Speaker 1: And a very happy election night to you at seven
Speaker 1: oh five in the West, I am John Phillips here
Speaker 1: with you until nine o'clock in the evening, bringing you
Speaker 1: all the results as soon as the polls close at
Speaker 1: eight o'clock in the evening, which means you have about
Speaker 1: fifty five minutes left to vote if you have not
Speaker 1: cast a ballot yet and you would like to drop
Speaker 1: off your ballot at a polling location or vote in
Speaker 1: person at voting center that are still open all over
Speaker 1: the state of California again until eight o'clock at night,
Speaker 1: and then who knows how long it'll be after the
Speaker 1: polls close at eight before we start to get some
Speaker 1: results in. We'd like to be with you until we
Speaker 1: know who's going to win and who's going to lose,
Speaker 1: but with Shirley Weber and a rabicus, that may take
Speaker 1: a while. We're keeping an eye on all of the
Speaker 1: results that are going to be coming in the statewide elections,
Speaker 1: from governor all the way down to state Superintendent of
Speaker 1: Public Instruction mister Frank Motech, who you can listen to
Speaker 1: weekdays from four to five in the afternoon on talk
Speaker 1: radio seven ninety k ABC in Los Angeles. Is your
Speaker 1: Voice of business is keeping an eye on all of
Speaker 1: those races.
Speaker 2: John Phillips, an honor to be with you and Randy
Speaker 2: Wang here tonight for our special election night coverage. I'm
Speaker 2: keeping an eye on the right now the betting markets,
Speaker 2: Polly Market, and also the calshiy markets who will advance
Speaker 2: from the California governor primary tonight. Well looks like the
Speaker 2: money at the moment is on Javier Bisera or Javier
Speaker 2: Bakaria as I know you call him on your Great show,
Speaker 2: which shows what President Biden called him, right, Steve Hilton
Speaker 2: at seventy four percent, Tom Steyer now at forty percent.
Speaker 2: We're keeping an eye on that. That's according to Polly Market,
Speaker 2: and it looks like the Calshi markets also out with
Speaker 2: their betting tonight. California governor primary advancers put Besera at
Speaker 2: nearly ninety four percent now, Steve Hilton's seventy three percent
Speaker 2: and Tom Steyer at forty three percent. It's going to
Speaker 2: be a fun night.
Speaker 1: And you're also going to be keeping an eye on
Speaker 1: the Lieutenant governor's race, the state controllers race, the Insurance commissioner,
Speaker 1: and all the other constitutional offices. Yes, sir, all right.
Speaker 1: Mister Randy Wegg, who you can listen to each weekday
Speaker 1: from noon to three with me on KABC in La
Speaker 1: and KSFO in San Francisco and on the weekends on
Speaker 1: KMJ in Fresno, is keeping an eye on the LA
Speaker 1: Mayor's race and all of the ballot initiatives that are
Speaker 1: also going to be decided today.
Speaker 3: Isn't it strange that this is the first election where
Speaker 3: we're initially going off with the gambling. This has turned
Speaker 3: into a live sports show.
Speaker 2: Real fun.
Speaker 3: The most the most watched race in America right now
Speaker 3: is the LA Mayors race and the polls are going
Speaker 3: to close at eight o'clock. There's going to be an
Speaker 3: update from the La County Registrar at eight thirty of
Speaker 3: all the ballots that were mailed in before yesterday, and
Speaker 3: then another update at eight forty five of all the
Speaker 3: voting that was done in person before yesterday. And if
Speaker 3: they're on time, we'll actually have result for that race.
Speaker 3: And if they're not on time, I can give you
Speaker 3: the gambling markets that say Karen Bass is a ninety
Speaker 3: one percent chance to advance to the November runoff. Spencer
Speaker 3: Pratt has a seventy seven percent chance to advance the
Speaker 3: November runoff, and Nithia Rahman has a twenty nine percent
Speaker 3: chance to advance the Number runoff. We'll also be looking
Speaker 3: at the ballot measures, including the sales tax increase in
Speaker 3: La County, Measure ER and Measure CB in the City
Speaker 3: of Los Angeles, which would allow the City of La
Speaker 3: if passed, to send tax bills to illegally operating pot stores.
Speaker 3: How that works, nobody knows.
Speaker 1: All this gambling talk makes me want to order a
Speaker 1: scotch and sit down and play some bokarad You're lucky.
Speaker 3: You don't know how to use these websites yet, because
Speaker 3: this is going to be a problem for you.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'd be living under the freeway along with everyone
Speaker 1: else in California under Gavin Newsom. We're also joined by
Speaker 1: our pal Phil Teresi, who you can listen to weekdays
Speaker 1: from two to six in the afternoon on Kate M
Speaker 1: Jay in Fresno.
Speaker 3: He is keeping an eye on all of the hot.
Speaker 1: Congressional races going on here in the Golden State.
Speaker 4: Phil, gentlemen, thank you for including me. I'm very excited
Speaker 4: to see exactly how much damage Prop fifty does to
Speaker 4: our elections process in this primary.
Speaker 1: Well, we used to have so many contested congressional seats here.
Speaker 1: At one point in time, it was predicted by Nancy
Speaker 1: Pelosi of all people, that the road to the majority
Speaker 1: in Washington would go through California. But now we only
Speaker 1: have a handful of seats that are being contested by
Speaker 1: both parties.
