Political Breakdown

Marisa and Scott are joined by Congressman Raul Ruiz (D-Palm Desert) to talk about the state's progress in battling COVID-19 and expanding testing in medically underserved communities. Ruiz also discusses his childhood in the Coachella Valley, his strategy to raise money in order to attend college and the reason he left the emergency room to run for Congress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...

Scott and Marisa discuss California's response to the coronavirus outbreak -- analyzing Governor Gavin Newsom's latest executive orders and private sector partnerships. Then, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis joins to discuss her work repatriating Californians abroad during the coronavirus outbreak, her father's journey from Greece, and her time as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary during the leadersh...

As California cities shut down and the state prepares for a surge of coronavirus cases, Scott and Marisa check in with KQED's Katie Orr on the state government's response (0:20). Then, state Sen. Dr. Richard Pan joins to talk about battling disinformation in the public health sphere, the state's preparation for the outbreak and the personal responsibility of Californians residents in slowing infec...

Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos talk with San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Santa Clara Supervisor Joe Simitian, Bay Area Council CEO Jim Wunderman, and Amanda Fried, chief of policy and communications at the San Francisco Treasurer and Tax Collector's Office, after six Bay Area counties issue a stay-at-home order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined by Lenny Mendonca, chief economic and business advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom, to discuss the latest on how the coronavirus could impact the state's economy. They also talk with Mendonca about his childhood on a dairy farm in Turlock, his business consulting career and the Newsom administration's vision for high-speed rail, the Central Valley economy and the...

Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined by KQED's Guy Marzorati and Politico's Carla Marinucci to talk about Sen. Elizabeth Warren's exit from the presidential race, chew over the results of California's primary and discuss the returns for the Proposition 13 school bond and the state's competitive congressional races. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore lessons from a lifetime in politics in KQED’s new podcast "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown." Scott Shafer spent more than 40 hours interviewing the former governor at his ranch in Colusa County, covering a life and career unmatched in California politics. In the series' final episode, Brown uses ballot initiatives to create a forward-moving agenda: leading California off a fiscal cliff a...

Scott and Marisa check-in with South Carolina Public Radio's Gavin Jackson ahead of Saturday's primary in the Palmetto State (0:30). Then, political consultant Ace Smith joins to talk about his work on his father's campaigns, the challenge of field organizing in California, what went wrong in Kamala Harris' run for president, why top California politicians are holding off on endorsing presidential...

Explore lessons from a lifetime in politics in KQED’s new podcast "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown." Scott spent more than 40 hours interviewing the former governor at his ranch in Colusa County, covering a life and career unmatched in California politics. In the series' seventh episode, Brown ignores the conventional wisdom of political consultants in his runs for attorney general and governor....

Marisa and Scott hit the road — first to Sacramento, where Gov. Gavin Newsom breaks format and focuses on homelessness in his State of the State address (0:21). Then, it's off to Las Vegas, where Democratic presidential candidates have gathered in advance of Saturday's caucus. Culinary Workers Union Local 226 Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Argüello-Kline joins to talk about her journey to the U.S.,...

Explore lessons from a lifetime in politics in KQED’s new podcast "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown." Scott Shafer spent more than 40 hours interviewing the former governor at his ranch in Colusa County, covering a life and career unmatched in California politics. In the series' sixth episode, Brown takes office as mayor of Oakland in 1999, with the goals of improving development, public safety a...

Pod Save America host and former Obama adviser Dan Pfeiffer joins Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos to talk about the state of the race for the Democratic nomination, and his new book "Un-Trumping America." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore lessons from a lifetime in politics in KQED’s new podcast "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown." Scott Shafer spent more than 40 hours interviewing the former governor at his ranch in Colusa County, covering a life and career unmatched in California politics. In the series' fifth episode, Jerry Brown returns to politics in the early 1990s after six years in the political wilderness. In 1992,...

Days before the New Hampshire primary, Scott and Marisa check in on the latest from the Granite State with Dan Barrick from New Hampshire Public Radio (0:40). Then, data guru Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., joins to discuss how he works with the California voter file, how campaigns are targeting early voters and the process of determining results from California's March 3 pri...

Explore lessons from a lifetime in politics in KQED’s new podcast The Political Mind of Jerry Brown. Scott spent more than 40 hours interviewing the former governor at his ranch in Colusa County, covering a life and career unmatched in California politics. In the show's fourth episode, California Democrats are shell-shocked by Proposition 13, but Jerry Brown sees a political opening. But in his se...

Days before the Iowa caucuses, Scott and Marisa get an update from the Hawkeye State from Iowa Public Radio reporter Kate Payne (0:30). Then, attorney Robin Johansen joins to talk about her work on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment, representing Willie Brown and the state Legislature, battling changes to term limits and redistricting, and the future of the state's initiati...

Explore lessons from a lifetime in politics in KQED’s new podcast The Political Mind of Jerry Brown. Scott spent more than 40 hours interviewing the former governor at his ranch in Colusa County, covering a life and career unmatched in California politics. In the show’s third episode, Brown takes office as governor in 1975, with a guiding vision on how to apply what he sees as limited power; and a...

San Francisco Mayor London Breed becomes the latest California mayor to endorse Michael Bloomberg in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination (0:32), and the impeachment battle heats up in Washington (4:10). Then, California Supreme Court associate justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar joins to talk about what it was like making the switch from academia to the courts (8:50), crossing the U....

Explore lessons from a lifetime in politics in KQED's new podcast The Political Mind of Jerry Brown. Scott spent more than 40 hours interviewing the former governor at his ranch in Colusa County, covering a life and career unmatched in California politics. In the show’s second episode, hear about Brown's political rise -- when he learned that his path to statewide office could not come from inside...

A new poll from the Public Policy Institute of California shows Bernie Sanders leading a tight race in the state's Democratic primary. Scott and Marisa also discuss voters' focus on homelessness, as Governor Gavin Newsom travels the state to promote investment on the issue (0:58). Then, NPR Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep joins to talk about the lives of 19th century explorer and California Sen...

Explore lessons from a lifetime in politics in KQED's new podcast The Political Mind of Jerry Brown. Scott spent more than 40 hours interviewing the former governor at his ranch in Colusa County, covering a life and career unmatched in California politics. In this episode, hear about Brown's early years as a Jesuit (and political) novice, when he discovered that the world of ideas was very differe...

Scott and Guy Marzorati kick off the new year by discussing the making of KQED's new series The Political Mind of Jerry Brown. Then, State Senator Steve Glazer joins to share his experiences working for the former governor; from volunteering for Brown in college, to running Brown's campaign for governor in 2010. Glazer also talks about life as a moderate in the state legislature and politics in hi...

Jerry Brown often complains that no one comes to him for political advice. So we came knocking, and we’re glad we did. Across more than forty hours of exclusive interviews, Brown shares his lessons on politics and government gleaned from his five decades in the arena. You can hear it all in KQED’s latest podcast, “The Political Mind of Jerry Brown.” Catch a sneak preview of the first episode right...

Scott and Marisa revisit a couple of their favorite interviews from the past year: conversations with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf (0:45) and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (10:15). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marisa and Scott are joined by Guy Marzorati and San Francisco Chronicle senior political writer Joe Garofoli to recap the year in California politics and look ahead to 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices