There’s a new candidate in the race for California’s open U.S. Senate seat.
Former television reporter and anchor Christina Pascucci is looking to fill the seat of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Pascucci spent more than a decade as a reporter and anchor at KTLA 5 before moving to KTTV Fox 11 last year. She recently left the station.
The 38-year-old Democrat told Politico that she aims to be a moderate consensus builder and vows 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 the outlet. “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 said she’s a “truth seeker” who will “focus on legislating.” She also said she’ll apply “the same approach” in the Senate as she “did to newsgathering.”
To add to the big news, she announced she’s 18 weeks pregnant, and said her pregnancy was the deciding factor to run.
“The only thing crazier than not jumping in this late would be not jumping in at all, because I have to fight for what I believe is possible for California and for this country,” she said.
The veteran journalist posted a photo of her alongside Feinstein on Instagram when the senator passed away just weeks ago.
“As the longest-serving woman in the Senate, she paved the way for other women to serve and step up to the plate,” Pascucci wrote in her caption. “Condolences to her family, and to all who loved her.”
Pascucci has never run for political office before.
Before her official announcement to the site, many on Monday noticed she had changed her handle on X, formerly Twitter, to @Pascucci2024.
The race for the open senate seat is starting to get quite crowded. Former Los Angeles Dodgers great Steve Garvey, a Republican, also recently announced he joined the race.
Currently leading in the polls are Democratic U.S. Reps. Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee. Schiff represents Burbank, Porter represents Orange County and Lee represents Oakland.
It’s not clear if Sen. Laphonza Butler, who is currently occupying Feinstein’s seat, will run as well. She was recently appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the seat until the election.