Speaker 4: And that's exactly it. When they did the redistricting, they
Speaker 4: obviously went out of their way to target folks they
Speaker 4: thought were going to be easy. Notice Tom McClintock remains
Speaker 4: unmolested by Prop fifty, but they're going hard after David Valadeo,
Speaker 4: Kevin Kylie having to jump off to a completely different district,
Speaker 4: and it's unfortunately. I think Aunt Nancy might have been
Speaker 4: up to something once you made that prediction.
Speaker 1: Now, speaking of Nancy, there's also a congressional district in
Speaker 1: San Francisco where there is a hotly contested race, the
Speaker 1: race to determine who will replace Nancy Pelosi as the
Speaker 1: congress person from San Francisco, and she endorsed in that
Speaker 1: race against Scott Wiener, who is the state senator and
Speaker 1: believed to be the front runner.
Speaker 3: She's anti Weiener, and pro Connie Chan.
Speaker 4: While I can't say that I'm enthusiastic about either one,
Speaker 4: I'm privately hoping that Wiener wins, just so we have
Speaker 4: an excuse to keep dropping that name.
Speaker 1: Well, we are radio people, so that's what's going on
Speaker 1: right now. We're keeping an eye on all of that
Speaker 1: for you. The Pauls again are now open for another
Speaker 1: forty nine minutes. So if you want to vote, you
Speaker 1: want to cast your ballot on any of the races
Speaker 1: that we mentioned or some that we did not mention,
Speaker 1: you have less than an hour to do so, so
Speaker 1: make sure you get your ballot turned in if you
Speaker 1: want to have your voice heard in this election. All right.
Speaker 1: Joining us right now to talk about all of this
Speaker 1: is a woman whose voice is very familiar on the
Speaker 1: airwaves of KSFO in San Francisco KABC in LA. She's
Speaker 1: the host of the Howard Jarvis radio program. She's also
Speaker 1: a columnist in the Southern California News Group.
Speaker 3: Susan Shelley.
Speaker 5: Welcome, Thank you, John. Great to be with you.
Speaker 1: So let's start out with the governor's race. Essentially, it
Speaker 1: looks like Javier Besserra is the likely first place finisher
Speaker 1: and there's a toss up going on right now for
Speaker 1: the second slot involving Steve Hilton and Tom Steyer. We've
Speaker 1: seen some reports from CNN and other shops saying that
Speaker 1: Styer is doing better than expected in Los Angeles County.
Speaker 5: Your thoughts, well, if it's Styer and Hilton in the
Speaker 5: governor's race, it's going to be a titanic battle over
Speaker 5: Proposition thirteen because Ve Hilton has vowed to protect Prop thirteen,
Speaker 5: he's endorsed by Howard Jarvis, and.
Speaker 6: Steyer has vowed to destroy Prop thirteen. So if you
Speaker 6: care about your property taxes in California, that's going to
Speaker 6: be quite a race to watch.
Speaker 5: If that's what happens.
Speaker 1: And if the race is Besarah versus Hilton, Besarah would
Speaker 1: certainly have a huge advantage in that contest.
Speaker 6: Well, he would have a huge advantage in that the
Speaker 6: political machine and all of the major political donors, all
Speaker 6: the associations and unions in California will back him. However,
Speaker 6: he's got some legal problems and there's no getting around
Speaker 6: the fact that three people tied to tied to watching
Speaker 6: his campaign account his dormant campaign account, and you know
Speaker 6: that's another whole story that we can educate people about
Speaker 6: someday why he has a dormant campaign account. They've been
Speaker 6: they've pleaded guilty to conspiracy wirefraud. This is not a
Speaker 6: good situation for him, and that could certainly we blow
Speaker 6: up between now and November.
Speaker 1: We do not know how any of the ballots that
Speaker 1: have been cast, how the voters voted on those ballots,
Speaker 1: but we do know who has turned them in so far,
Speaker 1: and we know that Republican voters have turned their ballots
Speaker 1: in at a higher clip than they did four years ago,
Speaker 1: and Democrats are underperforming where they were four years ago.
Speaker 1: What do you make of that?
Speaker 6: I think a lot of it is that people were
Speaker 6: waiting to see who they were going to vote for
Speaker 6: because it was such an unusual governor's race. Eric Swalwell
Speaker 6: dropping out and he was the front runner, and all
Speaker 6: of these others being urged to drop out, and then
Speaker 6: one of the people who was being urged to drop
Speaker 6: out was the Sarah who's now in the league position.
Speaker 6: So I don't know if the chair of the California
Speaker 6: Democratic Party survived that effort to try to drive out
Speaker 6: people from the race. Everybody else stayed in. Eric Walwell
Speaker 6: is still on the ballot. Who knows how that will
Speaker 6: play in do it as people vote for a familiar name.
Speaker 6: It's just really hard to predict this, and I think
Speaker 6: a lot of Democrats were confused and waiting, and no
Speaker 6: one was really pushing them very hard with balla harvesting
Speaker 6: and the other types of tactics that they used to
Speaker 6: get that vote out.
