TV news anchor Christina Pascucci joins crowded California Senate race

Los Angeles TV news anchor Christina Pascucci announced Wednesday she is running for the Senate, joining an already crowded race for the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) seat.

“I have some breaking news: I am running for U.S. Senate,” Pascussi said in an announcement on X, formerly known as Twitter. “It’s time to stop the fighting in Washington, and focus on reaching across the aisle to put people over politics. I believe in the promise of California. I hope you do too.”

In a video message, Pascucci referred to her years of experience reporting on “important news stories.”

“The past 15 years I’ve been alongside many of you on the front lines of thousands of important news stories, and I’ve interviewed countless politicians,” she said. “What I’ve come to know through that is our political leadership is not helping to keep that dream in reach for so many of us, and there’s a whole plan to do it.”

Politico first reported Pascucci’s Senate bid.

Pascucci was an anchor for KTLA 5 in Los Angeles for more than a year before she moved last year to Fox 11 (KTTV), where she served as an anchor and reporter. She announced on KTTV she will be leaving her role at the station to pursue the Senate seat.

Pascucci also announced she is pregnant, claiming that inspired her to run.

“When I found out, there was a fire ignited within me that said, ‘I cannot accept how things are anymore,'” she shared with Fox 11’s Elex Michaelson.

Pascucci told Fox 11 that she is running as an “independent Democrat” and listed her core issues as “a lack of quality education and family support,” along with public safety, homelessness and the uptick in migrants at the U.S. southern border.

She joins a closely watched race that already includes Democratic California Reps. Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee, along with Lexi Reese, a former Google executive.

Feinstein died last month at her home in Washington, D.C., at the age of 90. She served three decades as a senator, making her the longest-serving female senator in history.

Feinstein had already announced she was not running for reelection next year, kicking off what is expected to be one of the most expensive Democratic primaries in the 2024 cycle.

California Gov. Gavin Newson (D) named Laphonza Butler to fill Feinstein’s seat until the 2024 election. Butler, 44, was the president of EMILY’s List, a group that works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights. She is yet to announce whether she will run for a full term.