Former news anchor and current U.S. Senate candidate and former journalist Christina Pascucci (D) shared her story and plans for the upcoming election on Thursday, Feb. 29 in Cruz Reynoso Hall.
Pascucci, as a news reporter, worked for KTLA and traveled to more than 100 countries, along with all 7 continents. She shared that her reporting and interviewing across the globe sparked her act for change and running for senate.
Pascucci is a member of the journalism department’s advisory board at Fullerton College.
“I just kept interviewing the same politicians who were getting promoted even though they were failing,” said Pascucci. “Instead, they were getting promoted to higher positions within the government. And so after years of seeing that firsthand, I got sick of it and I decided to throw my hat in the ring.”
As a daughter of an immigrant, Pascucci grew up in California and became a first-generation college graduate. She became a successful journalist, reporting on many different issues, and is now an expecting mother of a baby girl.
Pascucci argues that her experience as a journalist, covering wars in the Middle East and environmental issues in the Arctic, gives her first-hand experience dealing with the many issues she is wanting to change.
“I’ve had so much life experience and I’ve seen how it’s really impacted people. I’ve been with people as they’re losing their livelihoods or held them in my arms while they’re upset or having their best or worst day,” said Pascucci while talking about immigration. “I just think that I’m in touch with people in California on a level that my opponents aren’t.”
Food and housing insecurity are among others issues in the state that drove Pascucci to run for office. She has worked in underserved communities and with foster youth throughout her entire adulthood.
For 15 years, she served as a big sister in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, and earned the title of California’s Big Sister of the year and was honored by the California Senate.
“A lot of people who are in the middle class are also falling into poverty and it’s important for a thriving society to have a robust middle class when you have an increasing gap before it can really destroy a society,” said Pascucci.
Leilani Pongco, a FC film major, said she was impacted after hearing Pascucci speak and felt heard as a young voter.
“It was refreshing to hear someone speak about humans so kindly, especially in politics,” said Pongco.
This story was updated to reflect that Pascucci is on the advisory board of the Fullerton College journalism department.
