With the 2020 election only months away, Assemblywoman Christy Smith hit the ground running this new year as she wraps up her state Legislature campaign and shifts gears to run a more “robust” federal one, she said Thursday.
The first-term legislator, who started her second session in Sacramento this month, announced the launch of her campaign in October to fill former Rep. Katie Hill’s seat for the 25th Congressional District.
Since then, Smith has kept busy fundraising for her new campaign, which announced in early January raising more than $840,000 for its first fundraising report in the congressional race.
She has also been addressing remaining housekeeping items on the Assembly campaign: unused campaign funds.
As of Thursday, Smith was left with just more than $105,000 in cash on hand and an outstanding debt of $3,000 that is owed to the treasurer who prepares the reports, according to Deputy Campaign Manager Kunal Atit. Her total contributions, as of the beginning of 2020, reached $346,508 and expenditures of nearly $260,000.
He added that leftover funds have not only gone to pay for invoices, but also to local charities, which would fall under fair play based on strict rules on what politicians can do with unused campaign money as set by the Fair Political Practices Commission and the Federal Election Commission.
“Christy paid out outstanding invoices and contracts associated with the Assembly campaign and has been pleased to use some of her remaining funds to sponsor local nonprofits, including: Bridge to Home, the Boys & Girls Club of Simi Valley, the Castaic Lions Charity Foundation, the Santa Clarita Valley Education Foundation, the Michael Hoefflin Foundation, the Kiwanis Club of Northridge Foundation, and the College of the Canyons Foundation,” he said in a statement via email.
Smith, who released her first TV ad Thursday for her congressional campaign that highlighted access to health care, said she will be asking voters for their vote in both the special election to fill the remainder of Hill’s term and the regular primary for the new, full term.
“I will be asking voters to vote for me in both elections on March 3, and will be running a robust, community-focused campaign over the next six weeks to educate voters about the unique circumstances present in the upcoming election,” she said in a statement.
Both elections will happen March 3, meaning voters can vote twice in two separate elections. If candidates in the special election primary do not get a majority, the top-two winners would advance to a May 12 runoff.
Smith is up against Democratic candidates such as Cenk Uygur, founder of liberal political news show “The Young Turks,” and Republican challengers like former Rep. Steve Knight and former naval fighter pilot Mike Garcia. Democratic candidate Christopher Smith suspended his campaign on Jan. 14.
