Political Breakdown

Earlier this week, Governor Newsom unveiled his new plan to balance the California's $12 billion budget deficit--with cuts that are raising controversy. The governor wants to put the scalpel to Medi-Cal -- California’s version of Medicaid. Newsom said that he wants to save the state money by capping enrollment of adult immigrants that are here illegally. He also proposed charging these individuals...

Republican State Sen. Brian Jones heads the Senate GOP caucus, and represents parts of San Diego County-- a decidedly purple Southern California district. After stints in both houses of the legislature, He's serving his final term in Sacramento. Although Republicans make up a minority of lawmakers at the state capital, they've made headway in recent months pushing against Democrats on issues like...

In November, Orange County Congressman Derek Tran became the first Vietnamese American to represent Little Saigon in Washington, D.C. Tran barely defeated Republican incumbent Michelle Steel, helping Democrats flip three California House seats from red to blue. Scott and Marisa talk with Tran about representing a very purple district and his father's harrowing story as a refugee after the Vietnam...

On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. The administration has barred journalists from The Associated Press from the White House press pool for refusing to adopt the renaming in its coverage. Scott and Marisa are joined by The AP's White House reporter Chris Megerian to discuss the president's renaming orders, including his plans to anno...

Marisa and Scott talk to two Golden State politicians representing California in Washington, D.C. First, they're joined by Republican Congressman Kevin Kiley, who represents the state's third congressional district, which spans most of the California-Nevada border. Kiley is an ally of the president and shares his perspective on Trump's agenda including deportation flights and federal budget cuts. ...

The Political Breakdown team is reporting from Washington D.C. all this week. Today, Scott and Marisa sit down with Senator Alex Padilla at his office building on Capitol Hill to discuss the Trump administration’s actions on deportations and immigration, including the recent appearance of ICE agents at two elementary schools in Los Angeles.  Then, they sit down with Suzan DelBene, who represents W...

After months of laying low, former Vice President Kamala Harris steps out with a speech in San Francisco, taking aim at President Trump and warning of a constitutional crisis.  Plus, the Trump administration is taking aim at sanctuary city laws limiting local law enforcement's cooperation with federal immigration agents. Scott, Marisa and Guy discuss all that on this Friday roundtable.  Learn more...

California’s Secretary of State Shirley Weber is speaking out against federal Republican policies and proposed laws she says will disenfranchise voters. Weber is the daughter of southern sharecroppers and knows what voter suppression looks like. Her grandfather was never given the opportunity to vote and her father didn’t cast a ballot until his 30s, after fleeing a lynch mob in Arkansas and movin...

Join host Xorje Andrés Olivares and guests to explore what it means to live within a hyphenation. Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to have easy conversations about hard things: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. Hyphenación—where conversation and cultura meet! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One hundred days into President Donald Trump's second term, East Bay Representative Eric Swalwell joins Marisa to discuss how his party should be responding. In 2012, Swalwell was elected to represent Hayward, Livermore and Pleasanton in Congress and helped lead both impeachments of Trump. He's become a frequent critic and target of the president and his allies.  Learn more about your ad choices....

In San Francisco, the county Democratic Party this week adopted resolutions aimed at repositioning themselves on issues like public safety, education and, most controversially, possible age limits for elected officials. Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass is trying to overcome the damage from being out of the country when the devastating fires struck her city while also dealing with a huge...

Joel Engardio built his political profile by backing the successful recalls of members of San Francisco's Board of Education and its progressive district attorney. Now he may be facing a recall of his own. Engardio, who represents the city's Sunset District on the Board of Supervisors, is being targeted for backing a voter-approved ballot measure that permanently closed most of the Great Highway t...

President Donald Trump faces lawsuits over his actions on immigration, mass firings, funding threats and tariffs. But are his administration’s showdowns with the courts are heading to a constitutional crisis? Scott and Marisa are joined by Ilya Somin, who teaches law at George Mason University and is the chair of constitutional studies at the Libertarian Cato think tank in Washington. Learn more a...

