In January 2019, Katie Hill broke into a wide grin as she prepared to speak to a jubilant Saturday morning crowd at the Women’s March LA.

With an eye toward the future, the promising millennial candidate’s speech turned serious. Women were gathering heightened clout in DC, she said, but it was only the beginning, she declared.

Friday’s Forum Note: There are no more free tickets available for the forum, CSUN officials said. But it will be livestreamed here: https://www.youtube.com/user/CalStateNorthridge

There are no more free tickets available for the forum, CSUN officials said. But it will be livestreamed here: https://www.youtube.com/user/CalStateNorthridge What: Congressional District 25 Candidate Forum

Congressional District 25 Candidate Forum When: 5:30 to 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 21.

5:30 to 8 p.m., Friday, Feb. 21. Where : Student Union, Northridge Center, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge

: Student Union, Northridge Center, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge Details: District includes the northern area of the San Fernando Valley, Lancaster, Palmdale, Santa Clarita Valley and Simi Valley.

District includes the northern area of the San Fernando Valley, Lancaster, Palmdale, Santa Clarita Valley and Simi Valley. Information: For more information, contact the Office of Government and Community Relations at governmentrelations@csun.edu.

“Now it’s time to go back to work,” she told the crowd, in remarks on the struggle for “true women’s equality” amid the fractured Washington landscape. “Because you see what’s happening in Washington. We can’t move forward on getting affordable healthcare for everyone unless we start to work again. So we need you to show up. The activism has just started. Get back to work. It’s time for 2020 to watch out for us, because we’re coming again. Let’s march!”

In the November that had just passed, Hill had been elected in stunning fashion, riding a blue wave in 2018 that flipped Congressional seats across Southern California. It didn’t hurt that many districts, including her own 25th Congressional were already trending away from the Republican Party, and not everyone was thrillled with Trump-era style of politics in Washington.

And here, at the beginning of the Women’s March in January 2019, she was a newly elected congresswoman with big ideas and big ambitions, with talent even the speaker of the House of Representatives would come to admire, putting the freshman congresswoman on a path to bigger and better things.

Fast forward to now — with Election Day coming on March 3 and early voting already taking place in LA County — a free-for-all for the seat she left behind in northern LA County between a fascinating, diverse group of hopefuls — some who lean way right, some who lean way left, and some who, well, it will be interesting to see where they lean.

At stake is whether or not the district can stay blue amid a GOP push to snag it back — and what shade of blue or red the district will take (way left, way right, or somewhere in the middle).

Here’s a brief history on how we got here:

A changing district

This is the home of the Ronald Reagan Library, for gosh sake.

The district represents an area of Ventura and northern LA Counties, from Simi Valley to Santa Clarita, even snipping a piece of the north end of the San Fernando Valley.

And despite the Reagan connection, it’s been trending blue in recent years.

As of January, it was 37.92% Democratic and 31.59% Republican, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office.

It wasn’t always that way. As recently as 2014, it was the other way around — 35.75% Democrat and 38.30% Republican.

An area that stretches form Simi to the northern part of Sylmar and Porter Ranch, and all the way to Lancaster was a GOP stronghold. Republican Howard McKeon had a grip on the seat from 1993 to 2012, when he retired, giving way to Steve Knight, a veteran of the the U.S. Army, the LAPD and the state Legislature, who held it beginning in 2014.

It was perhaps a sign of the increasingly partisan politics to come that Knight found himself in a changing district in the midst of a disrupted national poltiical zeitgeist as Obama gave way to Trump.

There was the infamous “I’ll drop your (expletive)” incident in 2015, when Knight got feisty with a protestor outside Knight’s Simi Valley office who was trying to call the congressman out on what he claimed was a soft stance on immigration.

