Political Breakdown

Lorena Gonzalez heads up the powerful California Federation of Labor Unions, making her one of the most prominent voices for working people in the state. The group represents more than 1,300 unions and 2.3 million workers in sectors including manufacturing, retail, construction, hospitality, healthcare and entertainment.  One of the federation’s priorities in Sacramento this year is Artificia...

In the Los Angeles mayoral election, incumbent Karen Bass is facing off against City Councilmember Nithya Raman, pitting two former allies against one another. The contest captured national attention this spring in large part because of the candidacy of former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who was embraced by national MAGA figures. Despite that attention, he failed to make it into the runoff. Sin...

Progressive California lawmaker Aisha Wahab defeated BART Board President Melissa Hernandez in the special election to serve the remainder of former East Bay Representative Eric Swalwell’s term. Wahab’s victory comes despite millions spent by pro-Israeli lobbying group AIPAC to defeat her and support her more moderate Democratic opponent, Hernandez. Marisa and Guy sit down with San Francisco Chron...

American sports have always been political. But it seems like now more than ever, the WNBA has become a hyperfixation for the right wing. Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham and Caitlin Clark have emerged as avatars for Conservatives, while the White House seems intent on stoking the flames of the culture wars that have erupted over race, gender and sexual orientation. Marisa sits down with Howard B...

This November, California voters will consider Proposition 43 — a measure aimed at making it harder for cities and counties to raise local taxes. It’s sponsored by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. That’s the anti-tax group that brought California Proposition 13 in 1978, a landmark ballot measure limiting property tax increases. Marisa sits down with the President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpa...

New Berkeley IGS polling came out this week that sheds light on how Californians are thinking about November’s big ticket ballot items — including the controversial billionaire tax. Marisa is joined by Melanie Mason, California Bureau Chief and co-author of Politico’s California Playbook. They talk about the latest polling, plus Xavier Becerra’s lead over Steve Hilton in the governor’s race. Then,...

Silicon Valley’s most rich and powerful technologists are trying to end democracy in favor of a corporate-run authoritarian world order. That’s what Gil Durán warns in his new book “The Nerd Reich: Silicon Valley Fascism and the War on Democracy.”  Marisa sits down with the journalist and former Democratic political advisor to discuss how tech billionaires — including Peter Thiel and Elon Mus...

The Trump administration is facing increased scrutiny over its use of federal agencies, such as the FBI and DHS, to reshape how our elections are run. That’s raising concerns that it could be harder for some eligible Americans to vote in the midterm elections. Marisa sits down with David Becker, a former federal prosecutor and Executive Director and Founder of the Center for Election Innovation an...

The California billionaire tax measure picked up major endorsements this week from the state Democratic Party and the California Labor Federation. The proposal to issue a one-time, 5% tax on the assets of the state’s billionaires has split Democrats, echoing deeper divides in the party ahead of a consequential midterm election. Guy Marzorati and the San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political write...

Marisa sits down with San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, who’s in his sixth year leading California’s second largest city. Gloria’s tenure has been marked by ambition, but it also shows how hard it is to implement the policies he previously pushed with colleagues in the state Legislature.  Gloria was also recently elected president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, putting him on the front lines of...

Political Breakdown continues an ongoing series on election integrity in America. President Donald Trump repeatedly claims that the American election system is vulnerable and easily compromised. He has gone after electronic voting machines and ballot-counting systems, alleged that more than 250,000 noncitizens are on the voter rolls of four states and claimed foreign interference in the 2020 elect...

The state Legislature returns to Sacramento from summer recess on Monday, and they’ll face big questions about California’s messy energy transition. Who should bear the cost of damaging wildfires? How should the state prioritize its shrinking climate fund? What regulations should they impose on the rapid buildout of AI data centers?  Guy discusses all that with two contributors to Politico’s...

Dave Regan built his career fighting for the underdog. Now he’s taking on California’s billionaires.  Regan leads SEIU-UHW, a union representing more than 120,000 healthcare workers in the state. He’s known for taking on the state’s most powerful interests and using ballot initiatives as leverage to force negotiations.  His latest proposal is a controversial billionaire wealth tax on the...

This week, President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court to allow him to implement an executive order aimed at making it much harder to vote by mail. The order would direct the Department of Homeland Security to create “state citizenship lists” of eligible voters and require the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots only to people on those lists.  It’s part of the president’s o...

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order requiring state workers to return to office four days a week took effect this month. The governor says it’s about battling a “crisis of loneliness” and wanting people to “develop relationships, friendships, fall in love.” But the mandate has been met with protests and lawsuits, putting him at odds with California’s powerful public employee labor unions. Marisa a...

The party in power in Washington, D.C. typically heads into a midterm election at a disadvantage. Democrats are favored to retake the House this fall, but the Democratic party brand is still deeply unpopular with voters. Plus, a national redistricting battle and recent Supreme Court case changing how party committees can spend money chip away at the party’s advantage. Marisa sits down with Guy and...

Political Breakdown continues an ongoing series on election integrity in America. Shasta County has been ground zero in California’s fight over election security. Election officials took control of the deep red county’s Board of Supervisors and elections office. Although some of those officials lost reelection bids in June, voters also passed a ballot measure to overhaul how the county runs electi...

President Donald Trump used a primetime speech Thursday night to cast doubt on the integrity of America’s election system. He claimed that hundreds of thousands of noncitizens are registered to vote in California and other Democratic-led states. He also attacked the Golden State's primary election for governor and Los Angeles mayor as an "example of the insanity." Marisa and Guy dig into the...

Nearly half of U.S. House Democrats voted yesterday to eliminate $3.3 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Israel. Although the amendment failed 314-104, it revealed a sea change in the party’s views on U.S.-Israel relations. Marisa and Guy discuss the trends behind which members voted yes, no or present and how Republicans are capitalizing on this party split.  Then, Marisa talks with...

Political Breakdown continues an ongoing series on election integrity in America.  Marisa talks about the modern era of election integrity with Ese Olumhense, an investigative reporter and professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. They examine how President Donald Trump set the stage for the January 6th riot and the aftermath, including the proliferation of election...

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...