Speaker 1: Early on the Republican side of the aisle, we saw
Speaker 1: consolidation occur, primarily when President Trump came out and endorse
Speaker 1: Steve Hilton. That's when we saw Hilton start to pop
Speaker 1: in the polls, and that's when we started to see
Speaker 1: Bianco falling off. We've also seen in recent days consolidation
Speaker 1: going on on the Democratic side, where after Eric Swallwell
Speaker 1: dropped out of the race, we saw Javier Bessera on
Speaker 1: the rise, and we saw Tom Steyer move into that
Speaker 1: second place slot. We also saw Katie Porter, who had
Speaker 1: been pulling in the double digits, slip down to the
Speaker 1: single digits, and Antonio via Rigosa, who pulled just below
Speaker 1: ten percent at one point in the race, is now
Speaker 1: near an asterisk. What do you make that.
Speaker 6: I have to say that when you look at the
Speaker 6: actual ballot, not the polling questions, but the ballot that
Speaker 6: the voters have to confront with sixty one names on it.
Speaker 6: Searching for the one that you want to vote for
Speaker 6: is a ten minute project by itself. So I'm not
Speaker 6: sure that these polls are completely accurate. It could be
Speaker 6: that some of the candidates that we think aren't going
Speaker 6: to do well will do better, or it could be
Speaker 6: that everybody drops to zero except the Sarah because all
Speaker 6: the Democrats got on board at the last minute. I
Speaker 6: have found this particular election to be just incredibly difficult
Speaker 6: to predict.
Speaker 1: The betting markets have Karen Bass, the incumbent mayor of
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, seeking another four year term, and Spencer Pratt,
Speaker 1: of The Hills reality show star who's home burned down
Speaker 1: on the Pacific Palisades. They have those two candidates making
Speaker 1: it to the November ballot. Is that what you expect
Speaker 1: to see?
Speaker 7: Yes? I do.
Speaker 6: A lot of people said that Spencer Pratt had a
Speaker 6: social media campaign, but when when you looked at the
Speaker 6: fundraising in the last reported period, which was mid April
Speaker 6: to mid May, he raised almost three million dollars to
Speaker 6: Karen Bass's about two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.
Speaker 7: That's real.
Speaker 6: When people are donating at that level, even when they're
Speaker 6: afraid of the government retaliating against those businesses, which they
Speaker 6: are in Los Angeles, When they're donating at that level,
Speaker 6: something real is going on. And I think he's been
Speaker 6: out in the community. He's been working very hard on
Speaker 6: retail politics, not a social media campaign, a lot of interviews,
Speaker 6: You've done interviews with him. I think he's worked very
Speaker 6: hard at this and I think he could win.
Speaker 3: The thing that.
Speaker 1: Is so odd to me about that race is typically,
Speaker 1: when you see an incumbent running for reelection, the focus
Speaker 1: is on the incumbent, the focus is on their performance.
Speaker 1: We know the iconic line, are you better off now
Speaker 1: than you were four years ago? But in this race,
Speaker 1: it seems like they've taken the heat off of Karen
Speaker 1: and the focus is entirely on Spencer Pratt. I had
Speaker 1: John Thomas, the political consultant, on earlier today and I
Speaker 1: asked him, do you think that's because of political bias
Speaker 1: or do you think that's just because he's a more
Speaker 1: interesting person? And people are going to read a story
Speaker 1: about Spencer Pratt, but maybe not read one about Karen Bass.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, to me, he's been telling the truth,
Speaker 6: and we've been missing the truth in Los Angeles for
Speaker 6: quite a while. When you hear people in the government
Speaker 6: say everything's fine, except we just need one more tax
Speaker 6: increase for more of these same homeless contracts, and they say, oh,
Speaker 6: these are our unhoused neighbors. Nobody's a drug addict, They're
Speaker 6: just it's the price of housing in Los Angeles. And
Speaker 6: people have a right to live in a free apartment
Speaker 6: at the beach because that's their home. Everybody in Los
Speaker 6: Angeles knows something's really wrong, and when no one in
Speaker 6: the government is saying it, and then you get someone
Speaker 6: like Spencer Pratt who puts his name on a ballot
Speaker 6: and calls it the way people are seeing it, it's
Speaker 6: tremendously powerful. And that's what I think is driving the
Speaker 6: success of his campaign. He is telling the truth about
Speaker 6: so many problems, corruption, drug addictions, incompetence, city city offices.
Speaker 6: This business of not rebuilding the Palisades is so it's
Speaker 6: so emblematic of what everyone has experienced in Los Angeles.
Speaker 6: Ask anyone who's ever tried to build a gazebo in
Speaker 6: the back yard what it's like to deal with Los Angeles,
Speaker 6: and I think he's resonating for that reason.
Speaker 1: Susan Shelley, host of the Howard Jarvis radio program, columnist
Speaker 1: in the Southern California news group. You can reader in
Speaker 1: the pages of the OC Register, the Riverside Press Enterprise,
Speaker 1: the LA Daily News. Thanks so much for stopping by.
Speaker 1: Thank you all right, Frank, you're keeping an eye on
Speaker 1: all of the statewide contests. One of the statewide contests
Speaker 1: that you are watching closely this evening when the polls
Speaker 1: close at eight, is to see who will become California's
Speaker 1: next attorney general. We know that Rob Bonta is seeking
Speaker 1: another four year term the city attorney for Huntington Beach.
Speaker 1: The Republican candidate is running against him in that race.
