Special Episode! Midterm Election 2022

The Reframers discuss the situation heading into the midterm election of 2022. We cover who is up for re-election, discuss resources for finding out more about the election, and break down the Propositions that are on the ballot in California. It's a great episode to get you primed and ready to vote November 8th!

https://www.economist.com/mid-terms-2022

https://ballotpedia.org/Main_Page

https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2022/

https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/

 

Episode Transcript

Kassie (00:00):
Hello Reframers.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
I am Kassie and I'm joinedwith my co-host, Zach and Erin.
How are you guys doing today?

Erin (00:10):
I'm doing good.
How are you, Zach?

Zach (00:13):
I'm doing good as well.
I'm excited to be here for another episodeof The Reframers and today we're gonna be
talking about the midterm elections, whichwill take place November 8th of this year.
So trying to get it out so all youguys can be informed before going off.

Kassie (00:27):
And I know, I'm glad we're talking about this right now because
I feel like I've just seen the packetsitting on my kitchen table for Zach.
I don't even know how long it'sbeen there, but I think it's
high time we talk about it.
I do wanna apologize inadvance for my voice.
I am fresh off of a bacheloretteweekend and Scottsdale definitely
got the best of my my eardrums.

(00:49):
Holy cow.
It's a loud city.
And my my voice box.
So gonna do my best , but we'regonna talk about the midterm
election that's coming up.
It's November, right?
Same as same as other elections.
And then November, correct.
November 8th, easy.
And then really we're gonnafocus on what are the midterms?

(01:11):
Why do they exist?
Why, why do we do them?
That'll include the terms, why somethings that we vote on every four
years versus some are every two.
We're gonna talk a little bit aboutwho's up for election, and then at
the end for our California folks,we're gonna do a prop overview.
So we're gonna talk about the propositionsthat are on the ballot and give you
guys some insight before you haveto jump in and vote for yourselves.

(01:34):
So let's get started.

Zach (01:36):
So the midterm elections are so called midterm because they take place in
between the presidential election cycle.
So if you may or may not know, presidentelections are held every four years.
So the last one was 2020.
The next one will be 2024.
Because we are in the year 2022,it is happening in the middle.

(01:59):
So colloquially is called the midterm.
Basically this is a situation wheremembers of the House of Representatives
are elected every two years.
So their term is always up.
They're constantly, practically,constantly campaigning seeking reelection.
They have the shortest term of theelected offices federally, now US

(02:20):
senators are elected every six years.
So there.
Kind of comes every other midterm becausesometimes it's on a mid, sometimes
it's on a presidential election.
And then the president isobviously elected every four years.
So this is a midterm election.
And in the middle of Biden's first term,this will determine whether he gets to

(02:41):
enjoy a Democrat majority for the restof his, his term, or if maybe there's a
change in, in dynamics and Republicans,you know, take one or both houses.
And, and now he's met withkind of a locked government.
It's a very important election.
Typically turn out as less inmidterm elections than in, in
regulars, but they're still importantand they matter just as much as,

(03:01):
as presidential elections do.

Erin (03:04):
I just wanna jump in real quick on the term lengths for
representatives in the house andthen senators who are in the Senate.
So having the two years forthe house was very intentional.
These term lengths are setforth in the constitution.
So the founders thought about this,and if you think about it, if you're a
representative and you have to get electedevery two years, you have to be pretty in

(03:27):
the know with all of your constituents andreally kind of like campaigning with them
and knowing what's going on in your stateand in your district specifically because
house reps are elected by district.
Not by state.
And so they really are intended to bevery responsive to the people and to
their constituents In the Senate theSenators are also supposed to be, you

(03:50):
know, pretty responsive, but they havethat longer six year term and they're
elected by state, not by district.
And so every state only has two senators.
House members are determinedby the population of the state.
So for instance, we just did a censusin which happens every 10 years in

(04:10):
California, for example, lost one ofour house seats because our population
went down and it got redistributed.
So that's kind of an interestingthing that happens too.
But I just think it's in, it'skind of important to know, like the
cadence of these elections becauseyou only get to vote for your state
senator every six years for theirterm, and you only have two senators.

(04:33):
So it's really important to payattention to these midterm elections.
Cause, you know, they only come aroundso often and also they really affect what
kinds of legislation are gonna get at afederal level because of the majorities.
And as Zach mentioned, it's a big dealthis year because the Democrats currently
right now hold majorities in the house,they have a majority in the Senate because

(04:59):
of their vote from the vice president.
They have exactly a 50 50 split.
But on tiebreakers, the vicepresident will vote with the
Democrats because she's a Democrat.
And we also hold, well the Democrats alsohold the executive with President Biden.
So it's dem dem across the board.
And if that flips over, it'sgonna make it really hard for the

(05:21):
Democrats to pass more legislationcuz they won't have majorities.
So that's one of the reasons whythe midterms in particular are
really important because it kind ofdetermines what the president can do
for their final two years in office.

Zach (05:34):
and the president's first year, really first hundred days,
First year is typically their most.
That's when they get the most things done.
If they have, because they have themost political capital, so to speak.
So they have the most goodwill.
They're, they're untested, so peopleare more willing to work with them.
And then usually thatmomentum kind of diminishes.

(05:55):
So if you're a Democrat, it's reallyimportant that, the Democrats hold a
majority in both houses because already,that momentum that Biden would've had
is already largely dissipated by now.
Just historically speaking, you know,not, not saying in particular, but
going forward, that's, you really, ifyou're a Democrat, you really wanna

(06:16):
hold both houses because, as Aaronmentioned, it'll get be much, much harder.
You have to engage and work alot more across the aisle to get
things on your agenda done that youotherwise wouldn't have to work in a
bipartisan nature to, to accomplish.

