On the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention, Vice President Kamala Harris officially accepted her party's nomination for president, capping a whirlwind 32 days since she entered the race. It was Harris’ opportunity to introduce herself to the nation, and although her speech included attacks on her Republican opponent Donald Trump, it was centered on lessons from her mother, their middle-class life and her own realization of the American dream. Scott, Marisa and Guy share th...
Aug 23, 2024•25 min
It’s the final day of the Democratic National Convention, where Vice President Kamala Harris will formally accept her party’s nomination. The Political Breakdown team has been in Chicago for the DNC all week, talking with delegates, party leaders and elected officials. Today, Marisa, Scott and Guy share some of their conversations with the movers and shakers they’ve run into this week in Chicago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 22, 2024•32 min
The Political Breakdown team is in Chicago all this week for the Democratic National Convention. Today, Scott, Marisa and Guy bring you an inside look at the first two days of the DNC. They recap the speeches and performances and talk to delegates about their excitement for Vice President Kamala Harris on the democratic ticket. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 22, 2024•36 min
The Political Breakdown team is in Chicago for day two of the Democratic National Convention. This evening, the party is holding a ceremonial roll call to officially nominate Vice President Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee, though she secured that nomination in an online vote nearly two weeks ago. On today's show, Scott and Marisa bring together some of Harris’ old friends and colleagues to reminisce, share stories and give us a deeper understanding of the woman who is hoping to become the 4...
Aug 20, 2024•33 min
Today is the first day of the Democratic National Convention, taking place in Chicago, Illinois. The Political Breakdown team is at the convention all week, and today, Scott and Marisa sit down with California Senator Laphonza Butler. Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Butler to the Senate last year following the death of Dianne Feinstein, but Butler will not seek election to a full term this year. Butler helped run Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign and shares what a Harris p...
Aug 19, 2024•28 min
To wrap up our weeklong series examining what a Kamala Harris presidency might look like, Marisa and Scott talk with Jazmine Ulloa, national politics reporter for The New York Times. They dig into Harris' potential immigration policy plans, which remain top of mind in this race for voters and a line of attack for Harris' opponents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 17, 2024•26 min
With just days left before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Political Breakdown continues our series examining what a potential Kamala Harris presidency would look like. Today, Marisa and Scott are digging to the issue voters say is number one for them: the economy. Just hours ago, Vice President Harris appeared alongside President Joe Biden to tout a new deal with drug companies to bring down costs on 10 commonly used drugs for Medicare recipients. Tomorrow, Harris is expected to ...
Aug 15, 2024•33 min
The next U.S. president will likely inherit wars in Ukraine and Gaza, along with complicated relationships with China and Russia. As vice president, Kamala Harris has mostly supported Biden Administration policies, but how would she recalibrate those positions if she is elected president? Political Breakdown continues their series digging into what a Harris administration might look like. Today, Scott and Marisa talk about foreign policy with Eric Bazail-Eimil, national security reporter and co-...
Aug 15, 2024•30 min
Political Breakdown continues our week-long series looking at how Vice President Kamala Harris would tackle a range of major issues if she’s elected president. Today, Scott and Marisa talk with Grist's Zoya Teirstein about how a Harris administration would handle climate change and environmental protection. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 14, 2024•27 min
What would a Kamala Harris presidency look like and how would her policies differ from President Biden? Just three weeks after Harris got into the race and ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the Political Breakdown team is spending all week analyzing what we know about the vice president’s policy agenda. To kick us off, Marisa and Scott talk with NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram, who's traveling with Harris as she campaigns across the country. Learn more about yo...
Aug 12, 2024•31 min
A new poll from the San Francisco Chronicle shows Mayor London Breed with surprising strength against four main challengers, with former Supervisor Mark Farrell in second followed by non-profit founder Daniel Lurie. Plus, a rare political move in Sacramento: A state senator representing a rural part of California announces an abrupt switch from the Democratic to the Republican Party. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 10, 2024•27 min
San Francisco voters will choose their next mayor this November, and we are going to bring you interviews with all of the top candidates. Today, Marisa and Scott sit down with former interim mayor and supervisor Mark Farrell, who discusses his German heritage, growing up and raising kids in the city; along with his plans for policing and encampment sweeps. We want to hear your questions! If you have a burning question that you want us to ask the mayoral candidates, you can send us an email: poli...
Aug 09, 2024•33 min
The presidential election is dividing big money donors from across the political spectrum in Silicon Valley. Although some prominent venture capitalists are backing Kamala Harris, there are a handful of other tech billionaires who have recently thrown their support behind former President Donald Trump. Scott discusses this campaign battle over deep pockets in Silicon Valley with the Washington Post's Trisha Thadani. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 08, 2024•21 min
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is joining Vice President Kamala Harris on the Democratic ticket. They’re hoping the former school teacher and football coach can help reach swing voters in the midwest, but Republicans are already trying to paint him as a West Coast liberal. Scott talks with Minnesota Public Radio politics reporter Dana Ferguson and Brendon Gehrke, a former congressional staffer for Walz, about the governor's personal and political image — plus, why people are saying he has "Midweste...
Aug 07, 2024•29 min
Veteran Los Angeles Times and Sacramento Bee reporter Dan Morain wrote a biography in 2021 titled “Kamala’s Way: An American Life," which traces Harris’ rise in politics starting from her upbringing in the Bay Area to her getting elected vice president. Scott talks with Morain about Harris then and now and how she matches up against former President Donald Trump. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 05, 2024•30 min
Vice President Kamala Harris officially won enough votes from Democratic delegates to become the party’s presidential nominee. She also hired new senior advisors including David Plouffe, a top strategist for Barack Obama's presidential campaigns. Scott and Marisa talk about all that with Bradford William Davis, a reporter, culture critic and fellow with the National Press Foundation. Plus, Davis shares an inside view of the National Association of Black Journalists convention where former Presid...