Speaker 1: He's been actively campaigning statewide and it looks like those
Speaker 1: two candidates could end up in a runoff. It was
Speaker 1: widely expected before he filed for reelection that Rob Bonta
Speaker 1: would run for governor and not attorney general. But at
Speaker 1: the eleventh hour, despite the fact that Kamala Harris didn't
Speaker 1: get into the race for governor and Alex Padia decided
Speaker 1: to take a pass Rob Bonta decided to run for
Speaker 1: reelection instead, surprising a lot of people.
Speaker 2: Very well put Democrat incment. Rob Bonta facing that challenge
Speaker 2: from Republican Michael Gates for the role of California's Attorney General,
Speaker 2: will be watching that race very very closely. Michael Gates
Speaker 2: is part of the Golden Ticket slate of candidates that
Speaker 2: was organized by Steve Hilton, the front running Republican candidate
Speaker 2: who will be watching tonight and the governor's race. Gates
Speaker 2: is a former trial attorney who served as the Huntington
Speaker 2: Beach City Attorney. As you well know John Deputy US
Speaker 2: Attorney as well. He's raised the less than half of
Speaker 2: what Bonda raised to keep his seat according to the
Speaker 2: latest reports I've seen, and it looks like Bonda's predecessor,
Speaker 2: by the way, was Javi or Bessera. So he's running
Speaker 2: for governor and right now, according to the Benning markets,
Speaker 2: in the lead at the moment. So it's going to
Speaker 2: be a very interesting night. As we've tracked all the
Speaker 2: state wide races here at this desk, the Attorney General race,
Speaker 2: Superintendent of Public Instruction will have the State treasurer race
Speaker 2: as well as of course, the Lieutenant Governor and all
Speaker 2: important insurance Commissioner, which takes on added significance given the
Speaker 2: firestorm horrific disaster. They're calling it a second disaster given
Speaker 2: the slow pace of recovery. So the state insurance Commissioner
Speaker 2: races something else will be watching very closely.
Speaker 1: All right. We have about forty more minutes, just under
Speaker 1: forty minutes for the polls to be open here in
Speaker 1: the state of California. If you have not voted and
Speaker 1: you would like to cast your ballot, you better hurry
Speaker 1: up and do so because the polls are closing fast.
Speaker 1: We are live on election night. My name is John Phillips,
Speaker 1: joined in studio by Randy Wang, Frank Motech and remote
Speaker 1: from Fresno, our colleague Phil Teresi on loan from KMJ
Speaker 1: in Fresno. We'll be back in moments. Don't you go anywhere,
Speaker 1: And we continue at seven twenty four on this election night.
Speaker 1: My name is John Phillips, joined in studio by Randy Wang,
Speaker 1: Frank mootech and in Fresno, our colleague in Pale, Phil Teresi,
Speaker 1: who is joining us as well. All right, Randy, you
Speaker 1: are keeping an eye on the voting centers in Los
Speaker 1: Angeles County in terms of which ones are busy which
Speaker 1: ones are not busy. We have a little over a
Speaker 1: half hour left of voting. What are you seeing?
Speaker 3: I'm seeing a lot of procrastinators.
Speaker 2: John.
Speaker 3: Here's the thing. You've been able to vote in this
Speaker 3: election for about a month, and I have been looking
Speaker 3: at this website all day locator dot lavote dot gov
Speaker 3: all the voting centers in the largest county in California.
Speaker 3: One out of every four voters lives in LA County.
Speaker 3: And the way this chart works is if it's green,
Speaker 3: that means there is no wait, or it's fifteen minutes
Speaker 3: or less, And up until about five minutes ago, nearly
Speaker 3: every single one of these places is green. But here
Speaker 3: we are with thirty five minutes left to be able
Speaker 3: to vote, and there's a ton of places now that
Speaker 3: are getting a little busy because people waited till the
Speaker 3: last possible minute to vote. What is this a college
Speaker 3: term paper? Now, most of the places are still easy,
Speaker 3: so like, for instance, if you are waiting in an
Speaker 3: hour plus line in West Hollywood at the Aquatic Recreation Center,
Speaker 3: you can go over to the Fairfax Senior Citizen Center
Speaker 3: less than a mile over on Melrose, and there's no wait.
Speaker 3: So look it up for yourself. If you're standing in
Speaker 3: a long line because you waited till the last minute,
Speaker 3: you got a locator dot lavote dot gov. You can
Speaker 3: vote at any voting center, not just the one in
Speaker 3: your neighborhood, or you could drop that ballot in a box.
Speaker 3: But if you wore a speedo to go vote, you're
Speaker 3: probably more comfortable at the Aquatic Center than the Senior Center.
Speaker 3: And you probably went to Tom Steyer's party last night.
Speaker 3: That's true.
Speaker 1: All right, let's check in with Phil Teresi in Fresno. Phil,
Speaker 1: one of the congressional races that you're watching very closely.
Speaker 1: There is David Valadeo, the incumbent Republican congressman who is
Speaker 1: seeking a two year term in the House of Representatives.
Speaker 1: The Democrats are having a primary to see which Democratic
Speaker 1: candidate there's a more moderate candidate in that race, a
Speaker 1: more liberal candidate in that race, who will face off
Speaker 1: with the incumbent Republican in November.