Erin (06:31):
Yeah.
Work in a bipartisan natureor just be blocked, you know,
the Right, exactly right.
Yeah.
Like the, the way you can do things likeone of the, one of the things that's
potentially going to change if, saythe house for example, switches over to
Republican control instead of Democratcontrol is a lot of investigations
that the House is doing right now.

(06:51):
For example, the January 6th investigationinvestigations into Trump, and if
that switches over to the Republicans,you know, they probably will wanna
halt that investigation and could dotheir own investigations into things
that maybe the Democrats wouldn'twant them to do investigations into.
So it actually does have someprac, some other practical effects.

Zach (07:12):
And that's because the, the party that is held, the majority
in the house also automaticallythen gets to head the chairs of
each of the different committees.
So the chair who sets the agenda and thegoals for those individual committees,
which there are numerous, is chairedby the, the leader of the majority.

Erin (07:33):
Just so everyone knows the fight in the midterms, this is pretty much
always a thing where, especially ifyou have majorities that are being held
and all the houses of Congress and theexecutive for it to be this, like, is
the other party gonna gain control?
Mm-hmm.
, that's something that, that hashappened in recent years, in past years.

(07:55):
It's always a big question of like, isthis gonna be basically, in some ways
people think of it as like a referendum onthe president who is in the, whose party
is in control and how people feel abouthow they've done the first two years.

Zach (08:11):
Yeah.
The implication being that if you'reunhappy with how, you know Biden is
doing, you're gonna vote Republicanin the midterms because you want to
block further his agenda and, andnot give him that leeway and just to
complete the loop, I guess on this,it's because you have to have both
houses, or both branches of government,pardon me, both branches of government

(08:34):
involved in agreement to sign a bill.
So you have to get sign signatures andpassages from the house and the Senate.
So once both houses of Congresssign off a bill, that bill then
goes to the president to signbefore it can take effect as a law.

Erin (08:50):
And that's a really good point for right now, because at least with
the current talk, and I think there's abig caveat because polls have been very
difficult the last few years especially.
And I think we need to beskeptical of some of the polling.
Cuz it's not turned out tobe the case, particularly in

(09:12):
the presidential elections.
But so we can be skeptical of that.
But what it looks like right nowis that, it seems likely that the
Democrats will lose their majorityin the House of Representatives and
potentially likely that they willkeep their majority in the Senate.
Although I would say that's kind ofup for grabs right now, and it's a

(09:34):
little hard to tell exactly what'sgonna happen in the Senate, So.
Mm-hmm.
there's a lot of talk obviously about,you know, how this is gonna play out
and lots of work being done by bothparties to try and raise money and, you
know, sell ads and influence everyoneso that, you know their party will win.
That's happening on both sides right now.

(09:55):
And there's a part, there's a couplestates that have become sort of these
battleground type states which wethink about in a presidential election
of like, oh, that's a swing state.
But that also happens in thesemidterm elections, and they
have just as much of an effect.

Zach (10:09):
Yeah.
So let's get into to some of the breakdownthen of, of what is the current situation,
maybe starting with the house cuzthat's the bigger, the bigger chamber.
So just as a refresher, the houseconsists of 435 representatives
based on population from each state.
So as Erin mentioned at thetop, California lost one of its

(10:30):
representatives because of theoverall population shift in the state.
And currently, Democrats hold a 220to 212 advantage , in the US House.
And there's three vacancies at the moment.
So what that amounts to is Republicansneed to gain a net of six districts
to win a majority of the chambers.

(10:52):
So for all the different districtsthat are up for reelection,
republicans have to hold what theycurrently have plus win six more.

Erin (11:02):
Yep.
And then for the Senate, it's a littletrickier for the Democrats at least
because they hold 50 seats right now.
As a reminder, there's a hundred seatsin the Senate, it's two per state, and.
so the Republicans would need tohold all the seats they currently
have and flip one seat in the Senate.

(11:24):
And if they do that, then theyhold a majority of of the Senate.
And just for reference, the Democratsare still trying to flip their own seats.
They wanna hold their majority,but also gain advantages.
Mm-hmm.
and the states they're particularlyfocused on right now are Pennsylvania
North Carolina and Wisconsin.

(11:45):
And the Republicans are focused ongetting rid of Democratic incumbents.
So those are people who currentlyhold the seats in Arizona Georgia,
Nevada, and New Hampshire.
Those are kind of thestates at issue right now.
It's actually like, kind of funny, I waslooking this up cuz I haven't really been
paying that much attention honestly tolike a lot of the races going on in other

(12:09):
places and I looked it up today and thefirst couple things that popped up were
Herschel Walker in Georgia who peopleprobably, I mean you may have heard of
him, but there was some scandal wherehe's this huge anti-abortion activist
and like today or yesterday it came outthat he may have paid for an abortion
for an ex-girlfriend or something.

(12:30):
So that was like the salaciousnews that I read this morning.
And then if anyone doesn't know.
In Pennsylvania, Dr.
Oz, who is this like TVpersonality, pseudo Dr.
Guy is running.
And there is something that came out,I think today or yesterday about him
like performing experiments on like 300puppies and killing them or something.

(12:54):
So these are just likethe random headlines.
I'm not trying to over focuson Republicans, I promise.
They're just the ones that poppedup on my feed and it was like, okay,
this is where we're talking aboutthese, like various candidates.
So if you're tuning in, there's actuallyquite a bit there to, to sift through.
Yeah.
The pencil rates, pencil, ThePennsylvania race has been a

(13:20):
big focus because yeah, it's Dr.
Oz running for Republicans andthen the guy John Fetterman.
John Federman.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
is running for the Democrats.
And it, it's a, it's a weirdrace because Federman suffered a
stroke back in May, I, I think.

