Katie Hill (politician)

Hill speaking at the California Democratic Party State Convention.

On March 8, 2017, Hill announced her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives for California's 25th congressional district, her home district, challenging incumbent Steve Knight, a Republican who had held the office since 2014.[4] Knight won re-election in 2016, despite Hillary Clinton's carrying the district by 7%.[19][20]

In 2018, Hill came in second place in the primary election for California's 25th Congressional District, allowing her to advance to the November 6, 2018, general election, where she faced incumbent Republican Representative Steve Knight.[21] In the general election, Hill defeated Knight by a 54% vs. 46% tally.

Hill was the subject of a documentary-style series of episodes that aired on the HBO show Vice News Tonight.[22] Vice News Tonight documented the Hill campaign as the "most millennial campaign ever" for Congress.[23] Vice News Tonight reportedly planned on doing a follow-up episode regarding Hill's advancement to the general election.[24] In the weeks leading up to the midterm election, Hill was endorsed by former President Barack Obama, who also attended a campaign event in Southern California leading up to the election.[25]

Hill stated during her race for office that her top issues were addressing healthcare, rebuilding the middle class with policies that address income inequality and affordable housing, and getting big money out of politics.[18][26][27] Hill also stated she supports Medicare for All.[28]

Hill reportedly ran a grassroots campaign that didn't accept money from corporate political action committees.[29] In the first quarter of 2018, Hill raised over $400,000, bringing her total to $1,092,025 raised, with more than 9,800 individual contributions and more than 5,100 individual donors.[30]

Hill supports comprehensive immigration reform while working towards greater funding and security along the southern border to counter primarily illegal drug trafficking and other various crimes. Hill also supports some form of physical barrier along certain areas of the southern border.[31][32][33]

According to an October 2018 article in Rolling Stone, Hill is a gun owner, saying, "We have the highest number of law enforcement officials of any district in my county. And we have the second-highest number of veterans of any district in the country. On top of that, a quarter of our district is rural. So people do own guns. That's how my husband and I both grew up. Forty percent of our district owns a gun or lives in a household with a gun."[16]

Before the start of the 116th Congress, Hill and Colorado freshman U.S. Representative Joe Neguse were chosen as the freshman class representatives for the Democratic Caucus.[34]

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
• Committee on Oversight and Reform (Vice Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy
  • United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Environment
• Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics

• Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Congressional Progressive Caucus
• New Democrat Coalition

On October 18, 2019, the conservative political blog RedState published allegations that Hill was involved in an extramarital affair with her male legislative director, Graham Kelly. Hill denied allegations of a relationship with Kelly,[35] saying that her estranged husband, whom she described as "abusive", was doing everything he could to humiliate her, and that her political opponents were exploiting a private matter for political gain.[36] Her husband denied the allegations of abuse and Hill's subsequent marriage dissolution petition did not allege abuse nor wrongdoing.[37]

Hill reached out to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to deny the allegations.[38] RedState also published nude photos of Hill as part of the story. Hill said that the U.S. Capitol Police opened an investigation into who may have leaked the photos.[39]

The House Ethics Committee announced on October 23, 2019, that it would conduct an investigation into the allegation that Hill had an affair with a male staffer,[40] which, if true, would be in violation of House ethics reforms that were implemented in 2018 in response to the #MeToo movement.[41][42][43] On that same day, Hill sent an email to constituents in which she admitted to an "inappropriate relationship" with a campaign staffer before becoming a representative (hence out of scope of the Congressional investigation) and promised to cooperate with the Congressional ethics investigation regarding allegations of wrongdoing as a member of Congress.[44][45] The earlier relationship Hill admitted to was with a 22-year-old female subordinate recently out of college.[46][47]

On October 27, Hill announced via Twitter that she would resign from Congress.[7][48] She wrote, "This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, but I believe it is the best thing for my constituents and our country."[49] Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said Hill made "some errors in judgment that made her continued service as a Member untenable."[50] Hill has vowed to combat revenge porn after photos of her were leaked.[51]

In her last speech before Congress on October 31, 2019, Hill said there was a "double standard" and "misogynistic culture" that resulted in her decision to step down from her position. In the address to Congress she said, "I'm leaving, but we have men who have been credibly accused of intentional acts of sexual violence and remain in boardrooms, on the Supreme Court, in this very body, and worst of all, in the Oval Office."[52] She closed by saying, "as my final act I voted to move forward with the impeachment of Donald Trump on behalf of the women of the United States of America."[53]

On December 7, 2019, Hill penned an op-ed in The New York Times in which she described the events that led to her decision to resign, and mentions that she was suicidal during that time period.[54]

In the special election held in the spring of 2020, Hill endorsed State Assemblywoman Christy Smith, who ultimately lost the election. Hill, whose PAC contributed $200,000,[55] said that Smith had been considered "the mom of Democratic politics" in the district for years, and that "there's no one else that I could even think of that I would want to run for this."[56] Some Democrats regretted Hill's involvement in the campaign.[57]

After Hill's resignation, Monica Lewinsky reached out and offered to talk about some of the similarities and differences in being the victim of public shaming.[58]

In December 2020, Hill filed a lawsuit against ex-husband, Daily Mail, and Redstate.com over ‘non consensual porn’.[59] According to the report by NBC News, the defendants listed include: Salem Media Group Inc. (Redstate.com), Mail Media, Inc., writer Jennifer Van Laar (deputy managing editor of Redstate.com), and Joe Messina, the host of "The Real Side" Radio Show.