Speaker 4: Well, I think that it's entirely possible that Randy Vegas,
Speaker 4: by accepting the endorsements of AOC and Bernie Sanders in
Speaker 4: a congressional district that, with a single exception and has
Speaker 4: gone to David Valadeo for thirteen years running, may have
Speaker 4: shot himself in the foot, Doctor jas Meat Baines out
Speaker 4: of the Assembly. She conducts herself well, She's got the
Speaker 4: local party endorsement, she's got the state party endorsement, and Vegas.
Speaker 4: While I think that he is credible in his role
Speaker 4: as a school board member, probably has aired a little
Speaker 4: too far to the left. Certainly the way that the
Speaker 4: money has gone in this race, We've seen a lot
Speaker 4: of outside cash come in in favor of the aegis,
Speaker 4: I think with the intention of giving an inferior candidate
Speaker 4: to Valadeo for the general election. But David's got a
Speaker 4: reputation for incredible constituent service, and he has continuously won
Speaker 4: a district that has gone left in every presidential election
Speaker 4: by thirteen and fifteen points. I don't think Valadeo has
Speaker 4: a question of will he hang on to the job.
Speaker 4: I think the question at this point is is he
Speaker 4: going to spend a little money keeping it away from
Speaker 4: Viegas or a lot of money keeping it away from Bains.
Speaker 1: Now Baines portrays herself as a moderate candidate. Is she
Speaker 1: an actual blue dog Democrat or is she just not
Speaker 1: a Bernie type.
Speaker 4: Would I would say the latter. She's not full blown
Speaker 4: AOC Green Party wingnut. I wouldn't go so far as
Speaker 4: to describe Baines as a socialist. But she's not a
Speaker 4: moderate and she's not a blue dog. This is not
Speaker 4: somebody who would fall into line with Jack Kennedy's policies
Speaker 4: if he were alive.
Speaker 1: Today, and with the House of Representatives so closely divided,
Speaker 1: if it comes down to one or two seats to
Speaker 1: determine who is in control of Congress, this seat could
Speaker 1: really matter in terms of the national scene.
Speaker 4: Oh absolutely. Valadeo's delivered for Republicans consistently, and his fundraising
Speaker 4: reflects that there's a lot of faith in his ability,
Speaker 4: despite the fact that he is not a gold star
Speaker 4: MAGA Republican. But in the case of David Valadeo, being
Speaker 4: a little more moderate, being willing to reach across the
Speaker 4: aisle serves him well. One of the other opportunities to
Speaker 4: flip is actually one district over D twenty one, where
Speaker 4: Jim Costa is the incumbent and has been there for
Speaker 4: decades and he's got too serious. Republicans after that seat,
Speaker 4: Lieutenant Colonel Lorenzo Rios out of Clovis and Kyle Kirkland
Speaker 4: here in Fresno. And in both cases there's an opportunity
Speaker 4: for Republicans to snag that seat if they rise to
Speaker 4: the occasion.
Speaker 1: All right, and of course, the polls close in a
Speaker 1: half hour. Hopefully we'll have some results to bring to you,
Speaker 1: some numbers to talk about in a little over half
Speaker 1: an hour. It's election night, John Phillips joined by Randy Wang,
Speaker 1: Frank Motech, Phil Teresi. Don't go anywhere, and we continue
Speaker 1: at seven point thirty five in the evening, with about
Speaker 1: twenty five minutes left of the polls being open here
Speaker 1: in the state of California. It's John Phillips, Randy Wang,
Speaker 1: Frank Motech, Phil Teresi. Now, one of the things that
Speaker 1: you notice when you open up your ballot when it
Speaker 1: was sent to you in the mail, was how many
Speaker 1: names were on that ballot, particularly in the race for governor.
Speaker 3: Sixty one names. In fact, it was a full page
Speaker 3: front and back on my eleven page ballot because La
Speaker 3: County had an insane amount of judges. But there are
Speaker 3: a lot of names running. We talk about the top
Speaker 3: four or five, maybe the top eight that'll be in
Speaker 3: a debate. But it's very possible that some of these
Speaker 3: names could get a few votes here or there, including
Speaker 3: disgraced former Congressman Eric Swawell who is still on the ballot,
Speaker 3: Boring Betty E that is still on the ballot. But
Speaker 3: there may be voters out there John that just decide
Speaker 3: screw it, I don't care. I'm voting for Barack di
Speaker 3: Obama Shaw Or there is one guy and this is
Speaker 3: his actual name. Now he's a no party preference candidate.
Speaker 3: His name is Living for God and Country DeMott Episcopal.
Speaker 3: Or if you really want to enjoy yourself, cast your
Speaker 3: vote for thunder Parlay.
Speaker 1: I wonder what club they dance in. All right, It
Speaker 1: is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program.
Speaker 1: He is a columnist and founder of the Recall of
Speaker 1: District Attorney Chase A. Boudin in the City and County
Speaker 1: of San Francisco. He's also host of the Really San
Speaker 1: Francisco podcast. You can get him online at Richie Greenberg
Speaker 1: dot org and follow him on Exit Greenberg Nation. Richie Greenberg, welcome,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 7: For inviting me tonight on the special special evening for
Speaker 7: all of us.
Speaker 1: There is a hotly contested congressional race going on right
Speaker 1: now in San Francisco to determine who will replace Nancy Pelosi.