(13:43):
Mm-hmm.
, April May timeframe, something like that.
And he was like totally gone fromthe campaign trail for months and
then recently has been back on thetrail the last maybe month or so.
And it's just people are, you know,from the Republican side and, and
maybe media in general are speculating,like, is this guy fit to serve?
Obviously being a senator is abig job, so there's some question

(14:05):
of his, his cognitive New abilityand, and things like that.
But I didn't see, hearthis stuff about Dr.
Oz, but that's sounds likeanother s show just in general.
So, and a what, I'll go back to whatI said in the police episode, like
have some integrity and be cognitivea avail cognitively available.

Zach (14:28):
So that's still my standard in case, in case anybody was wondering.
Yeah, And, and just to tack on thenumbers here, 14 seats currently are
held by Democrats that are up forreelection 21 held by Republicans.
So there's 35 of the 100 seats up forreelection for the Senate and 14 held

(14:51):
by Democrats, 21 held by Republicans.
That's the breakdown thereon the, the Senate map.
Yeah.

Kassie (14:57):
I have a quick question.
When you say up for reelection,can, you can clarify.
Some people are not up for reelection,so it's not that everyone all at
once is eligible the same years.

Zach (15:10):
Yeah, so the Senate is, is staggered where a third, you know, basically a
third of the senatorial body is up forreelection every six years or every
two years, Sorry, every two years.
So a senate, a senator's term is sixyears long, and every two years a
third of the Senate rotates through.
So that way the Senate maintainssome institutional knowledge and,

(15:32):
and functioning that happens.
E you know, despite the fact thatincumbents typically are reelected,
setting that part aside, only onethird of the Senate body is up
for reelection every two years.
Just to kind of keep acertain degree of consistency.
Is it exactly a third or roughly a third?
It's roughly a third cuz we, there's ahundred senators, 50 states, and three

(15:54):
doesn't divide into a hundred evenly.
So this, this year is 35, I'm guessing.
Another year is, you know, 34, Anotheryear is 33 or something like that.
Cool.
It's roughly a third of the seats.
.There's a, there's a really great breakdown, you know, that I'm just
referencing ballotpedia.org and theyhave pages for the United States

(16:14):
Senate elections for this year.
A similar page for the UnitedStates House elections.
And if you really wanna get into theweeds in terms of you know, there's
a section for house races withoutthe majority party oppositions.
So it's like breaking down the exactdistricts where, okay, it looks like,
you know, North Dakota district is gonnabe a hundred percent Democrat because

(16:35):
there's really not a or a hundredpercent Republican because there's
not a Democrat running in opposition.
So like, if you really are interested inall the minutia and the, the politicing
that goes on in terms of who's likelyto do what, Ballotpedia is a great
resource for you to dig in there.

Erin (16:51):
Yeah, I just have to plus one on that ballot.
pedia is great.
They also have data onendorsements, so that was one
of the things I looked at too.
I think it might be kind of interestingto just talk really at a high level
on, I think the issues that are sortof at play in this midterm election.

(17:12):
So on the Democrat side, I thinkit's a concern about the Dobbs
decision and abortion rights.
You know, I've been reading articleswhere people who are independent or even
Republican leaning are saying, I thinkI might need to vote, you know, Democrat

(17:33):
because I'm concerned about abortion beingoutlawed at a federal level, which some of
these candidates have talked about doing.
So I think that's really playing intosome of the surge that the Democrats saw
in the polling, at least over the summer.
A lot of that has mellowed out since then.
But I think that's a pretty significantissue for people in this election.

(17:56):
And on the other side, I think thatthere's big concerns about high inflation
and what's going on with the economywhich really cuts against Democrats.
And then also low approval ratingsfor Joe Biden, which, you know, some
of that is a little bit misleadingbecause there's a lot of Democrats who
are giving him low approval ratingswho are still gonna vote Democrat.

(18:19):
Right?
But even I think the, having it outthere, like, oh, so many people disapprove
of him could sway some independentvoters as well, saying, Well, I don't,
you know, really like what he's doing.
So I think those aresome of the big issues.
And another factor I think atplay in these midterms is former
President Trump and his role,he's endorsed many candidates and.

(18:43):
You know, there were a bunch of candidateshe endorsed in primaries who didn't
win their primaries, but there's a, alot who did, and there's a few who are
particularly in the news and either, youknow, are too extreme to be that popular.
I think.
Carry Lake, who's running for theArizona governor is one of those

(19:07):
, , potentially she still will win it.
It doesn't seem like she's pollingthat way right now, but she has
some pretty extreme views and hasparticularly really embraced the
election fraud thing and saying thatTrump actually won the 2020 election.
And then Hersha Walker is another onewho was a Trump Dorsey and there's

(19:27):
another one, I can't remember her name,in Nevada, who was also Trump backed.
And so just kind of interestingbecause I think it really still shows
the influence that, that he has.
On these elections and it's looking,I mean this is really preliminary,
but it's looking more and more likely,like he might be the Republican
nominee for president, who knows?

(19:49):
But it feels like it's trending inthat direction, which is another reason
why it'd be helpful for Republicans ifthat's who their nominee is gonna be
to win majorities in either the Houseor the Senate because they can, you
know, start, start to deflect these.
Trump is a criminal, you know, typeallegations and investigations.

(20:09):
So I just wanna put that out there.
Cause I think all of those factorsare really present and something to
be aware of as you are thinking abouthow you wanna vote in this election.

Kassie (20:18):
So in all things, we wanna give you guys the opportunity to
go ahead and do your own research.
We have a few resources and referencesthat we wanna share with you, and I'll
put these in the show notes as well.
But can you, Zach and Aaron just sharea couple of the places that you would go
to look into the midterms and decide foryourself, determine how you'd wanna vote?