As the Washington Post put it:

“‘Mike,’ the man Knight confronts, has a firm grip on the congressman’s hand as he says, ‘You told me you didn’t vote for amnesty, and you did. I looked it up on the Internet. You lied to me.’ Then Mike forcefully pats him on the shoulder. Knight approaches him. “Mike, if you touch me again,” he says, “I’ll drop your (expletive).” “I shook your hand!” Mike protests, somewhat disingenuously. The protesters were angry about their perception that Knight had voted in favor of ‘amnesty’ for illegal immigrants.”

Life would go on, of course. Local issues — including the Aliso Canyon well blowout — emerged from his district and Knight moved through them. Critics got on him over being slow to respond to the leak, which spewed more than 100,000 metric tons of methane into the local air and sickened .

But Knight challenged the critique.

“Sometimes leadership doesn’t involve grandstanding and politicking. It involves swift, informed action that doesn’t necessarily grab headlines, but actually solves a problem. That is what the people of Porter Ranch really need,” Knight wrote in an LA Daily News op-ed.

And then came Trump’s election, which ushered in a whole new dynamic in the 25th, and really across Southern California. As traditionally red districts were turning blue, the Trump effect — as popular as it was in the Rust Belt — was not playing in northern LA County.

Knight would be re-elected in 2016, joining Congress for Trump’s early terms. But there were warning signs. Hillary Clinton had won the district by nearly 7 points in that same election.

The wave was forming.

Katie Hill rises

Raised in the area, and a product of local schools, Hill had roots, and she knew how to connect with the area’s voters.

She challenged Knight in 2018, tapping in to the area’s traditional, conservative instincts but also pitching herself as a fresh young face who could get things done in D.C. With frund-raising gifts and a penchant for toggling between the instincts of the moderate and progressive wings of her party, she beat Knight. It was a whale of a battle — and ranked as the third-most expensive House race in the nation, with combined spending of $29 million.

The sky was the limit.

As the Daily News’ Kevin Modesti reported just after her election: She was named one of two freshman caucus representatives to Democratic Party leadership (alongside Joe Neguse, D-Colorado). First member of the freshman class to deliver the Democratic response to President Trump’s weekly address. Made a speech in support of Nancy Pelosi before the party caucus voted to nominate the San Franciscan for a return to the House speakership.

By July, a quartet of Republicans — Mike Garcia, a former Navy fighter pilot; non-profit CEO Suzette Martinez Valladares; Lancaster City Councilwoman Angela Underwood Jacobs; and L.A. Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Cripe — jockeyed for position in the early hunt looking to challenge the new congresswoman in 2020. They went at Hill, whom they said had already swayed too far left.

Regardless, Hill — with a serious fundraising lead, the advantages of incumbency and an anticipated growing Democratic voter turnout — was assumed to be a shoo-in to snag a “top two” spot in the March primary.

And then, scandal.

No need to get too detailed here, in a story that’s been written a million times. But it came down to a nasty divorce, alleged sexual indiscretions with a congressional staffer, naked photos shared on social media and an acknowledged relationship with a campaign aide. And a House ethics investigation scrutinizing all of it.

For Hill, it became overwhelming. She resigned, charging that explicit private photos of her with a campaign staffer had been “weaponized” by what she called an abusive husband and political operatives.

A scramble

With Hill’s departure, what was once a small cluster of GOP hopefuls became a swarm of candidates, right and left, some with national names.

Garcia, the former Navy pilot, would stay in the race, ultimately building a solid fundraising structure with more than $1 million raised in the race and winning the endorsements of some big GOP names, from McKeon (the former congressman) to the LA County Republican Party itself. But he would soon have much more company.

Christy Smith, the Democratic state assemblywoman from the overlapping 38th Distict didn’t waste any time establishing herself as the natural successor to Hill, touting support that ranges from Gov. Gavin Newsom to labor leaders.

It was so great to see the tremendous enthusiasm and great turnout yesterday for our extra canvassing walk in Santa Clarita! These events combined with our thousands of houses walked each week across the district's three valleys are key to #TakeBackOurDistrict! #VoteTwice4Mike pic.twitter.com/CB8aLSa8bO — Mike Garcia (@MikeGarcia2020) February 10, 2020

And the hits just kept coming:

Knight, the former congressman, would jump back in, eager to reclaim his old seat for the GOP.