Speaker 1: Felosi had stayed out of the race for quite some time,
Speaker 1: not endorsing any candidate, until very recently when she came
Speaker 1: out in support of Connie Chan, san Francisco supervisor, who
Speaker 1: is running against Scott Wiener, the state Senator from San
Speaker 1: Francisco and front runner in the race, and Nancy Pelosi
Speaker 1: I don't believe has a lot of love for Wiener,
Speaker 1: because she'd not only let her name to Connie Chan,
Speaker 1: but she's been out and about campaigning on her behalf.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's exactly right. You know, with all of this
Speaker 7: excitement that we're seeing up and down this state here,
Speaker 7: it's a very exciting, very exciting election cycle. I don't
Speaker 7: know if you agree, but there's just a lot of
Speaker 7: buzz out there and in San Francisco specifically because of
Speaker 7: that the congressional race. I would not say to replace
Speaker 7: Nancy Pelosi. I would say to succeed her, because there's
Speaker 7: really no replacing her. She's been in power for nearly
Speaker 7: forty years, thirty seven thirty eight years or so, and
Speaker 7: she's one of a kind. Love her or hate her.
Speaker 7: So yeah, it was very interesting to see that come
Speaker 7: out just a few days ago last week, that Pelosi
Speaker 7: went ahead and made that announcement to endorse Connie Chan.
Speaker 7: I believe that Conye Chan really needed it because even
Speaker 7: though she is known within the city, she's a member
Speaker 7: of the eleven member for the supervisors that's our city council.
Speaker 7: She's sort of a boring person, I'm sorry to say.
Speaker 7: She's not that that controversial. She's not that well liked
Speaker 7: or hated. She's just there as a member. She's not
Speaker 7: a firebrand, she's not, you know. So she's she needed
Speaker 7: the help, and I think this strategically placed the endorsement
Speaker 7: from Pelosi because, as you said, uh, Scott Wiener is
Speaker 7: one of those really, really controversial individuals that has made
Speaker 7: his mark in Sacramento with all of those pieces of
Speaker 7: legislation that we were proposed and many of them passed
Speaker 7: that have such a niche a niche effect on LGBTQ
Speaker 7: and a few other issues. But he's made a lot
Speaker 7: of people angry all up and down the city of
Speaker 7: the state. So unfortunately, polls show that he is probably
Speaker 7: going to win even in November. But you need to
Speaker 7: put up a fight somewhere. And there was a second
Speaker 7: and third place neck and neck uh in the polling,
Speaker 7: which was Connie Chan. And this ds a completely uh
Speaker 7: just out of his mind, AOC type of socialist Marxist
Speaker 7: psychot or he pronounces it shoycut shoycout chakra batti.
Speaker 3: You don't even let John try to pronounce that one.
Speaker 1: Oh no, I get yeah, yeah.
Speaker 7: Really, it's at least I say psycot like psychotic shoycott
Speaker 7: chakra batti.
Speaker 5: Who who has.
Speaker 7: Spent millions of his own money. It's kind of like
Speaker 7: Tom Steyer. This guy's a self hating uh, you know,
Speaker 7: send a millionaire who's just running along. He got uh
Speaker 7: the endorsement from Rashida Tleban, from uh ilhan Omar and others.
Speaker 7: He had Hassan Piker at one of his campaign rallies,
Speaker 7: so it was that kind of a nutcase. But was
Speaker 7: was pretty much pulling right neck and neck with Connie Chan.
Speaker 7: So this endorsement from uh Nancy Pelosi will most likely
Speaker 7: help her and differentiate her from psychot and put those
Speaker 7: two going through tonight's primary into the final in November.
Speaker 1: Why is it that Nancy Pelosi doesn't like Scott Wiener
Speaker 1: because clearly she is not fond of the boy.
Speaker 7: Well, you know, look at what all the work has
Speaker 7: garnered for Pelosi. She has a incredible rolodex, a database
Speaker 7: of all those people that she can go to for fundraising,
Speaker 7: for caucusing, for getting things done in Washington, d C.
Speaker 7: Whatever favors need to be pulled for all of that. Right, So,
Speaker 7: clearly Scott Wiener is not someone that could step into
Speaker 7: her shoes in some format that would make her donors,
Speaker 7: the party's donors, the Democrat Party pleased. Right, So he
Speaker 7: has his own agenda. He is viewed at is viewed
Speaker 7: as at being the local leader of the lgbt Q
Speaker 7: I A two plus members of the community, and you know,
Speaker 7: they just don't mesh that well. So I believe that
Speaker 7: that is the reason why that they want to have
Speaker 7: someone in Washington that can just step in in place
Speaker 7: of and to succeed Pelosi. And Connie chan who has
Speaker 7: been with Pelosi in a lot of these events and
Speaker 7: mixers in the last year or so, sort of grooming
Speaker 7: Connie Chan. I'm not sure, but you know, she makes
Speaker 7: the most sense in a sense, rather than this Shykat Chakrabati.
Speaker 7: I like seeing his name and Scott Wiener.
Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi was widely expected to come in with Gavin
Speaker 1: Newsom and Kamala Harris and Jerry Brown and Adam Schiff
Speaker 1: and others and all get behind a candidate for governor.
Speaker 3: They did not do that.
Speaker 1: Why do you think Nancy Pelosi stayed out of that race?