(20:39):
Yeah, so as a, like, sort of generaloverview stuff, not state specific.
The Economist has a whole sectionon the 2020 midterm elections that
track data and has recent articles andthings like that to keep you informed.
I thought it was a pretty goodpage and a helpful resource.
The Associated Press, which ifyou recall from our journalism

(21:01):
episode, is one of the.
Least bias news sources also has a similarpage that has information like that.
So I think that's a, a good one to goto, to look at sort of just general
information about the midterms.
As we mentioned, Ballotpedia hasinformation on just everyone who's running
and you know, where they are all located.

(21:22):
And that's, that's literally justdata, you know, so that one's
really helpful if you just wannaknow kind of like what's going on.
And then for California specifically,Cal Matters has a page that has
information on the different candidatesand also the ballot measures.
And I think that's a really goodresource for California based people.

Zach (21:43):
Yeah.
And in addition to if you're Californiabased I'm sure it's other states as
well, but we get this, if you, ifyou're California voter and you're
registered to vote already you geta voter information guide, which I'm
holding up if you're watching us onvideo, which I think we will be making
available very soon, if not already.
Basically it's a, a nice little handypacket that outlines all of this stuff.

(22:05):
And it's free, like it's, itshould be sent to your house,
wherever you're registered to vote.
So if you're like away at schooland you didn't get one, it's like,
call your parents and make surethey didn't throw it away for you.
But it has all the information interms of like when voting by mail
is due and when the polls are openand what day the poll is open.

(22:26):
And then as well, there's allof that, that packet of, of
information is also available online.
That's voter guide.sos.ca.gov.
And there's basically everythingthat's in this packet is also
available on that website.
And it goes through everybody who'srunning, you know, up for election,

(22:47):
all the different propositions, ballotmeasures, and then you know where
you can find your polling place.
So all that is in here.
Read it or we're gonna gothrough some of it for you, but
it's a useful guide as well.

Kassie (23:00):
All right, Thanks guys.
So next we're gonna do aCalifornia proposition overview.
If you're curious or just want tosort of eavesdrop on California,
goings on or if you're a Californianative, please stay tuned.
Okay, guys, let's go through it.
There's not that much.

Zach (23:22):
No, there's really not.
So this year California hasseven propositions that are up
for the voters to decide on.
And basically what that means is ifcertain number of signatories, you
know, if you get a certain number ofsignatures for a measure, Californians
can propose laws directly from thevoters, which is not every state has that

(23:43):
mechanism, but the proposition systemis something that California does have.
So these are seven then measures thatare being proposed that if they're,
they've already made it to the ballot.
So they will be there inNovember when we vote.
But now it's up to us as the votersto decide whether we want these things
to or not to pass and become a law.

(24:04):
So there's seven.
We can go through 'em, I think relativelyquickly, just to give you a nice overview
of here's what it means if you voteyes, and if you vote no et cetera.

Kassie (24:13):
Thank you.
Cuz this is literally howI'm gonna decide how to vote.
Otherwise I end up panic reading it themorning of the election, like in my car.

Erin (24:22):
I feel like I do that too.
Yeah.
full.
And I'm saying it, I'm saying

Kassie (24:25):
in my car, but really I'm reading it like in the booth
because I've forgotten to turnin my vote by mail on time.
Cuz that's why I am So if you're like me,take advantage of what's about to happen.

Zach (24:38):
Great.
So the first is called prop one.
This is the constitutional right toreproductive freedom legislation,
Constitutional amendment.
So the summary of this is basically thiswill amend the California constitution
to expressly include an individual'sfundamental right to reproductive freedom,
which includes the right to choose tohave an abortion and the fundamental

(25:01):
right to choose or refuse contraceptives.
It does not narrow or limit the existingrights to privacy and equal protection
under, under the California Constitution.
And this is included in all of thepacket and, and information material
as well, which is the fiscal impact.
And the fiscal impact is no directeffect because reproductive rights
are already protected by state law.

(25:21):
So this is almost a redundancy,but being that California's a very
progressive state one that I'm notsurprised to see on the ballot this year.

Erin (25:31):
Yeah, absolutely.
And I just wanna note, can I see, or Zachmentioned that California's proposition
process is unique to the state.
That's true.
There are some other states thatdo this, but something that's
important when a proposition.
Amends the California constitutionis that it then can't be
adjusted by the legislature.

(25:53):
So they can't go in and makechanges to it or even adjust the
language or anything like that.
It actually has to be changed byanother proposition, such as something
to be aware of when you're votingfor propositions that might amend
the Constitution in in California

Zach (26:09):
and this and this one does.
So basically the redundancy is, is thatthere is a law already that protects the
right to abortion in California and, andcontraceptives and things of that nature.
But this is going that extra step andsay, No, actually our, our California
constitution is, makes this unchangeable.
So that's, yeah.

(26:30):
The situation there.
So a pro or a yes, a vote yes meansthat the Constitution would be amended
to expressly include that, right?
And then a no vote means theConstitution remains unchanged,
but the law still is in effect.
So you're not, you're notvoting to repeal anything.
It's just do, do we or do wenot amend the constitution to
allow for this to, to go forward?

(26:51):
This is

Kassie (26:52):
the kind of one that I feel like confuses me because if
it's already in the ca, Californiaconstitution, are people going to
feel like, Oh, it's not, It's okay.

Zach (27:04):
No, it's a law that's passed.
I don't.
But it's not part of the constitution.
So, so we have, we have a constitutionof the United States, right?
Mm-hmm.
, it's like Article one thatestablishes the legislature.
Article two, establish theexecutive, blah, blah, blah.
And then we have the Bill ofRights in the amendments like that.
That's our constitution.
But for example, the law thatsays what the IRS can and can't do

(27:27):
is not part of the constitution.
That's just federal law.
The same holds true for the state.
California has a state constitution thatis, you know, establishing the structure
of the state government of California.
And then that state passeslaws to govern its citizenry.
And right now the right toabortion is a state law, but it's

(27:49):
not part of the constitution.

