Los Angeles news anchor Christina Pascucci announced Wednesday morning that she is running for the U.S. Senate vacancy left by the death of Dianne Feinstein.

The 38-year-old Democrat is the latest entrant into an increasingly crowded field for California’s 2024 Senate race. The San Fernando Valley resident claims she offers a centrist option to voters tired of polarization in national politics.

Enough is enough. People are tired of it, including me, Pascucci said in an interview with The Times. What you do is sit down and reach across the aisle.

Feinstein announced earlier this year that she would not run for re-election, setting off a fierce battle for her Senate seat

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Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff of Burbank, Katie Porter of Irvine and Barbara Lee of Oakland. Former Dodgers all-star Steve Garvey recently announced his candidacy, joining little-known Republican candidates including attorney Eric Early and former health care executive James Bradley.

A key question is whether Laphonza Butler, a former labor leader appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom when Feinstein died last month, will run for a full term.

Pascucci faces the big challenge of raising enough money to mount an effective campaign. Although she is known to some Los Angeles voters for her many years on air at KTLA and a recent stint at the local Fox News affiliate, Pascucci would need to raise several million dollars to air campaign ads throughout California, some of which the most expensive media markets in the country.

And she starts at a significant financial disadvantage. Schiff had about $32 million in the bank at the end of September, Porter had $12 million and Lee had $1.3 million in cash, according to Federal Election Commission reports filed Sunday.

Pascucci joins a long list of journalists from both parties who have run for office, with varying degrees of success.

Kari Lake, a former television host in Phoenix, is one of the most prominent journalists and commentators to run for office recently. The prominent denier of the 2020 presidential election results ran unsuccessfully for governor of Arizona in 2022 and is currently running for Senate in the state.

Other

former radio journalist

s include chairman

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Reagan, governor of Alaska. Sarah Palin and Rep. Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky of Pennsylvania, who worked for local news stations and as a correspondent for the “Today” show.

Pascucci, who has never held elected office

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argues that her experience as a journalist, whether reporting on the voiceless or world leaders, gives her the foundation she needs to be an effective leader.

Pascucci, for example, said that as a senator she would fly to Texas to participate in the talks

Texas Republicans

Gov. Greg Abbott on his publicity stunts by sending tens of thousands of migrants to shelter cities, including Los Angeles.

Has anyone tried it? I think too often here we make statements and talk bad about each other and don’t really reach out to the person, Pascucci said, adding that she grew up having impressed conversations with her Republican parents at the San Fernando dinner table . Valley.

“I grew up hearing views different from my own,” she said, adding that she wants to make the world a better place for her daughter, who is due shortly after the California primary in March. Ultimately, I love them. I’m not going to dehumanize my family because they think differently. We have to sit there and have an open mind, why do people feel the way they feel?