Speaker 7: Well, you know, it's this is a very interesting infighting
Speaker 7: election cycle. You've got the Democrats that are in disarray,
Speaker 7: who are trying to fight off advancing Republicans, as we
Speaker 7: see in LA with Spencer Pratt, with Steve Hilton and
Speaker 7: Chad Bianco. So it's interesting to see that they don't
Speaker 7: want to help either ruin or I think it's just
Speaker 7: ruining for the most part. Newsom, as we know, is
Speaker 7: very problematic. I don't think that an endorsement from him
Speaker 7: would be very help full. Adam Shift similarly, and you know,
Speaker 7: if they were behind Eric Swalwell, that was quite a
Speaker 7: shocker of a crash and burn. So you know, let
Speaker 7: them do what they can do. Now, let's see where
Speaker 7: the chips fall after tonight, see which of the Democrats
Speaker 7: can move forward. You know, we've got Javie Rassara most
Speaker 7: likely going to make it through tonight. Still up in
Speaker 7: the air. What's going to happen with Steve Hilton. I'm
Speaker 7: hoping he will make it forward. He came to San
Speaker 7: Francisco and did a brilliant town hall, So I think
Speaker 7: that that's what the reason is that let's see what
Speaker 7: happens after tonight.
Speaker 1: Richie Greenberg columnist and founder of the Recall of District
Speaker 1: Attorney Chase of Boudin Movement and host of the Really
Speaker 1: San Francisco podcast. You can get him online at Richie
Speaker 1: Greenberg dot org and follow him on x at Greenberg Nation.
Speaker 1: Richie Greenberg, thanks so much for stopping by my pleasure.
Speaker 1: All right, we have about fifteen more minutes for the
Speaker 1: polls to be open here in the state of California.
Speaker 1: If you want to vote, you have well fifteen minutes
Speaker 1: to do so, so you better hurry up. All right,
Speaker 1: Let's go to our colleague Phil Teresi in Fresno, because
Speaker 1: Phil Ritchie just talked about the opening that's right now
Speaker 1: going on in San Francisco. Given the fact that Nancy
Speaker 1: Pelosi is retiring, you're taking a look at all the
Speaker 1: congressional races on the ballot here, and we'll be going
Speaker 1: over those results as soon as the polls close at eight.
Speaker 1: But not long ago, the state of California had Nancy
Speaker 1: Pelosi as the Democratic leader and Kevin McCarthy as the
Speaker 1: Speaker of the House, two of the most important positions
Speaker 1: in the Congress of the United States. And then Kevin
Speaker 1: McCarthy was knocked out a speaker. He resigned from his
Speaker 1: Bakersfield area congressional seat. He was replaced by another Republican
Speaker 1: of Vince Vaughn. Nancy Pelosi resigned as speaker, got out
Speaker 1: a leadership, but stuck around in the Congress. And even
Speaker 1: though she wasn't in leadership, she was still one of
Speaker 1: those voices that was very strong privately in the Democratic
Speaker 1: Party and getting Joe Biden to step down as the
Speaker 1: Democratic nominee back in the twenty twenty four election. And
Speaker 1: now the state of California after this term won't have
Speaker 1: either one of them.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's I think that it's been quite a loss
Speaker 4: on both sides in terms of fundraising power and quiet authority.
Speaker 4: I mean Pelosi and McCarthy are about as different as
Speaker 4: two members of Congress could possibly be, god knows as speakers.
Speaker 4: They had absolutely different experiences. But the secret sauce for
Speaker 4: both of them, and I think that probably no small
Speaker 4: part of why both of them got to bite at
Speaker 4: that apple is their fundraising prowess, and I don't see
Speaker 4: anybody coming up in the Congress right now that's able
Speaker 4: to match it at quite that level. I think that
Speaker 4: you've got some interesting possibilities if Kevin Kylie is able
Speaker 4: to lock into this new district. Kylie's got a interesting
Speaker 4: appeal that I think could serve really well Inland California.
Speaker 4: But in terms of rock stars that are going to
Speaker 4: pull that kind of money down that, there's nobody in
Speaker 4: the race for Polos seat, not Connie Chance, certainly not
Speaker 4: Scott Wiener that's going to have that kind of fundraising power.
Speaker 7: Now.
Speaker 4: James Gallagher and his effort in the special election that
Speaker 4: may change things. His credibility in Sacramento is legendary, and
Speaker 4: it's possible that he's going to be able to bring
Speaker 4: some of that, but I think that the standard on
Speaker 4: both parties, unfortunately, is a little bit diminished right now.
Speaker 4: In terms of that soft power.
Speaker 1: All right, we have about twelve more minutes of the
Speaker 1: polls being open here in the state of California. That's
Speaker 1: when the polls close. That's when the results could theoretically
Speaker 1: start to come in. It's CALIFORNI you so don't bet
Speaker 1: on it, but.
Speaker 3: Emphasis on theoretical you actually have a better bet if
Speaker 3: you bet.