Erin (27:51):
I was gonna say that the reason that this matters is that it's kind of
what I, I just mentioned in terms oflike how you can amend the Constitution.
So if it's just a law, thenthe legislature can repeal it.
You know, if they, if they, bya majority vote, for instance
could get rid of that law.
If it's in the constitution, thelegislature can't do that because it's

(28:15):
a right listed in the Constitution.
So it is more protected by puttingit into California's constitution.

Kassie (28:22):
Done sign it.
And I think that's the idea.
I'm, I'm in, I'm a hundred percent in.
Thank you very much for the explanation.

Zach (28:29):
The next proposition is Proposition 26.
I don't know anything else on prop one?
I feel like it's pretty straightforward.
Yeah,

Erin (28:36):
The only other thing I would say is that it's endorsed by abortion
activists and Governor Newsome isalso one of the endorses of it.
So sometimes it's helpful to, to seewho has endorsed the different peaceful
legislation or piece propositions.
They're not legislation

Kassie (28:50):
Did we talk about if Newsome's up for reelection?
And we did not yet, but he is.

Erin (28:56):
Yeah.
Yep.
Newsom is up for reelection.

Zach (28:59):
The walking, talking Lego brick.

Erin (29:05):
I don't know what that means.
Zach, what is a walkingtalking Lego brick.
It's an insult.
He looks like kind, but I

Zach (29:12):
don't, He looks like a Lego.

Kassie (29:14):
Looks like a Lego.
It it, the yellow skin.

Zach (29:17):
It's, it's the skin.
It's like the hair'sall like slicked back.
He just looks like, like the leg, likeLego hair where it's like, it never moves.
There's no character to it or I'm justtalking about him, but he just looks like

Kassie (29:29):
leg.
What a strange insult.
Never heard this.
I'm look Gavin, some Lego.
Lego.

Erin (29:36):
Did you, did you hear that somewhere or did you come I think you made it up.

Zach (29:39):
That, that just came to me.
That just came to me in the moment.

Kassie (29:43):
Who's in the ballot to run against him?
Lego . I'm only confused thathe's up for reelection because
I feel like we just voted.
That's because there wasa, vote to repeal him.
Is that the right term's?

Zach (29:55):
A recall?
Recall.
Recall.
There's a recall, yes.
You can't repeal a person.
Mm, okay.
Do we, do we recall him early and endhis term early or do we leave him?
Well, since we're talking aboutgovernor then so Newsom is, is running
on the Democrat ticket for Governor.
He did not provide a governor'sstatement for the ballot

(30:16):
packet, the information packet.
I guess he feels hisrecord speaks for itself.
And on the Republican oron the Republican side.

Erin (30:26):
Take a wild how I'm,

Kassie (30:29):
Oh my

Zach (30:30):
God.
I dunno what you mean.
Yeah.
Not, not a fan.
Anyway, on the, on the Republicanside Brian Doll is running Dale,
I don't know how to pronou it.
D it a d a h l E.
So he is the, he is theRepublican endorsed candidate
for governor for California.
. And he did provide a statement,but I haven't read it yet.

(30:51):
, Kassie: Zach, where do you go when you're just deciding how to vote?
I read the packet.
And so there's a, there's a quick like,reference guide that just says what it
means to vote yes and what it means tovote no, and then kind of some arguments,
but then if you dive deeper into thepacket, there actually is, there's some
detailed information that are people thatsupport or oppose the, the proposition.

(31:15):
So for example, if I go to prop onein the packet itself I can see that
the arguments in favor of prop onewere by board chair of the California
Medical Association by Jody Hicks,President of Planned Parenthood, and
by Carol Moon, President of the Leagueof Women's Voters of California.
So those are people that like, wroteand endorsed the arguments for prop one.

(31:38):
And then the arguments against Propone, I can see are written by a
gynecologist, the president of theInternational Faith Based Coalition,
and then an assemblyman, Jim Patterson.
So I'll read these and I'll takea, a specific look at who is
writing the four and the against.
Mm-hmm.
. And then they also get rebuttal.
And based off of that and the fiscalimpact, I'll weigh it against my,

(32:01):
my judgment of and my values to see.
What I think should be andshouldn't be made a law.

Kassie (32:08):
And for the governor?

Zach (32:09):
The governor is more straightforward, where it's
like, I don't like Newsom.
I, I have a record, so I'm gonna voteRepublican on, on that ticket just because
I don't like, like as a party, they'reprobably, the parties endorse the, the
candidate and I don't like the workof the current ones of the incumbent.
So I'm gonna vote for Brian

Kassie (32:28):
Even though we don't know Brian.

Erin (32:30):
Yeah.
I love how you refer topoliticians by their first name.
, my friend

Kassie (32:37):
is running.

Zach (32:41):
It makes me, I guess I do don't I

Erin (32:43):
like Mitch McConnell, the

Zach (32:46):
turtle.
Ah, yes, Mitch the turtle.

Kassie (32:50):
That's good observation.
I never noticed that.
Oh my God.

Erin (32:55):
You do it sometimes with like Ben Shapiro too.
You just call him Ben . I'm likeZach's good personal friend, Ben.

Zach (33:03):
That's true.
Yeah.
I've never met any politicianof any note and yet

Kassie (33:06):
First name basis.
Yeah.
First name basis.
First.
First name basis.
Yeah.
That's funny.
Let's get back on track with the remainingCalifornia propositions and then close
it out with any last minute questions.

Erin (33:21):
For sure.
I think we should do the next twopropositions together because they
both have to do with sports betting.

Kassie (33:27):
Oh, random.
Yeah.
Are any of us the right peopleto talk about sports betting?