And coming:

George Papadopoulos, the former Trump campaign aide who was found guilty of making false statements to the FBI about his Trump campaign contacts with a potential Russian agent, announced as a candidate.

Also jumping in would be Cenk Uygur, co-founder and host of “The Young Turks,” a progressive news and opinion YouTube channel.

And coming:

Newsom would call a special election, setting up an interesting conundrum: On Election Day, the district will have a special election to fill the remainder of Hill’s term and a primary that would determine who goes on to the November general election, which would determine who wins the seat outright for a fresh four-year term beginning in 2021.

I’m running to represent #CA25 because our communities deserve leadership that’s ready to hit the ground running and continue to offer EVERYONE a seat at the table. https://t.co/U3s1I9VROO — Christy Smith (@ChristyforCA25) February 8, 2020

A giant slate of candidates then would put toss in their hats for both:

Here’s how it shook out to fill the unexpired term in the special election:

Among Democrats, there’s Anibal Valdez-Ortega, an attorney/community organizer, from Palmdale; Uygur, The Young Turks cofounder; Christy Smith; Getro Franck Elize, a patient resource worker, from Palmdale; Robert Cooper III, a university professor; and F. David Rudnick, a business owner.

Had a great time meeting with the Southern California Republican Women & Men today. #CA25 pic.twitter.com/xHQGoH4e3L — Steve Knight for Congress (@TeamKnight25) November 30, 2019

Among Republicans there’s businesswoman Courtney Lackey, David Lozano, an attorney; Mike Garcia, the veteran of the U.S. Navy and Raytheon executive; Knight, the former representative of the district; Daniel Mercuri, a Navy veteran and resident of Simi Valley.

And here’s who’s running in the primary for the fresh term starting in 2021:

The Democrats: Cooper III, the university professor; Christopher Smith, a documentary filmmaker; Getro Franck Elize, a patient resource worker, from Palmdale; Christy Smith; Uygur.

The Republicans: Garcia, Knight; Papadopoulos, Lozano, Mercuri and Kenneth Jenks, a telecommuncations executive from Santa Clarita.

as you watch the #SOTU tonight, don't forget that Trump's bigotry has emboldened behavior like this all over the country. This happened at a voter forum in Palmdale, CA over the weekend. We must fight bigotry wherever we see it & liberate people from the hatred in their hearts. pic.twitter.com/TYK1ATGAqm — Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) February 5, 2020

The race has had its moments, for sure, offering a microcosm of tensions between — and within — political parties. Progressives are battling moderates. And Trump supporters are battling the rest.

Scenes from the campaign landscape:

If you missed our great event in Antelope Valley tonight, don’t worry. We have a lot more planned there, Simi Valley and Santa Clarita the next two weeks! #PapadopoulosforCongress #CA25 pic.twitter.com/Z6VwMKIs04 — George Papadopoulos (@GeorgePapa19) February 7, 2020

There’s the tension between candidates taking “corporate” money and not — much like what’s playing out among national presidential candidates.

And there’s the local-vs.-“outsider” thing. Smith has emphasized her local ties to the area, while calling out others who don’t have them. “Here’s an idea,” she wrote on Twitter. “How about all of you manspread in your own (expletive) districts?!” “It’s a shame that there are charlatans from outside of the district who are running for this seat to seek the spotlight, not deliver results,” Smith added in a statement.

So where’s all this going?

Conventional wisdom among people immersed in such stuff indicates that Smith has a good shot among the Democrats — especially given the expected high turnout for California’s newly early presidential primary.

But the district can still “swing,” so Republicans see a chance to grab it back. Clearly, the LA County GOP sees Garcia as a real contender. And experts point to Knight’s name recognition as a benefit.

Whatever the outcome, it’s all compelling political drama. And it won’t be over on March 4.