Uh oh.

Three weeks ago, shortly after the previous pulled AHCA vote, Steve Knight, who had avoided taking any position, held a town hall in Simi Valley. A young woman asked him how he would have voted. Knight receded into a mumble of mansplaining before asking the young woman’s name. The crowd laughed. They knew who the she was and they knew Steve Knight did too.

x YouTube Video

On Thursday, Steve Knight voted in favor of the AHCA, a bill that would let the unfortunate get sicker and die just so the very fortunate can get a tax cut. Even if it never becomes law, the moral ramifications are stark. The political ramifications will (and must) be stark as well, especially for Clinton-district Republicans like Knight. Cook Political Report quickly moved CA-25 to “Toss-Up”.

Enjoy the feeling while it lasts, Congressman.

On Friday, the local paper published Katie Hill’s editorial on Knight’s ultimate vote, where she also lays out solutions to actually improve the ACA, and talks about her then-uninsured husband’s collapsed lung in 2010, which left the young couple $200k in debt. Earlier last week the same paper featured her piece regarding recent heroin overdoses in the Santa Clarita Valley, the nationwide opioid crisis, her experience with drug abuse and rehabilitation in her own family, and drug treatment policies she’ll push for in Congress.

After beating her abbreviated Q1 fundraising mark of $50,000, thanks in part to some Kossacks who know a strong grassroots candidate when they see one, she needs to step it up and hit $200,000 for Q2. Be an early supporter and chip in! I’ve talked to her about it and she’s extremely grateful for the help she’s received from the DailyKos community. Katie Hill is exactly the kind of person you want in Congress, and in a great stroke of luck, also exactly the kind of person who can beat Steve Knight.

Kevin de León presenting Katie Hill with the 2016 Non-Profit of the Year Award for PATH.

Unreleased third party polls are showing Katie Hill already earning name recognition in the district, outperforming the two other candidates who have announced or are expected to announce, and showing the strongest head-to-head numbers against Knight. Your early grassroots support will put her in a strong position to get out of the primary and flip this seat.

In a +7 Clinton district, Steve Knight is a right winger who even thinks “social security was a bad idea.” So how did he win in 2016? Well, for one thing, he had an opponent who was easy to attack. That’s why we need to make sure we get Katie Hill into the runoff, and why more and more local party activists getting to know her are excited to have a locally rooted candidate who Congressman “I’ll Drop Your Ass” can’t attack without looking his very Trumpiest.

Katie Hill’s lived her whole life in the district, serving her community, currently as Executive Director (at 29 years old) of PATH, a $40m/year statewide non-profit service provider that does amazing things for vets, for homeless families, for single mothers, and for the chronically homeless. Steve Knight can’t say she’s “not one of us.” All he can do is pretend he doesn’t know her name. He’ll know it the night he calls her to concede.

Steve Knight is going to lose. Katie Hill is going to win. 2018 is going to happen. Be an early part of it, with a little bit of money or a little bit of time.