Zach (33:32):
This is probably a bad time to tell you Kass, but Yeah.
We're, we're like super in debt.
Cause I, I bet the farm on the,we had a farm and now we don't.
Yeah, it's gone.
Yeah.
On them ponies.
You know, I'm, I'm very highly qualifiedto talk about these two profits.

Erin (33:51):
So it's interesting because these two propositions, it's Proposition
26 and Proposition 27 would actuallybe like fighting with each other
if both of them end up passing.
And a court would probably haveto decide which one applied.
So Proposition 26 allows, would allowfor sports betting on tribal lands.

(34:16):
And then Proposition 27 allows onlinesports betting across the whole state.
But because Proposition 26 is specificto tribal casinos and horse tracks, the,
it's in conflict with online bettinghappening across the whole state.
So there would actually be a conflictbetween these two propositions if they

(34:37):
both passed and it'd have to go to court.

Zach (34:39):
And there's some other things too, like 26 allows for in person roulette,
dice games, and I think, Is this the horsetrack one or is 27 the horse track one?
It is, it's the horse track one.
Okay.
And 26 is horse track.
So there's, in addition tothe, the tribal casinos there's
also four privately held horse.

(35:02):
Track, clearly I'm the expert.
Horse track rings tracks at venues tracks.
Yeah.
And so if yes, were to pass, itwould authorize sports wagering
at in person casinos and limitssports pets to adults only.
But it supports Indian reliance byproviding revenue for tribal education.

(35:23):
Both of these bills are taxed,so the state would see an
increase in, in some tax revenue.
I think the, amount was 10% for each.

Erin (35:32):
Can I follow up on that real quick?
Yeah,
yeah, of course.
Yeah.
On the proceeds.
So this is interesting, the USSupreme Court, and this is from Cal
Matters, ruled that states couldlegalize sports betting in 2018.
And there's 35 states that have ar havealready decided to make this legal.
California's been trying tonegotiate a deal about this since

(35:53):
2018, but Americans have bet morethan 57 billion on sports in 2021.
So that's across the whole country, butthat's a significant amount of money.
So, you know, we'll, we'll scrollthat down to California and
then you put a 10% tax on it.
It's potentially a ton of revenue.

Zach (36:13):
Yeah, it could be a big driver for the state.
There, there is , some speculation thatif you're not betting on California
land and you're California residentor if you're, or vice versa, if you're
actually betting on tribal land on anot California betting site, like the,
like there's some conflicts there.
Like there's, that's against these laws.

(36:34):
So they do mention in the, the impactsthat there could be some increased cost
in enforcement, whether or not thatis paid for by the revenues generated.
I would speculate that it would be,but that is the cost associated with
these is that if you vote no, thestatus quo remains the same and.

(36:56):
Gambling is the same in,in the state of California.
If you vote yes, there could be somefiscal revenue that's increased by
allowing more gambling to take placeeither in the state or on tribal land.
But and that, and that could be arevenue generator, but it could also
come with some enforcement costs.

Erin (37:16):
And then there are some advocates who oppose this proposition because
they're worried about gambling addictionand they think allowing gambling in, you
know, these areas where it traditionallyhasn't, well, not traditionally,
where it hasn't been allowed before,like roulette on tribal lands would

(37:36):
potentially increase gambling addiction.
And that we don't have goodresearch on the long term
effects of gambling addiction.
So that's one of the opposition.

Zach (37:45):
Points to, and specifically Prop 27, because that's the one that mm-hmm.
allows for online and mobilesports wagering on any on,
in, anywhere in California.
And so that's the one that I think peopleare, are more concerned about because,
or concerned about the opportunityfor abuse or, or breaking that law.
Because who's to say me as an 18year old, you know, or a 16 year

(38:07):
old that has an iPhone couldn'tline sign up for an account,
so that's, that's a littlebit of the difference there.
But the point is to allow moregambling in both propositions.

Erin (38:18):
Right?
Because sports betting iscurrently illegal in California.
So that's, both of these would makesports betting in these various ways, you
know, on travel lands or online legal.

Zach (38:28):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Next one.
Next one.
Next one is Prop 28 providesadditional funding for arts and
music education in public schools.
Pretty straightforward if you vote Yes.
The increased cost will be about 1 billionannually to provide additional funding

(38:51):
from the State General Fund for Arts andMusic education in all K12 public schools.
A no vote would mean that thefunding remains the same and
would continue to depend onstate and local budget decisions.
So more increased funding for thesethings, but it obviously comes at a price.
Mm-hmm.
, Erin: And just to be clear, this is really specific for music and

(39:14):
arts education, so it's allocatinga percentage of the funding for.
Public schools and communitycolleges from the state budget
specifically for music and arts.
So that's a big push here, you know?
Mm-hmm.
like, yes, we have funding for math andEnglish and all of those other things,
but it's really to also provide protectionfor those other modes of education so

(39:35):
that those are being taught in schoolsand, you know, given maybe not the
exact same weight, but a higher, youknow, more weight than maybe they've
been given before, or more support.
Mm-hmm.
, I, I think is a better way to say.
Interestingly on this one, just because I did point out about Newsome
there was no con submitted for this.
So if you look at your referenceguide, there is a pro argument

(39:59):
for why this should become,you know, why this should pass.
There was no con and there is noinformation in the against campaign.
So I don't know whether that isbecause nobody was coldhearted
enough to say no, we shouldn't fundmusic and arts or if they just like
didn't have their act together.
But just as a note.
So the next one is to Prop 29, whichwould require an onsite license medical

(40:22):
professional at kidney dialysis clinicsand establishes other state requirements.
Basically this is a yes vote wouldmean that any chronic dialysis
clinics would be required to havea physician, nurse practitioner,
or physician's assistant on site.
And a no would mean that the, theclinics would not be required and

(40:43):
continue to operate as they are today.

