Christina Pascucci, who worked as a TV news reporter for KTLA 5 and KTTV 11, has announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate, it was reported Wednesday.
She is running for the seat Dianne Feinstein had in the U.S. Senate until her death last month. Pascucci, 38, said she is running as an independent Democrat and told Politico she aims to be a moderate consensus builder and plans to appeal to Latino and undecided voters.
“I’ve been covering the most pressing issues of California for the past 15 years and watching this race closely, as well as covering it and interviewing some of the candidates,” Pascucci told Politico. “And the more I watched it, the more closely I studied it, I honestly felt dismayed by how it was shaping up. I spoke to a lot of others who felt the same way. Like, this is our future — more of the same.”
She also announced she is 18 months pregnant.
She has never run for political office before.
The race for the California U.S. Senate seat includes Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Katie Porter, Rep. Barbara Lee, the top Democrats, and former Los Angeles Dodger Steve Garvey, a Republican.
Laphonza Butler was appointed to fill Feinstein’s seat in the Senate by Gov. Gavin Newsom. She will be in office until the term ends in 2024.