KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita, has announced her intent to run for the 25th California Congressional seat in the wake of Congresswoman Katie Hill’s resignation.
Smith took to Twitter Monday morning to announce her campaign for Congress.
“After much encouragement from community members, today I am proud to announce that I am running for Congress,” Smith wrote.
https://twitter.com/ChristyforCA25/status/1188837825040412672
The announcement comes less than two hours after former Congressman Steve Knight announced that he was “looking to run” for the seat he lost back in 2018.
“After serving my community and country for nearly three decades, I will always answer the call when needed,” Knight said in a statement Monday. “At this point, we are entering uncharted waters. I am looking to run and am thankful for all the calls encouraging me to return to Congress.”
Knight is set to further elaborate on his run in an exclusive interview with KHTS later Monday afternoon.
See Related: Congresswoman Katie Hill Announces Resignation From Office Following Ethics Investigation
This news comes less than 24 hours after Hill announced her resignation following allegations of improper relationships with staff.
“It is with a broken heart that I announce my resignation from Congress,” said Hill in a statement released Sunday. “This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I believe that it is the best thing for my constituents, my community, and our country.”
Last Wednesday, Oct. 23, the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation on Hill involving allegations of sexual affairs with staffers, after Hill called for an investigation into the publication of explicit photos of herself that were posted online without her permission.
These allegations, which include an extramarital affair with her legislative director and a consensual romantic “throuple” between Hill, her husband, and a 22-year-old female campaign volunteer who later also allegedly became a paid employee, are reportedly being made by Hill’s estranged husband, Kenny Heslep, as the pair are going through a divorce, according to officials.
Photos and copies of texts allegedly between staff, Hill and her estranged husband were posted as proof of the allegations of her extramarital affairs. Representative Hill had notified Capitol Hill police, who are investigating the situation and potential legal violations of those who posted and distributed the photos, according to statements made by Hill at the time.
Last Wednesday in another letter to constituents, Hill denied the alleged relationship with a House staff member but acknowledged she was involved in a separate relationship with a member of her campaign staff “during the final tumultuous years of my abusive marriage.”
“I know that even a consensual relationship with a subordinate is inappropriate, but I still allowed it to happen despite my better judgment,” the Oct. 23 letter read.
Related: House Ethics Committee Opens Investigation On Congresswoman Katie Hill
Hill described her resignation as something that “needs to happen,” to avoid further victimization of her supporters via “a smear campaign built around cyber exploitation.”
She went on to say that the publication of personal and intimate photos was an “appalling invasion of my privacy.”
“It is also illegal, and we are currently pursuing all of our available legal options,” she added in her resignation letter. “However, I know that as long as I am in Congress, we’ll live fearful of what might come next and how much it will hurt.”
Hill did not specify a resignation date in her letter.
“For the mistakes made along the way and the people who have been hurt,” said Hill. “I am sorry, and I am learning I am not a perfect person and never pretended to be.”
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I’m Sorry Ms. Smith, But Katie Hill Did Not put Country First! Are you kidding me? If she did she wouldn’t be in this Mess.
Members of the community? You mean the DNC (Democratic National Committee – based in Washington, D.C.) , unions and PAC’s from outside of the district?
SO_CAL_RETAIL_SLUT
Vote Republican people and save us
Time to vote Republican people and save us
If Christy Smith thinks that Katie Hill put country first, that is signature significance that she is NOT qualified to be in congress.
I believe the way this reads is that she put country first by not trying to fight the allegations and just stepping down. Her actions were definitely not in any shape becoming a congresswoman
Democrats have ruined my native state. I will NEVER vote for any Democrat again, they are the party of illegal alien advocates, protecting violent criminals, up until birth abortions, denying us our religious freedoms, forcing LGBTQ insanity on all of us, indoctrinating our children in their liberal lunacy and anti Trump hatred. Democrats are anti God and anti American socialists, who want to take more of our money and waste it on their pet projects like disastrous high speed rail, and other stupid things. No thank you!
Well said!!!
Republicans are ANTI-AMERICAN….more like North Korean, Russian, Saudi Arabian….they support somebody who says “I could kill somebody and get away with it” ….like the PRINCE OF SAUDI ARABIA did.
You go, Christy! You have done a fine job for us in the Assembly, getting substantial funding for the Senior Center and getting education bills approved among other accomplishments. I am personally sorry to loose Katie Hill to the actions of an abusive husband, but I am sure you will still support the work she did to protect our community from water quality pollution (the new PFAS pollution especially) by supporting clean up funding. Thank you for putting your hat into this campaign.
Loose. I see what you did there.
Also, there is proof that her husband was ever abusive or that she did not release the photos herself once she caught wind she was under an ethics investigation.
She is the victim of her own decisions. Decisions she has yet to take responsibility for.
Thank you Christy! Katie made some bad choices – as an awful lot of politicians have including our President, Mr. Grabber who hit on a woman after his wife had just given birth. The difference is she recognizes it would be better to stand down than drag everyone through this with her. I look forward to getting to know you better and seeing how you can make us proud of the people in government again.
Republicans are ANTI-AMERICAN. They want a government like Saudi Arabia where the Prince could kill somebody and get away with it…as Trump has said over and over.
We did it befpre and we’re going to do it again. CA25 will stay blue!
We cannot let Steve Knight back into that position!
Smith is woefully unqualified. I am an independent voter and she has ZERO business being in the Congress. I did not vote in the last election because I was unhappy with Knight and did not like Hill at all although Katie Hill proved to be a disaster. I will vote in this election but it will not be for a Katie Hill underling being that the two campaigned extensively with one another.