Erin (40:46):
And if this sounds familiar to you, it should, because this
is the third time that thisproposition has been on the ballot.
It was defeated the last two times.
And yeah, I mean, correct me if I'mgonna over generalize here, Zach, but
it's really boiling down to a fightbetween a labor union and the dialysis

(41:07):
companies in who wants this to happen.
Mm-hmm.
, it's the labor union who has brought thisproposition the last three times, and
dialysis companies have spent like reallymillions to defeat this proposition.
So there's a lot of interestingcompeting interests here on the
two sides of this proposition.

, Zach (41:28):
Thanks for that insight.
, I didn't know about that, butthe pros and the cons or the
arguments foreign against this areactually very emotionally charged.
Where, and, and there's some value,I think to both but basically
the pro argument is, is thisis a medical related activity.
There can become complications.
You know, you're basically takingyour blood out of your body.

(41:50):
You're putting it through this machine toclean it and then inserting it back in.
This should be done under thepractice of, somebody who knows
about these things rather than just,a private service providing this.
And the con is, is well, if you implementthis change it will drive up the cost
and we will probably have a lot of thesecenters close, which means I won't be

(42:11):
able to get my actual dialysis treatment.
So while you're, you're trying toimplement this to be more safe and
have more oversight, it actuallymeans that I may not end up getting
my dialysis treatment at all.

Erin (42:23):
Yeah, I think this is one if you, you know, haven't thought
about it very carefully, it'sworth diving into a little bit.
I think there's just a lot ofpowerful interests at play here.
There's two main dialysiscompanies that operate most of
the dialysis clinics in the state.
This obviously really affects them, andso they fight really hard against it.

(42:44):
And then you have, you know,the union on the other side.
And to be honest, I don't knowquite as much about that, which
is why I think it's worth it.
Even if you've seen this,you're like, Well, I'll just
vote the same as last time.
It might be, this might be one whereit's worth it for, for you to do a little
bit of your own research on it and, andcome to a decision on whether this, you
think this really makes sense or not.

(43:05):
.. Zach: The next one is providing funding for programs to reduce air pollution
and prevent wildfires by increasingtax on personal income over $2 million.
A lot of words to say, Ifyou make more than 2 million,
you're gonna get taxed more.
Yep.
It's a 1.75 personal income tax, andthat tax, the amount from that tax goes
to subsidize zero emission vehicles andfund wildlife response and prevention.

(43:31):
They think that it will bebetween 3.5 billion to 5 billion
annually growing overtime.

Zach (43:38):
Oh yeah.
Thanks for pointing that out Erin.
The fiscal impact for the lastone, the, the, the dialysis one is
increased state and local governmentcosts likely in the tens of millions.
And then I think we mentioned it, but thearts and, and music one is a $1 billion,
so that's the fiscal impact to voters.
So for this one, yeah, 3.5 to 5billion annually, as Erin mentioned.

(44:00):
That's

Erin (44:00):
pretty easy one.
Anything less for that one?
? I mean, I think that onejust pretty straightforward.
Yeah.
It really goes to how you feelabout people being taxed, I think.

Zach (44:09):
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
. And then lastly is a referendum on 2020law that would prohibit the retail sale
of certain flavored tobacco products.
So like e-cigarettes,flavored e-cigarettes, and,
and the banning of those.
So this would be about yes means in-personstores and vending machines could not
sell most flavored tobacco products ina no signature means in-person stores

(44:34):
and vending machines could continueto sell flavored tobacco product.

Erin (44:38):
And that's an important yes no, because this is about
overturning a current law.
And so voting yes.
Is upholding the current law.
Voting no would strike down the law.
Mm-hmm.
. So that's one that'simportant to be careful about.
You know, making sure youknow what you're voting for.
There's a 2020 law that prohibitsthe sale of flavored products.

(45:02):
So if you vote no, you're votingto strike down that law and allow
them to sell flavored products.
And if you vote yes, you're voteoh, I uphold the law and not allow
them to sell the flavored product.

Zach (45:16):
I was confused because of the, the continue to sell, which means that they
would be like allowed to resume selling,like they're currently not allowed to.
So if you vote no, it means thatyes, they would be allowed to mm-hmm.
So the argument here is that ifyou go on to use cigarettes or
other drugs, like typically now thegateway is flavored tobacco products.

(45:38):
That's where people, a lot of kids start.
And then the against is vote no on prop31 .com, which is probably a fun for Yeah.
Yeah.
Somebody else, company

Erin (45:48):
being able to sell their product and personal choice
and all of that, I would guess.
Yeah.
Yeah.

Zach (45:55):
Mm-hmm.
. Okay, that's it.
Those are the ballot props for the year.

Kassie (45:59):
What was the one we got the mail on that had, Don't let prop
something, something make you a sucker.
And then on the back it's like just abunch of pictures of people with suckers
. Zach: The material was like, like on the front of it was just a, a two sided flyer.
The front of it said, peoplewho want prop 26, like, think
Californians are suckers.
And then you flip it over and it's likea person surfing and like a couple,

(46:23):
like walking in a farmer's market.
And instead of it being like, theirfaces was just like a Photoshop
picture of like one of those likeflat spirally lollipops over the face.
And so like the implicationwas like Californians or
suckers if they go for this.
It was, it was kind of a funny bit of, ofcampaigning, which I appreciated from just

(46:43):
the regular like, doom story kinda stuff.
It was, it was a little bit funny.

Erin (46:49):
Yeah.
Oh, good times.
Well, listeners, I hope that was helpful.
Good times to walk through allof those ballot propositions.
You can now listen to this podcast insteadof reading all about them, although again,
I encourage you to do your own research.
These are just, you know, briefsummaries with obviously a little
bit of our bias commentary.
So be sure to look into that yourselves.

