Political Breakdown

Few books have captivated the nation’s capitol like “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.” It describes in excruciating detail how a small circle of family and political insiders isolated and insulated President Joe Biden as his mental and physical condition declined throughout his term in the White House. Scott and Marisa are joined by the authors, CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios national political correspondent Alex Thompson, who interviewed more than 200 people who described how Biden’s true condition was hidden from his own cabinet, congressional leaders and donors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2026 governor’s race is still more than 500 days away, but there is already a crowded field of candidates. On the Democratic side, they're all waiting to see if Vice President Kamala Harris decides to jump in. KQED’s Marisa Lagos and Guy Marzorati are joined remotely by San Francisco Chronicle Senior Political Writer Joe Garofoli who is in Orange County where Democrats are gathering for their biannual state party convention. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As San Francisco’s elected assessor-recorder, Joaquin Torres’ office decides the value of property in San Francisco, and tells you how much you owe in taxes. But he’s also spent the last dozen years as president of the San Francisco Housing Authority Commission, which oversees the city's public housing developments as well as its Section 8 program. Torres joins Scott and Marisa on his last day as president to reflect on his time there and talk about what’s next for both himself and the agency Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buffy Wicks is a leading champion in Sacramento for building more housing in California. Her early political activities include working on both of Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns. Now she represents parts of Contra Costa and Alameda Counties in Sacramento where she chairs the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee. To get more housing built, Wicks is taking on a sacred cow in state politics, the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. Wicks joins Scott and Marisa to talk about why reforming CEQA is such a hot button issue, and why she thinks it's so necessary to increase housing production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

San Francisco is looking for a new police chief after Bill Scott announced earlier this month that he is stepping down after eight years on the job through three mayoral administrations. Although the city’s civilian-led police commission will draw up a short list of candidates, Mayor Daniel Lurie will make the final decision. Scott and Marisa are joined by KQED Politics Reporter Sydney Johnson to talk about that choice and what the next chief’s success or failure may mean for the mayor. They’ll also talk about the recall effort against San Francisco Supervisor Joel Engardio after organizers announced this week that they’ve gathered enough signatures to put the recall question up to a vote. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two young leaders are making waves in the Democratic Party. Oakland Congresswoman Lateefah Simon joins Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos, just hours after the House narrowly passed a sweeping policy bill that would cut trillions in taxes and slash safety net programs, including Medicaid and SNAP. Plus, Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg, who became a gun control activist after surviving the Parkland school shooting in 2018, explains his plan to bring fresh perspectives — and elect younger candidates — to the Democratic party. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump’s four-day visit to the Middle East featured splashy business deals, very little talk about human rights abuses and plenty of ethical questions – like ones raised by the gift of a lavish $400 million plane from Qatar for Trump to use as a temporary Air Force One. In many ways trip was a reset of relations – especially with Saudi Arabia, whose president was shunned by the Biden Administration, and Syria, whose new leader will benefit from Trump ending U.S. economic sanctions despite concerns over the country’s new leader. NPR White House Correspondent Franco Ordoñez covered the trip and he joins co-hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 a $100 monthly co-pay for Medi-Cal access. Hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined by KQED Politics Correspondent, Guy Marzorati, to take a deep dive into how this all could play out in Sacramento. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 public safety. On this episode of Political Breakdown, Sen. Jones joins hosts Marisa Lagos and Scott Schafer in studio at KQED's San Francisco office. His appearance comes just a day after Governor Newsom unveiled his updated budget proposal for the coming fiscal year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 War. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 announce whether the U.S. will start referring to the Persian Gulf as the Arabian Gulf. Plus, they dig into California’s influence and reputation in D.C. and Governor Gavin Newsom's balancing act with the Trump administration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Later, they're joined by Senator Adam Schiff for a very different take on how the Trump administration’s policies are impacting California Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Washington State’s first congressional district and also chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). They talk about Democrats' plan to win back the House next year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 moving to California when Weber was a toddler. She joins Marisa and Scott to discuss threats to voting rights in the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 budget deficit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 to car traffic. In its place: Sunset Dunes, a newly opened park that's drawn both praise and protest. Scott talks with Engardio about the new park, the recall effort against him and his career in San Francisco politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices