California Democratic Rep. Katie Hill delivered her final floor speech Thursday, claiming her political career was cut short as a result of a sexual double standard and misogynistic culture.
“I am leaving now because of a double standard. I am leaving because I didn’t want to be used as a bargaining chip. I am leaving because I didn’t want to be used by papers and blogs and websites used by shameless operatives for the dirtiest gutter politics that I’ve ever seen,” Hill said.
Hill blamed the “right-wing media” looking “to drive clicks and expand their audience by showing intimate photos of me, taken without my knowledge let alone my consent, for the sexual entertainment of others” for her stepping down.
Hill, 32, resigned from office last Sunday amid a House ethics investigation into an alleged intimate relationship between her and her legislative director Graham C. Kelly.
Allegations about the affair first surfaced after a sexually suggestive photo of Hill unclothed and brushing the hair of a campaign staffer was first posted to the RedState website along with text messages between the staffer, Hill, and her estranged husband Kenny Heslep, with whom she is in a bitter divorce battle.
The House prohibits members from having sexual relationships with their congressional staffers. However, the rules do not specifically address relationships with campaign staffers that occur before a member of Congress takes office.
Hill admitted to a romance with her campaign staffer but denied she ever had an inappropriate relationship with Kelly, who also worked on her campaign.
Although Hill apologized to her supporters, she made no specific mention of or alluded to Kelly or the other campaign staffer in her floor speech.
Her resignation statement last Sunday blamed her political downfall on Heslep, whom she claims was an “abusive husband,” and that she was the victim of “hateful political operatives who seem to happily provide a platform to a monster who is driving a smear campaign built around cyber exploitation.”
Hill, who is public about her bisexuality, said in her final floor speech she was also leaving because of the “misogynistic culture” that “capitalized on her sexuality and enabled” her “abusive ex to continue that abuse.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised Hill while criticizing “cyber exploitation” at her weekly press briefing Thursday.
“It’s shameful that she’s been exposed to public humiliation and to cyber exploitation,” she said.
The California freshman Democrat defeated Republican incumbent Rep. Steve Knight in 2018 amid the Democrats’ “blue wave” election cycle and became a political star in her caucus after her appointments to the powerful House Armed Services Committee and Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Additionally, Hill racked up early leadership posts by becoming vice chairwoman of the House Oversight panel and the freshman representative to the House Democratic Caucus. Hill’s resignation makes her the first female lawmaker to depart Congress over a sex scandal.
