Smith emphasized her decades in the 25th District, moving to Santa Clarita in 1979 and raising her family in the valley.
“We need to stay focused as a community on looking to the candidates who here with a dedicated history of public service, with an efficacy in reaching across the aisle and across communities,” Smith said. “There is a lot of diversity in CA-25. We need someone who is a conduit for all of that, who is a bridge-builder and willing to bring people together.”
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So if you want more impeachment nonsense from the do nothing good Democrat’s vote Christy Smith.
If you want better policies and better lives for American citizens vote Mike Garcia!! Look him up if you don’t know who he is. He’s a great example of a great American who wants the best for American citizens.
Very weak interview by Devon Miller. No serious follow up questions for the candidate.
Agree, I was looking at this to learn of her perspectives and opinions to decide my vote and this doesn’t tells me ANYTHING, super weak, low quality interview.
Christy has already proven she can’t work across the isle. She doesn’t support small businesses, she attacks them and tries to boycott them. She also calls constituents names that don’t share the same policies. Electing her would be a disaster for our district. Vote Mike Garcia
“She (Christy Smith) does not support small business…”
Source- RobG’s imagination.
Our ultimatum is between massive overbloated defense spending, and allowing a criminal racket to go unimpeaded in our healthcare (and I use this term loosely) System.
On one hand, We have the standard Republican bearer with the same formula that brought us the “Lochner Era”, and we already have a White Court in place.
On the other hand, We have a private health care defender, who would greatfully discount our lives for the profit of an industry (and I use that word loosely).that owns a portion of our Commonwealth we still don’t know enough to defend.
Which way will the Sheeples go?
Paranoid delusions of strength, or tasting the pie in the sky that a private corporation will work in any other interests but their own.
Ultimatums are all we deserve.