Political Breakdown

Sexual assault allegations have upended high-profile political campaigns across the country. This week, Democrat Graham Platner, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Maine, suspended his campaign following an accusation of rape. It comes months after former East Bay Congressman Eric Swalwell’s California gubernatorial bid collapsed under similar allegations. Now, a sexual assault allegation has emerged...

President Trump’s H.R. 1 policy bill made deep cuts to Medi-Cal, the state’s version of Medicaid. After weeks of debate in Sacramento over how to fund the program, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a budget with a tax plan that could raise premiums by $100 a year for privately insured Californians. KQED’s Lesley McClurg and Guy Marzorati discuss why this has become such a political battleground.  Then...

Since retaking office, President Donald Trump has attacked the election system, pushed voter ID laws, raided local election offices and claimed widespread voter fraud.  As the midterm elections approach, Political Breakdown begins a new series examining election integrity in America.  Host Marisa Lagos talks with historian Carol Anderson, a professor of African American Studies at Emory...

This 4th of July marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Although we often remember the American Revolution as driven by anger over taxation and representation, journalist Rebecca Nagle says the country’s founding was also compelled by a hunger for Indigenous land. Nagle is the host of the new podcast First America, which unveils a history of our country’s fo...

The Supreme Court term has come to an end with a flurry of blockbuster rulings. Today, the justices preserved birthright citizenship, striking down the executive order President Trump issued on the first day of his second term seeking to end it. They also ruled that states can bar transgender athletes from girls' and women's sports and loosened campaign finance restrictions by allowing candidates...

Californians will vote on 14 ballot measures this November, including a voter ID initiative, two housing affordability bonds and an overhaul of the California Environmental Quality Act. The most dramatic negotiations ahead of the ballot finalization were over a billionaire wealth tax and a measure that will make it harder to pass local taxes. Marisa and Guy talk with Politico’s senior politics cor...

The World Cup is in full swing across North America, and the U.S. men’s team faces Turkey in its final group round appearance on Thursday. But behind the cheering fans and nail biting matches, FIFA's commitment to political neutrality is put to the test. Marisa sits down with Tariq Panja, global sports correspondent at The New York Times. They dig into the politics behind the games, from restricti...

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether states can count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. The decision could dramatically reshape how elections are administered in California and nationwide. Meanwhile, California’s slow vote-counting process continues to draw national criticism. Marisa is joined by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, who spent nearly three decades as Santa Cruz Co...

The feud between Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Donald Trump escalated this week, with Newsom announcing the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating him and his wife. The decision to announce publicly before any official charges is unusual, but the investigation may help elevate Newsom as he weighs a possible presidential run. KQED’s Lesley McClurg and Guy Marzorati discuss what we know so fa...

Silicon Valley spent big in California’s primaries. Venture capitalists, artificial intelligence executives and tech billionaires poured tens of millions of dollars into races up and down the ballot, trying to influence who will regulate them. For the most part, their preferred candidates fell short, a sign of growing anti-tech sentiment among voters. However, tech-backed super PACs managed to sec...

Ballot counting in California is nearly complete and November matchups are coming into focus. Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton will face off for governor. In Los Angeles, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass will meet progressive City Councilmember Nithya Raman in the general election. Scott, Marisa and Guy dig into new endorsements, unpublished poll results and candidates’ paths to victo...

The Democratic Party is still searching for a path forward after losses in the 2024 election. With the November midterms looming, Democrats are trying different strategies to win back the hearts and votes of the electorate. Do they focus on ideology, running more populist, progressive candidates? Or do they make the case that the party needs a generational shift in leadership? Marisa and Scott are...

California county election workers are still counting votes from last week’s primary, and President Donald Trump is once again alleging, without evidence, that the state’s election system is rigged. Scott and Marisa talk to David Becker, executive director and founder of the nonpartisan, non-profit Center for Election Innovation & Research. Track the latest election results here. Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pol...

With primary week drawing to a close, San Francisco’s early returns suggest that two people not on the ballot have come out on top: Mayor Daniel Lurie and Rep. Nancy Pelosi. Scott, Marisa, Guy and KQED’s Sydney Johnson turn to the races and ballot measures in San Francisco, analyzing what the results so far tell us, even with nearly half the votes still left to count.  Track the latest election re...

Why does it take so long to count votes in California, and what do the results tell us so far? Marisa, Scott and Guy make sense of the primary election with Melanie Mason, Politico's California Bureau Chief and co-author of the California Playbook. They discuss President Trump's election fraud allegations, early returns in the governor's race, the first post-Proposition 50 redistricting maps in ac...

California’s primary election results are trickling in, but many races remain too early to call. KQED’s politics team digs into the early numbers in the governor’s race, where Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra lead with Democrat Tom Steyer in third place. Plus: competitive congressional races, the insurance commissioner’s contest and the Los Angeles mayor’s race.  Track the lates...

Democratic activist and billionaire investor Tom Steyer has won support from progressives in his bid for governor. Although critics have questioned whether his tremendous wealth distances him from the concerns of everyday Californians, Steyer argues he has the independence to take on utilities and oil companies. Earlier this week, Steyer took questions from a live audience at a KQED town hall mode...

California’s unpredictable race for governor is in the final stretch. Scott, Marisa and Guy dissect the final polls as an unusually high number of Democratic voters have yet to return their ballots. Plus, they spotlight a few other down-ballot races worth watching before voting ends. For election information including our voter guide, go to kqed.org/voterguide. Check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠Political Breakdown’s...

Democrats have long had their sights on Congressional District 22 in the Central Valley, where Republican Rep. David Valadao has managed to hold onto the Democratic-leaning district for most of the past 13 years. Cook Political Report lists it as the only toss-up House race in the state after last year’s redistricting measure flipped five Republican-held seats blue. Now, two Democrats are competin...

President Donald Trump and the Justice Department, led by his appointee Todd Blanche, have reached a settlement in a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Services. The deal includes a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” for people who claim to be victims of government retaliation. It also includes an addendum providing widespread legal immunity to the president, his family and their businesses....

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco promises that if elected governor, he will cut taxes, shrink government and root out fraud. At a KQED town hall earlier this week moderated by Marisa Lagos, Bianco took wide-ranging questions from a live audience on topics including public schools, housing shortages, road conditions and immigration. For more information on the races and ballot measures in Calif...

Marisa, Guy and KQED’s Sydney Johnson crack open San Francisco’s ballot and dig into the competing business-tax measures Proposition D and Proposition C, the Sunset District supervisor’s race and what an ideal election night would look like for Mayor Daniel Lurie, who’s weighed in on all of it.  Plus, they discuss the race to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress and her endorsement this week of S...

Now that all of the governor debates are behind us, Marisa and Guy discuss what the latest polls reveal about where the candidates stand. They also examine the closing arguments from the top two Democratic contenders: Xavier Becerra is asking voters to judge him by his record, while Tom Steyer wants them to judge him by his enemies.  PG&E Spends Millions Against Tom Steyer. What’s Behind the Clash...

In the race for California governor, Democratic frontrunner Xavier Becerra faces allegations that he failed to protect migrant children when he served as health and human services secretary under the Biden administration. But are those attacks fair? Marisa is joined by the New York Times reporter Hannah Dreier, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her 2023 investigation into what was happening to the huge...

With the June primary now just 18 days away, the California governor’s race has been completely transformed, reshaped by scandal, rapidly changing poll numbers and bruising debates. Marisa and Guy sit down with Democratic political consultant Addisu Demissie, who worked on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s successful 2018 gubernatorial campaign. They size up the remaining field and discuss how the candidates ar...