Sen. Amy Klobuchar positions herself as the centrist in the presidential field. So how can a centrist Midwesterner win votes in left-leaning California? We talk with Klobuchar after an appearance in San Francisco. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Andrew Yang is the candidate you’ve never heard of, but soon will. The New York technology investor has raised enough grassroots donations to make it onto the first debate. Plus, he’s got a lot of ideas ($1,000 a month to every American, free marriage counseling, etc.) to open your eyes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Longtime San Jose Rep. Zoe Lofgren, chair of the California Democratic delegation and an immigration subcommittee, is settling in as the head of the often under-the-radar House Administration Committee — a role nicknamed “mayor of Capitol Hill.” It’s All Political caught up with her to talk about her new roles in the Democratic majority and what she’s looking forward to this Congress. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In many ways, Sen. Kamala Harris sounds like a typical presidential candidate. But other times, she talks about inspirational/aspirational themes that are unusual for a political campaign. San Francisco Chronicle Washington correspondent Tal Kopan and Joe Garofoli talk about the inspirational — and policy — points that Harris is making during her campaign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand explains why she would be OK debating on Fox News -- unlike the DNC, which has banned the network from hosting its debates -- and why the Green New Deal is a good thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rep. Eric Swalwell is a rising star in the Democratic Party with key seats on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees. But he is ready to leave his safe Congressional seat for a longshot run for president. He explains why -- and what perspective that he, as a Millennial, has that his opponents don’t. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We chat with South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg. HIs resume is impressive: Harvard, Rhodes Scholar, combat veteran, mayor. But how can you leap from being the mayor of a city that’s smaller than most suburbs to being leader of the free world? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We talk with Steve Frank, Travis Allen, and Jessica Millan Patterson, the three people running to be the next chair of the California Republican Party. What are they going to do to revive a party that has become virtually impotent in the nation’s largest state? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We talk with San Francisco Assemblyman Phil Ting, chair of the powerful Budget Committee, about California Gov. Gavin Newsom's ambitious agenda. Sure the state is flush -- until the next recession -- with a $21 billion budget surplus. But can it afford everything Newsom wants? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rep. Pramila Jayapal is a rising star in the Democratic Party and one of the nation’s leading progressive voices. The Washington state House member is on on Judiciary Committee and a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. We talk to her about the direction of the party and whether it is going too far left -- on impeachment, single payer health care and taxing the wealthy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Former East Bay Assemblymember Catherine Baker was the only Republican to represent the Bay Area in the Legislature or Congress until she lost last November. But if she can’t win -- she pro-choice, pro-environment and pro-gun control - what Republican can? We talk to her as Gov. Newsom installs an even more progressive agenda than Jerry Brown, the Democrat super-duper majority grows in the Legislature and The California Republican Party is about to elect a new leader. What is the path forward fo...
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talks to Joe Garofoli about the fight with President Donald Trump over the border wall, the 2020 presidential field — and how we might be on the brink of a new nuclear arms race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee was recently named co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus. She joined “It’s All Political” to talk about making sure people of color have a seat at the table as policymakers chart the future of marijuana in the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We talk with Sophia Andary, co-chair of Women's March San Francisco about how Saturday’s Women’s March is still important. It’s not about Trump — even though he will be invoked by all the speakers and marchers. It’s about something more than him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Kamala Harris is about to announce her candidacy for president, but what has she accomplished as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general and now U.S. Senator? We talk with Chronicle Washington, D.C. correspondent Tal Kopan, who just analyzed Harris’ Senate record and Chronicle editorial page editor and longtime Harris watcher John Diaz, who reviewed her new memoir, “The Truths We Hold.” And Joe, who has covered her campaigns and written about her appearance Saturday in San F...
West Virginia State Sen. Richard Ojeda ran for Congress in 2018 and lost. And now he's running for president. Why would a Democrat who voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and couldn't win a House race do that? For one thing, he made a strong run in a House district that Trump won by nearly 50 points. For another, he might be the most progressive Dem in the field. Joe Garofoli talks to a decorated former Army major, and a major wild card in the 2020 campaign. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...
The rest of the state and the country will get to know San Francisco’s former supervisor and mayor a lot better after he’s inaugurated as California’s governor, but the Bay Area’s been familiar with him for a couple of decades now. In October, then-candidate Newsom talked to Joe Garofoli about his Bay Area upbringing — not as privileged as you might think — his dyslexia and his relationship with outgoing Gov. Jerry Brown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Miriam Pawel, author of "The Browns of California: The Family Dynasty that Transformed a State and Shaped a Nation," joins Joe Garofoli to talk about Gov. Jerry Brown's legacy — a word he hates. Brown was the youngest, the oldest and the longest-serving governor in California history. His father, Edmund G. "Pat" Brown, was also governor, and Pawel's biography of the family is a panoramic history of the state going all the way back to the Gold Rush. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megapho...
