Republican Congressional candidates Mike Garcia and Mark Cripe took part in a town hall Thursday to give Santa Clarita residents an opportunity to get to know the Republican candidates running against incumbent Congresswoman Katie Hill, D-Agua Dulce.

The two candidates came together at the Embassy Suites in Valencia Thursday evening for a town hall hosted by The Conservative Action Group, Inc.

“The main purpose of the event is to inform the voters who is running against Katie Hill on the Republican ticket,” said Mat Funicello, president and founder of The Conservative Action Group, in a previous KHTS story.

Funicello said that he had invited all three of the Republican candidates for the California 25th Congressional seat, but that Angela Underwood Jacobs was unable to attend due to a “miscommunication.”

Cripe and Garcia were each given around 40 minutes to introduce themselves and discuss their platform on key issues, and later were asked questions by those in attendance.

See Related: Nearly $1 Million Raised By CA-25 Congressional Candidates During Third Quarter

Cripe went first, and used his time to discuss his background and why he entered the race, in addition to his stance on various political topics.

“The landscape of the politics in our country has been going in a direction we don’t like,” Cripe said. “We have to stop forfeiting our liberties for safety.”After spending time to discuss his upbringing and military background, Garcia used his time to point out a variety of bills that Hill reportedly supports that Garcia disagreed with.

“She’s looking out for the illegals, she’s looking out for those who are chasing gun control laws, and she’s been bought and paid for since 2018 with big campaign money,” Garcia said.

The town hall came just after candidates filed their third-quarter earnings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), which showed that Garcia had raised over $232,000, while Cripe raised about $6,000. Meanwhile, Hill raised over $600,000.

Cripe and Garcia talked about several issues, including abortion, national security, and veterans’ affairs, but the two ultimately agreed that they needed to defeat Hill in 2020.

“This isn’t a joke to me,” Garcia said. “This is something that I’m doing as a mission, and that mission is to win.”

KHTS FM 98.1 and AM 1220 is Santa Clarita’s only local radio station. KHTS mixes in a combination of news, traffic, sports, and features along with your favorite adult contemporary hits. Santa Clarita news and features are delivered throughout the day over our airwaves, on our website and through a variety of social media platforms. Our KHTS national award-winning daily news briefs are now read daily by 34,000+ residents. A vibrant member of the Santa Clarita community, the KHTS broadcast signal reaches all of the Santa Clarita Valley and parts of the high desert communities located in the Antelope Valley. The station streams its talk shows over the web, reaching a potentially worldwide audience. Follow @KHTSRadio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.