(47:13):
But, you know, excited forthe midterms November 8th.
If you are someone who has amail-in voting ballot in California,
this is all, most people.
Your ballot needs to be posted byelection day, which is November 8th.
So you can put it in themail on election day.
It needs to be received by November 15th.

(47:33):
And you can mail it as soon as you get it.
So if you want to be really on top ofit, just fill it out once you get it and
send it in the mail so that you don'tforget and aren't rushing on election day.

Zach (47:46):
And those should be coming soon, I think in the next like week or something.
Mail in ballot should be arrivingto you at your registered address.
So we mentioned governors up for electionalso Lieutenant governor, Secretary of
state controller, treasurer, attorneyGeneral, and insurance commissioner.
All of those state held positionsare also up for election this year,

(48:10):
as well as your local state reps.
So depending on the cycle and, andthe year and stuff like that, your
county representative will probably,or maybe up for election as well, which
is not covered in the general packet.
So that one is like yougotta check out on your own

Kassie (48:29):
Okay.
And then we just wanna end with,if you're not yet registered to
vote, now is a great time to do so.
You can learn how to register to voteby going to vote.gov, and that'll
begin your voter registration process.
And then from there you select your stateor territory, depending on the rules.
You'll find instructions on how toregister online or by mail or in

(48:51):
person at your local election office.
It's super, super important thateverybody registers to vote what
you think really, really matters.
If you are getting ready to votefor the first time, there's a
lot of great resources online.
And just reminder that every state exceptNorth Dakota does require citizens to
register if they want to be a voter.

(49:13):
So depending on your state, theregistration deadline could be as
much as a month before an election.
So you can check the US VoteFoundation to find your state's
deadline for registering.
You can also check yourstate or territories election
office for more details.
But again, visiting vote.gov is a greatplace to begin the registration process.

Erin (49:33):
Just gotta continue that plug.
You know, we're, we're reallylucky to live in a democracy
that listens to our voice.
And really the main way that weexercise that is through voting.
And it's a responsibility for us ascitizens and just wanna really encourage
everyone to embrace that right, andthat freedom and come out to vote.

Kassie (49:55):
And honestly, it's really, really easy.
I'm one of the most lazy people ever,and if I can do it, you guys can do it.
So don't, don't worry, itdoesn't take very long.
A lot of times people who becameintroverts over the pandemic,
you can just mail in your vote.
So you don't even have to goto a place, wait in a line,
pay for a stamp, none of that.
So it's really, really easy to do.
Just make sure you do

Zach (50:15):
yeah, you also get time off work too right.
It's like federal law thatyour employer has to let you
have time off work to go vote.
It's like four hours or something.
Like, it's a long time.
It's two hours to allow for lines.
Oh, two hours.
, Erin: Sorry it's two hours, but more if you need it, so,
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's, it really is a responsibility,you know, it is a right to vote.

(50:36):
You know, we always say that around,you know, throw that line around.
But it really is a responsibility to vote.
You know, we do live in, in one of thefew true you know, re representative
republics where our voice does matter.
We're not direct democracy, but, but wevote for people who speak for us and that.
not common in the world or historically.

(50:58):
So it, it really is incumbent upon allof us to take that seriously and don't
just throw away a vote or, you know, votewilly-nilly, but, you know, your school
board people may be up for election oryou know, city mayor or whatever, and
like that stuff directs really affects youso much more than president or whatever.

(51:19):
Like, we spent so much time talkingabout the big stuff because that's
most applicable for our, our audience.
But like your mayor affects yourcity life so much more than, you
know, voting for your president.
So really take the time.
It's, it's very important and it matters.
It really does matter.

Erin (51:37):
And what else?
Other thing on that, we would love to seeyour voting post, your I voted stickers.
You're sending your votein the, in the mail.
So, you know, on November 8th orwhenever you go in to vote, please
tag reframer podcasts on Instagram.
We'll repost you to our story.
We would love to see allof your votes going in.

Kassie (51:57):
Yes.
That's that's so fun.
Yeah, I love that.
Yeah, I'll definitely do it.
I'll go somewhere and get a sticker.
Oh no, we get a stickerwith our mailin ballot.
So even if you mail yours in anddon't go somewhere physical put your
sticker on and, and go on Instagram.
Tag us at framers pod.
Instagram is our, still our most activeplatform, but we are going to be expanding

(52:19):
more regularly to YouTube and TikTok.
You can always send us an emailif you have something you'd like
to say or you any questions.
If you wanna request an upcomingpodcast episode, you can email
us reframer pod gmail.com and.
You guys, we love seeing youwherever you choose to find us.
As you might already know,you can hear us on pretty much

(52:41):
anywhere you get your podcast.
I know most of you are listenon Apple Podcasts, but we are
also on Spotify, iHeartRadio.
You can see us on YouTube.
And that's for a full episode.
And then of course we have our website,reframer pod.com, which has much of this
information and is also a place for youto listen to the website, to the episodes.

(53:03):
So thank you guys so much as always,for being a reframer with us, reframing
what it means to discuss and disagree,all of these crazy political things.
And one more tiny thing.
Happy for your wedding anniversaryto my co-host, Zachary Alexander Mar.
Yay.

Zach (53:22):
Yay.
Happy anniversary my love..

Kassie (53:25):
Yay.
Happy anniversary to Erin doingthe office dance down the aisle in
front of 200 people at our wedding.

Erin (53:35):
Oh, you guys had such a fun, The best day.
It's been a good four years.

Kassie (53:40):
Cheer to 40 more.
Yeah.
Yeah, sure.
For you guys.
Mm-hmm.
. 80 more.
80 more
. Zach: 80 more.
What?
What are you dumping me at 70?
Somebody that's, it's, that's all I
signed up for . All righty.
Friends, tell us if you thinkwe did a good job, tell us if
you think we did a bad job.
Either way.
We're glad you're out therelistening and we'll talk to you soon.