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 are kicking things off with District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí. Safaí, an Iranian immigrant with a master's in city planning, was elected to represent portions of the Excelsior, Outer Mission and OMI neighborhoods in 2016. 

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: [email protected].

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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, has long been regarded as one of the most powerful advocacy groups in Washington. Their goal: support candidates who are strongly pro-Israel and oppose those they feel are are too critical. The October 7th attack by Hamas and Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza have intensified AIPAC’s political activities and its involvement in the 2024 election. Scott and Marisa discuss the role AIPAC plays in U.S. policy and politics with Joan Greve, senior political reporter for Guardian US.

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It’s day two of Michael Cohen’s testimony about Donald Trump’s hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. As the prosecution begins to dig into Cohen’s story and motivations, Scott and Marisa talk with Loyola Law School professor Jessica Levinson about the trial so far, the legal strategies on both sides and how the jury might be interpreting it all.

Check out Levinson's weekly podcast, Passing Judgment, wherever you get your podcasts.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom’s revised state budget tackles a total deficit of $45 billion, including cuts made earlier this year. The governor is proposing to spread the pain widely, with cuts to programs ranging from healthcare and scholarships for the middle class to climate change initiatives he supports. Scott, Marisa and Guy hash out the winners and losers in the May Revise budget.

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Scott and Marisa remember a Republican maverick: former Bay Area Congressman Pete McCloskey. He fought for the environment, helped write the Endangered Species Act, opposed the Vietnam War and was the first House Republican to call for Nixon’s impeachment. McCloskey died this week at age 96.

Then, KQED politics reporter Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez joins to talk with Scott and Marisa about the race for mayor of San Francisco. Mayor London Breed is facing several strong challengers as she struggles to convince voters she’s turning around the city she’s led for six years.

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Cathy Darling Allen was Shasta County’s elected county clerk and registrar of voters for two decades, and for the first part of that, like most registrars, she toiled in relative obscurity. Then came 2016, Donald Trump and a growing narrative on the right that the voting system couldn't be trusted. 

Darling Allen retired on Sunday, after announcing several months ago that she's facing some serious health problems. Marisa and Scott chat with her about her tenure and the growing pressure on election workers.

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Campus protests over Israel’s war in Gaza, and universities' response to them, have attracted international attention. Months after it began, the movement shows no signs of slowing down, even as the school year comes to an end.

Scott is joined by two student journalists who have been on the front lines covering the protests at UC Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement began in the 1960s, and UCLA, where the actions of police officers and counterprotesters are under scrutiny after a violent confrontation last week.

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Tomorrow the California Supreme Court will hear oral arguments over whether to remove a controversial constitutional amendment from the November ballot. The measure – sponsored by the California Business Roundtable – has triggered a huge battle between business on the one hand and Democrats with their allies in organized labor on the other.

Scott and Marisa are joined by Bloomberg News correspondent Laura Mahoney to talk about what the constitutional amendment would do and why the governor is asking the state's Supreme Court to remove it from the ballot.

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Joe Biden narrowly won both Arizona and Nevada in 2020. Now, both states have emerged as key battleground states in 2024, as abortion, border security, election conspiracy theories and the economy are all playing out there. Scott is joined by New York Times reporter Kellen Browning to discuss what impact the two states will have on who controls the White House and Senate. 

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Political Breakdown started as a way to give our listeners a peek behind the curtain of politics. Over the past six years, we’ve brought you conversations with presidential candidates, governors, mayors, political consultants, pollsters and regular people involved in politics. This work is important because the policy debates that will shape our country are happening in California first. That's why this election year, we're bringing you those insights EVERY weekday.

Our journalism is totally independent — we're mostly funded by individual donors, so we can operate free from corporate interests and ask hard questions of powerful people. If you want to support us continuing this work, please consider visiting donate.kqed.org/podcasts and give any amount you can.

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Scott, Marisa and Guy tackle the political intrigue behind the race for Anna Eshoo’s congressional seat, where a recount knocks out one contender. Plus, they dig into the ongoing turmoil and controversy involving campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza, how campuses are responding and the political implications for November.

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