After weeks of trying to make nice with the president, Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta head to court, saying Trump’s unilateral tariffs are messing up California’s trade-dependent economy. Scott, Marisa and Guy discuss California’s latest federal lawsuit against the Trump administration. Plus, KQED's Alex Hall joins to discuss the results so far in the Oakland mayoral election...

President Donald Trump is targeting higher education. Colleges and universities in California are feeling the heat as the administration threatens funding, cancels student visas, pressures schools to end diversity programs and cracks down on pro-Palestinian campus protests. Scott and Marisa are joined by the Los Angeles Times reporter Jaweed Kaleem to discuss how California schools are responding...

Cal Calamia is a nonbinary transmasculine runner and an activist who has successfully pushed to create nonbinary running categories in some of the world’s largest marathons. Calamia joins Marisa in studio to dig into the debate over transgender participation in sports.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With Tuesday's Oakland mayoral special election just days away, Marisa and Guy are joined by Oakland resident and KQED Forum co-host Alexis Madrigal. Madrigal is the author of a new book, “The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City," about how the port of Oakland and global commerce shaped the city and its residents. They discuss the city's history and...

Barbara Lee is running for mayor of Oakland in next week’s special election. If she wins, it would be the capstone of a long and storied political career that took her from the East Bay to Sacramento and Washington D.C., where she spent nearly three decades in Congress. Lee joins Marisa and Guy in studio to discuss why she wants to lead Oakland now, as the city faces a significant budget deficit a...

President Donald Trump is going after big law, slapping sanctions and punishments on firms whose past work or lawyers he doesn’t like. Although several big firms have capitulated to Trump, others are fighting back — including San Francisco firm Keker, Van Nest & Peters.  Marisa joins the firm's co-founder and partner John Keker at his San Francisco office to discuss why the law firm is willing to...

The debate over transgender athletes was the focus of a heated hearing in Sacramento this week. California lawmakers rejected two bills sponsored by Republicans that would have limited trans high school athletes from participating in girls' sports. The San Francisco Chronicle's politics reporter Sophia Bollag joins Scott and Guy to discuss the "Capitol showdown."  Plus, former U.S. Health and Huma...

On April 15th, Oakland voters will elect a new mayor to finish out recalled mayor Sheng Thao's term. One of the leading candidates is former city councilmember Loren Taylor. Taylor narrowly lost to Thao three years ago and faces former Congresswoman Barbara Lee in the special election. Scott and Guy are joined in studio by Taylor to hear why he thinks he has what it takes to lead Oakland at a time...

President Trump is promising that tomorrow will be “Liberation Day” when he rolls out another round of tariffs. California, a major trading partner with Mexico and Canada, is right in the cross hairs of the tariff tumult. Scott is joined by Christopher Thornberg, an economist and founding partner of Beacon Economics, to unpack the impact on California industries.  Learn more about your ad choices....

As Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency guts the federal workforce, Tesla’s electric cars have a major brand problem, triggering protests at Tesla dealerships and reports of vandalism of Tesla cars. Scott, Marisa and Guy discuss the fallout and the Trump administration's response.  Plus, Democrats are buzzing over journalists Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson's book "Abundance," which spell...

Democrats are trying to figure out a way forward after their bruising ballot box defeat last fall. Some in the party are pushing for a new generation of leadership, saying the current gerontocracy hasn’t kept up with the political reality. One such person challenging the party establishment is Saikat Chakrabarti, who announced he's running for Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's seat in 2026. Chakrabarti...

 As Republicans avoid town hall meetings with their constituents, Democrats are happily filling the void. Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna visited three Republican congressional districts this past weekend, warning that Republican cuts to Medicaid will hit them especially hard. Scott and Marisa are joined by Guy, who is in Bakersfield where he attended one of Khanna's town hall gatherings on S...