opinion
Some ‘Mistake’
Would the girl whose photo Coleman weaponized against her just five years ago have considered running for office? Probably not, knowing those images are out there.
Katie Hill wasn't yet 30 when she embarked on her run for Congress. By 31, she had become not only a Member of Congress but a member of Congressional Leadership and was widely considered one of the Democratic Party's brightest rising stars. She managed to flip a Congressional district under decades of Republican control, was the first woman to hold the seat, the first openly LGBTQ woman to be elected to Congress from California, and one of the youngest women ever to serve in the House of Representatives. She resigned from her position less than a year after entering Congress, following political sabotage by her abusive ex-husband in a scandal that began a national conversation around questions of bisexuality, domestic abuse, cyber exploitation, workplace power dynamics, and what happens when regular people who live regular lives run for office.
Hill is the author of She Will Rise: Becoming a Warrior in the Battle for True Equality and the founder of Her Time, a political action committee supporting women in politics who are shaping their communities, and the country, for the better.