On Thursday, barely a week into her own publicized scandal, Hill announced that she plans to resign and will not run for reelection. Hill is now the 10th member of Congress to announce plans she will not run for re-election for her district.
Hill gave a fiery speech on the House floor, a speech that ends her as a rising star in politics and was only 10 months in after taking the oath and won a leadership post in a giant class of freshmen House Democrats.
Hill's resignation could give some retrospect among lawmakers about how cases unfold like this and the proper ways in which to handle these kind of cases going forward. However, it is highly unlikely that her speech could impact the House going forward, especially among Republicans, who will nonetheless take advantage of the absence to elect a Republican into her district.
Hill said in her speech, "I am leaving because I no longer want to be used as a bargaining chip. I am leaving because I didn't want to be peddled by papers and blogs and websites, used by shameless operatives for the dirtiest gutter politics that I've ever seen and the right-wing media to drive clicks and expand her audience."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said about the moment that Hill is "very smart, strategic, patriotic" and said she has been victimized. However, the resignation is likely to change much or make any sort of impact going forward, at least for now.
Yes, Katie Hill has been victimized and she could've been used as a bargaining chip, in her words, to drive clicks, audiences, and even anger. So she got out before even more attention would've hurt her and her chances at getting re-elected.
Now that there's a House Ethics Committee investigation into her, we wait to see what the results will bring up. But it's clear it was a short rise and fall for a one-time Democratic star who had a chance to shape the future of the Democrat party.
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