Sen. Dianne Feinstein offers a rare look at how tragedy, death and illness shaped her. In this episode from April 3, 2018, the longtime senator talks with Joe Garofoli about growing up in San Francisco and her time in local politics — including the time she lost a bet while serving as mayor and had to wear a bathing suit to a public event. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Julian Castro, the former Housing and Urban Development Secretary and mayor of San Antonio, has just announced—via his twin brother Joaquin on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert"—that he's running for president in 2020. That was already pretty clear in October when he talked to Joe Garofoli for an episode of "It's All Political." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Rita Beamish covered the first President Bush for the Associated Press from the 1988 campaign through his years in the White House and his unsuccessful run for re-election in 1992. As the media paints a glowing picture of the 41st president, Beamish talks to Joe Garofoli about the real George Bush. And she has something surprising to say about Vice President Dan Quayle! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Stacey Abrams may have lost her historic run to be the first African-American female governor in the U.S., but she did not concede her race to be Georgia’s governor. That is because she is starting a new effort: To fight voter suppression that plagues Georgia and many other states. We talk with her about Fair Fight Action, a new organization that wants to modernize Georgia’s voter rights laws — an effort that could have national implications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/...
Nancy Pelosi is on her way to becoming Speaker of the House — but she’s not quite there yet. Thirty-two Democrats voted against her and three handed in blank ballots during Wednesday’s closed-door, secret-ballot vote. San Francisco Chronicle Washington correspondent Tal Kopan explains it to us — and whether ageism and sexism was behind Rep. Barbara Lee losing out on a leadership position. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
An all-star cast of Chronicle political experts breaks down the biggest races and issues on election night 2018. San Francisco Chronicle senior political writer Joe Garofoli hosts this episode with editor in chief Audrey Cooper, editorial page editor John Diaz, political writer John Wildermuth, Sacramento bureau chief Melody Gutierrez and columnist Heather Knight. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
San Francisco Chronicle editor in chief Audrey Cooper moderates a panel at the Grand Theater in San Francisco on the midterm elections with columnist Heather Knight, columnist Phil Matier and senior political writer Joe Garofoli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Michael Avenatti says he will decide “in the next 60 days” whether he will run for president. It’s a remarkable rise for the Los Angeles lawyer who zoomed into the national consciousness for his bare-knuckled representation of adult film star Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had an affair with President Trump. He’s been touring the country to gauge popular opinion on his candidacy. We caught up with Avenatti when he was in San Francisco recently for a mini-episode of “It’s All Political.” He has a ...
The Democrats need to flip 23 Republican-held seats to retake the House. To reach that goal, they’re targeting seven GOP seats in California that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. But after visiting several of those districts in the final days of the 2018 midterms, San Francisco Chronicle political writer John “The Big Man” Wildermuth is dubious that the Democrats win more than two. After visiting the Central Valley recently, I’m feeling the same. Find out why as we’re talking California midterms wit...
The U.S. Senate debate in the nation’s largest state wasn't broadcast on statewide TV but it was livestreamed. San Francisco Chronicle Senior Political Writer Joe Garofoli and Editorial Page Editor John Diaz break down the first - and likely only - showdown between the two candidates. The event, billed as a “conversation” at the Public Policy Institute of California in San Francisco, with the nonprofit’s president doling out questions, was a historic occasion: Not since 2000 had Feinstein engage...
It sure looks like Julian Castro is running for president in 2020. He’s got a new memoir out and he’s spending a lot of time in Iowa. We talk about his life growing up in a working class neighborhood of San Antonio - and how he made it to Stanford and Harvard Law School. He also responds to criticism he receives for not being a fluent Spanish speaker - and whether he is tough enough to stand up to President Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Meet Tal Kopan, The San Francisco Chronicle’s new Washington, D.C., correspondent. Tal and Joe Garofoli preview what will happen if Democrats win the House. Would Nancy Pelosi become speaker? Would she get the “pound of flesh” from Republicans that left-wing Dems are demanding? If the GOP holds, would Kevin McCarthy be leader? Tal forecasts what’s next in D.C. — including an “epically dysfunctional” scenario. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
