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Ventura, Los Angeles County Congresswoman Who's Resigning Talks For First Time About Decision

Katie Hill talks about her decision to resign in a nearly four minute long video released Monday.

A congresswoman representing parts of Ventura and Los Angeles Counties who’s resigning in the face of allegations she had an affair with a staff member has talked about what happening for the first time, releasing a video.

Democratic Congresswoman Katie Hill of Santa Clarita tweeted on Sunday that she will be stepping down from her 25th District seat. Then Monday, she released the nearly four minute long video.

Hill has denied the allegations.  She says while she was being victimized by her husband, she didn’t want to fight the allegations while in office.

Allegations that she had an affair with a staff member prompted the House Ethics Committee to announce last week it would investigate.

Hill denied the allegations, saying that her husband made the charges because of a bitter divorce that’s underway. But, other compromising photos of Hill surfaced in a British tabloid. Hill said those photos came from a consensual relationship before she was elected.

The freshman congresswoman defeated Republican incumbent Steve Knight in 2018 in a race which attracted national attention.

Dr. Herb Gooch has been watching the region’s political scene for decades, and spent nearly three decades as a political science professor at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. Gooch says Democratic leaders thought Hill was going to be one of the party’s future leaders.

There’s no word on exactly when Hill will step down from office. It will be up to the governor to set a date for a special election to choose a successor. Gooch expects to race to fill the 25th District seat is going to attract national attention, as well as big bucks from both parties.

Gooch says what’s interesting is that part of what fueled Hill’s victory was an anti-Trump backlash in the district, something which could once again come into play.

It’s already a crowded field for the seat. Among those who had already announced they were running on the Republican side are Mark Kripe, a longtime law enforcement officer; Mike Garcia, a retired Navy fight pilot who now works in the defense industry; and Angela Jacobs, a bank executive who’s on the Lancaster City Council. The big question is whether Steve Knight, the Republican incumbent who lost to Hill in 2018, will run. On his Facebook page, he says we are entering uncharted waters, but that he is looking to run.

On the Democratic side, 38th District State Assemblywoman Christy Smith announced she will seek the post. Before that, she spent two terms on the Newhall School Board. Also in the race on the Democratic side is David Rudnick, a former Marine who is now an Antelope valley businessman.

The 25th District includes parts of Los Angeles County, and a slice of eastern Ventura County.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral. 
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