Political Breakdown
Join hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos as they unpack the day in politics with a California perspective. Featuring interviews with reporters and other insiders involved in the craft of politics—including elected officials, candidates, pollsters, campaign managers, fundraisers, and other political players—Political Breakdown pulls back the curtain to offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics works today.
Episodes
August 8, 2025 • 24 mins
President Trump’s push for Texas to redraw congressional districts to help Republicans in next year's midterm elections has mobilized Democratic governors, including Gavin Newsom, to do the same. But will California voters agree to let politicians draw their own lines when they put a stop to that practice years ago?
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August 7, 2025 • 31 mins
The Trump Administration has suspended half a billion dollars in federal research funds from UCLA, alleging the school has ignored anti-semitism on campus. The school’s chancellor says the cuts would kill scientific research at UCLA. Now, the university will negotiate with the administration, just as Ivy Leagues like Columbia and Brown University have done. Scott is joined by the Los Angeles Times education reporter Jaweed Kaleem. ...
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August 5, 2025 • 25 mins
This week marks 30 years since the death of Grateful Dead frontman and San Francisco native Jerry Garcia. Despite Garcia's disdain for government and politics, he navigated his band through the counterculture revolution of the 1960s and had a remarkable influence on American culture.
In a new biography of Garcia, writer and former Los Angeles Times journalist Jim Newton describes how Garcia did his best to shun politics even as t...
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August 1, 2025 • 18 mins
New unemployment numbers show that California is tied with Nevada for the highest unemployment rate in the nation. Experts point to uncertainty over tariffs and trade policy, immigration raids and the rise of Artificial Intelligence as some of the main contributors.
So what does a high unemployment rate mean for one of the world’s largest economies?
Scott talks with economist Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon E...
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July 31, 2025 • 31 mins
After months of speculation, Kamala Harris announced that she will not run for governor of California, which keeps her options open for a potential campaign for president in 2028.
The decision has created a political earthquake throughout the state, as Democrats already running for governor step on the gas for campaign operations now that the biggest threat to their candidacy is removed. Scott and Guy are joined by Politico's sen...
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July 29, 2025 • 29 mins
As Texas Republicans move ahead on plans to redraw their congressional districts to boost GOP candidates for the House of Representatives, Governor Gavin Newsom is fighting back, saying California will follow suit. But can Newsom really overcome the legal obstacles to putting political gerrymandering back into practice? Scott is joined by Paul Mitchell, the vice president at Political Data Inc, which uses polling and other data to ...
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July 25, 2025 • 24 mins
A new poll shows that six months into San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie’s term, voters are very happy with his overall performance. But are his social media posts a little too positive given the city’s issues with ICE arrests and a budget deficit? Scott, Guy and KQED's Sydney Johnson discuss the mayor's popularity. Plus, they talk about a plan for "geographic equity" of shelter placement throughout the city.
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July 24, 2025 • 31 mins
Zohran Mamdani's win in New York City's Democrat primary for mayor has energized the left while shaking up establishment Democrats. Scott is joined by Vox politics reporter Christian Paz to discuss the split within the party, the potential for a Democratic Tea Party moment and what Mamdani's victory means for the party's future.
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July 22, 2025 • 28 mins
Bilal Mahmood became the first Muslim American elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors last year. Now, Mahmood is proposing controversial legislation to put homeless shelters in each supervisorial district throughout the city. Scott is joined in studio by Mahmood, who represents the city's fifth district including the Haight-Ashbury, Fillmore, Western Addition and Tenderloin neighborhoods.
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July 18, 2025 • 25 mins
President Trump is pressuring Texas to redraw its political map to try and gain a few more Republican congressional seats. In response, Governor Newsom has threatened to gerrymander California’s political lines to help Democrats win more House seats in next year's midterm election. Plus, both parties are already shaping the narrative around Trump's huge domestic policy bill that, among other things, slashes health care funding. Sc...
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July 17, 2025 • 31 mins
The U.S. Supreme Court this week cleared the way for President Trump to fast track the dismantling of the Department of Education. Plus, California and 23 other states are suing the Trump administration over nearly $6 billion in education funds they say are owed to them. Scott is joined by Politico education reporter Juan Perez Jr. to discuss who will be affected by the massive cuts underway and how it could play out politically.
...
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July 15, 2025 • 22 mins
President Trump's massive domestic policy bill allocates an unprecedented amount of money to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's budget, significantly expanding their ability to carry out Trump's aggressive deportation agenda.
Already, weeks of intensified raids by federal immigration agents have generated fear and panic among many immigrant communities in California. Scott is joined by the Los Angeles Times immigration reporte...
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July 11, 2025 • 26 mins
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. We revisit a conversation from May, when Scott and Marisa talked with Tran about representing a very purple district and his father’s harrowing story as a refugee after the ...
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July 10, 2025 • 31 mins
In the last election, voters with college degrees leaned heavily toward Kamala Harris. But most voters without a degree backed President Trump. It’s not just about policy. It’s about pride, identity, and who feels like they’re on your side.
Republicans are speaking directly to working-class values like hard work, tradition, and loyalty, even while passing bills that slash healthcare and education.
Meanwhile, Democrats often sound...
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July 8, 2025 • 27 mins
President Trump’s megabill is now law and it’s sending shockwaves through California’s healthcare system. The legislation makes major cuts to Medicaid, known here as Medi-Cal, which covers about one in three Californians.
Supporters say the bill reins in government spending. But critics warn it could shutter hospitals and force the state into painful budget choices. KQED Health Correspondent Lesley McClurg is joined by Angela Har...
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Today marks the start of a new fiscal year in California, and the budget signed by Governor Gavin Newsom is going into effect now that the legislature met his demands for a major overhaul of California’s landmark environmental bill. Newsom and others have long seen the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, as a major impediment to building housing. Scott and Marisa are joined by Dustin Gardiner, the co-author of Politico's...
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June 27, 2025 • 27 mins
It’s crunch time in the state Capitol, with a new fiscal year starting Tuesday. However, the legislature blew past its legally mandated June 15th deadline to approve a spending plan and is continuing to negotiate with Governor Gavin Newsom until the last minute. Marisa and Guy are joined by KCRA 3's California Capitol Correspondent Ashley Zavala to discuss what is in the budget and what's still being hashed out.
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June 26, 2025 • 31 mins
It's officially summer, which for many Americans means camping and hiking in national parks. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, there's been a lot of upheaval in and around our federal open spaces, from budget cuts to proposals to sell off public lands. Marisa is joined by the San Francisco Chronicle's enterprise reporter Kurtis Alexander to discuss how all this will affect California's parks and monuments.
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June 24, 2025 • 32 mins
Over the weekend, the United States entered the conflict between Israel and Iran, dropping never-before-used bunker-buster bombs on three nuclear sites in Iran. President Donald Trump is now trying to hold both sides to a ceasefire, but his own objectives in ordering American involvement seem unclear. Marisa is joined by Politico senior foreign affairs correspondent Nahal Toosi to unpack why Trump chose to get involved and what cou...
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June 20, 2025 • 25 mins
As immigration raids across the state disrupt workplaces and families, a new report describes the negative impact the federal raids and mass deportations could have on California’s economy.
Scott, Marisa and Guy discuss the report, plus the fallout from this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling to uphold a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming medical care for minors.
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