Aug 03, 2024•23 min
Sarah Longwell spends a lot of her time talking to swing voters about how they view the presidential race and politics more broadly. A Republican pollster and Never Trumper, Longwell joins Marisa and Scott to discuss how these key voters view Vice President Kamala Harris and what both Harris and former President Donald Trump would need to do to get those “double haters” over to their side this November. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Aug 02, 2024•32 min
Former President Donald Trump derided Vice President Kamala Harris' multiracial identity during an interview at the National Association of Black Journalists convention earlier today. It reveals how some Republicans are trying to make Harris' gender and racial identity a liability in the race. As the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India, how will Harris talk about her personal biography as she reintroduces herself to voters? Scott talks with New Yorker writer Jay Caspian Kang who argues...
Aug 01, 2024•32 min
Ever since Donald Trump picked Ohio Senator J.D. Vance to be his running mate two weeks ago, more than a few Republicans have wondered aloud if it was a mistake. Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy describes growing up in poverty in a dysfunctional family ripped apart by opioid addiction. Since then he’s gone from Appalachia to Yale Law School to a San Francisco venture capital firm to the U.S. Senate and Republican ticket. Politico's Ian Ward had many conversations with Vance before he became Trump'...
Jul 30, 2024•32 min
Earlier this month, Los Angeles Representative Adam Schiff called on President Joe Biden to step down from the presidential ticket, helping Vice President Kamala Harris ascend to where she is today – as the likely Democratic nominee for president. Scott talks with Rep. Schiff about his decision to make that call, how Trump's pick of J.D. Vance came at the perfect time for Democrats and his plan to reshape the U.S. Supreme Court. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 30, 2024•27 min
This week, Vice President Kamala Harris quickly consolidated support in the Democratic Party for her campaign for president, and Republicans are already using her record as a prosecutor here in California against her. Scott, Marisa and Guy chew over this blockbuster week of news including the launch of Governor Newsom's podcast "Politickin'" with Super Bowl champion Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch and agent Doug Hendrickson. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 27, 2024•28 min
“Kamala IS brat.” The tweet from British pop singer Charli XCX set the internet on fire. Marisa and Scott talk to Guardian features writer Alaina Demopoulos about the memeification of Vice President Kamala Harris and whether any of it translates into donations or votes in the November election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 26, 2024•28 min
Earlier this month, President Biden said in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, "I mean, if the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race." And then, Nancy Pelosi stepped in. The former House speaker played a big role in convincing the president to drop out of the presidential race – but why does Pelosi still have so much clout? Marisa talks with the SF Chronicle's Washington correspondent Shira Stein about Pelosi's hand in the 2024 presiden...
Jul 24, 2024•24 min
Lateefah Simon worked for Vice President Kamala Harris two decades ago in the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, and she's remained friends with Harris ever since. Simon, who serves on the BART board of directors and is running for U.S. Congress in Oakland, joins Marisa to talk about how the vice president's Bay Area roots have shaped her career and life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 24, 2024•23 min
Now that President Joe Biden has ended his reelection campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as nominee, all eyes are on the Bay Area native and former state and local prosecutor. Marisa is joined by NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram to talk about Harris' reputation in D.C., where her policy views diverge from Biden's and her pitch to voters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 23, 2024•24 min
President Joe Biden announced he's dropping out of the 2024 election and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris. It's a move that wholly upends this presidential race, which until now has been a contest between the two oldest nominees ever. This is all happening with just weeks left before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and just 107 days before election day. On this special edition episode of Political Breakdown, Marisa, Scott and Guy discuss reactions to this news,...
Jul 22, 2024•27 min
KQED's Political Breakdown team has been in Milwaukee all week for the Republican National Convention. Now that former President Donald Trump has accepted his party's nomination and the balloons have dropped, Scott, Marisa and Guy analyze his 93-minute speech and share their takeaways on the week, including the Democrats' turmoil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 19, 2024•26 min
It’s the final day of the Republican National Convention, where former President Donald Trump will accept his party’s nomination. The Political Breakdown team has been in Milwaukee for the RNC all week, talking with delegates, candidates, party leaders and elected officials. Today, Marisa, Scott and Guy share some of the interesting conversations they've had and their takeaways from an extraordinary week for both Republicans and Democrats. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adc...
Jul 18, 2024•29 min
Scott and Marisa talk about the news of the day, including Rep. Adam Schiff joining a chorus of Democrats calling on President Joe Biden to drop his bid for reelection. Later, they're joined by Republican Congressman Vince Fong, who won the election to finish the rest of Kevin McCarthy's term in Washington, about his new job, gun control, California's toss-up House races and Trump's anti-immigration rhetoric. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 18, 2024•33 min
The Political Breakdown team is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on day two of the Republican National Convention. Today, Scott and Marisa talk with the Chairperson of the California Republican Party Jessica Patterson after the delegation’s breakfast gathering, where Virginia’s Governor Glenn Youngkin and Donald Trump’s son Eric both gave speeches. Then, Scott is joined by Milwaukee's Democratic Mayor Cavalier Johnson to talk about the RNC's impact on the city. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...
Jul 17, 2024•26 min