Speaker 1: Maybe they will, maybe they won't. Whatever the case, We're
Speaker 1: going to be here with you all the way until
Speaker 1: nine o'clock. Don't you go anywhere. This is our special
Speaker 1: coverage of election twenty twenty six. It's John Phillips, Randy Wang,
Speaker 1: Frank Motech, Phil Teresi, Don't you go anywhere, And we
Speaker 1: continue at seven fifty one in the evening. It's John Phillips,
Speaker 1: Randy Wing, Frank Motech, Phil Teresi, here with you until
Speaker 1: nine o'clock in the evening. There is nine more minutes
Speaker 1: left of voting here in the state of California. If
Speaker 1: you're in line, they'll let you stay there and cast
Speaker 1: your ballot. So if you do want to vote, you
Speaker 1: better get on that right away.
Speaker 3: It's like you're trying to get a funnel cake right
Speaker 3: when Magic Mountain closes.
Speaker 1: Good luck with that, all right. There are a number
Speaker 1: of ballot initiatives in the San Francisco Bay area that
Speaker 1: you're keeping an eye on, Randy, that will have hopefully
Speaker 1: results coming in in just a few minutes.
Speaker 3: Well, I've got the Chronicles website up, so hopefully we'll
Speaker 3: see something when the polls closed. Turnout has been higher
Speaker 3: in San Francisco. So Measure A we talked about this
Speaker 3: one on the show yesterday. That is the earthquake bond
Speaker 3: that is supposed to help retrofit firehouses, build those high
Speaker 3: pressure pumps, but also helps repair a bart storage yard
Speaker 3: and build some affordable housing because why not. Measure C
Speaker 3: would lower the gross receipts tax for small businesses who
Speaker 3: only make up to seven and a half million dollars.
Speaker 3: Measure D would raise the gross receipts tax for any
Speaker 3: overpaid CEO company where the CEO of a company makes
Speaker 3: more than one hundred times the average salary of their
Speaker 3: regular employees. Here's what's bizarre. If Prop C and Prop
Speaker 3: D both pass, whichever one gets more votes cancels the
Speaker 3: other one out. So either grosser receipts taxes are going
Speaker 3: up or they're going going down or they're staying the same. Meanwhile,
Speaker 3: in Alameda County, we are looking at Measure E. This
Speaker 3: is the one hundred and ninety two dollars parcel tax
Speaker 3: that's supposed to go to public safety. But like every
Speaker 3: parcel tax, they can use the money for whatever they want,
Speaker 3: and that's what they've done over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: They also have a DA's race in Alameda County with
Speaker 1: a familiar face on the ballot.
Speaker 3: Yes, the current District Attorney Ursula Jones Dixon, who was
Speaker 3: appointed to that position after she took over for recalled
Speaker 3: DA Pamela Price, is up against recalled DA Pamela Price,
Speaker 3: and she's got some getting even to do.
Speaker 1: And Frank Botech, you are keeping an eye on all
Speaker 1: the statewide constitutional offices, including the contest to see who
Speaker 1: will be California's next insurance Commissioner.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I'm sitting here in AWE after
Speaker 2: Randy Wang Ryan read all those names there, the verbal
Speaker 2: gymnastics with the names of some that looked like the
Speaker 2: bottom line of an eyechart. So we're had a great
Speaker 2: job on that. Now it's my turn to tackle some
Speaker 2: of these names. Certainly the state insurance commissioner seat very
Speaker 2: very important given what's happened here in southern California with
Speaker 2: the horrific firestorm disaster last year. The insurance Commissioner, by
Speaker 2: the way, is the person's responsible for regulating what's really
Speaker 2: the nation's largest property insurance market, including not only homeowners insurance,
Speaker 2: but auto insurance, health insurance, pet insurance, you name it,
Speaker 2: workers comp as well, So a very very important position.
Speaker 2: The candidates that you'll be seeing on the ballot for
Speaker 2: the next five minutes or so include Senator Ben Allen,
Speaker 2: who's being termed out of the state legislature. Senator Allen
Speaker 2: will be leaving the legislature running for insurance Commissioner, Jane Kim,
Speaker 2: head of the California Working Families Party, who was also
Speaker 2: in San Francisco, by the way, Patrick Wolfe, a financial analyst,
Speaker 2: Steve Bradford, a former state senator assemblyman, and on the
Speaker 2: Republican side, Stacy R. Caden, the longtime insurance agent who's
Speaker 2: part of the Golden Ticket that Steve Hilton has organized.
Speaker 2: She's running for state insurance commissioner. And Merritt Farron, attorney
Speaker 2: who lost his home in the Palasades fire at last year.
Speaker 2: Also on the ballot for State Insurance Commissioner. Will be
Speaker 2: following all the statewide races tonight. Governor, Lieutenant governor, state
Speaker 2: Insurance Commissioner, state treasurer, Secretary of State Controller, and Attorney General.
Speaker 1: Back to you, BILTERSI both Republican candidates. Both of the
Speaker 1: major Republican candidates for governor, Steve Hilton, formerly of Fox News,
Speaker 1: Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, have been campaigning
Speaker 1: heavily and Republican vote rich portions of the state and
Speaker 1: the Central Valley is at the top of that list.
Speaker 1: Which candidate had the biggest presence in the Central Valley
Speaker 1: this cycle, Oh.
Speaker 4: No question at all. Steve Hilton. He made the rounds
Speaker 4: on local radio, local TV, he did multiple town hall events.
Speaker 4: Chad Bianco made a respectable showing for a California gubernatorial candidate,
Speaker 4: but he didn't make the same impression as Hilton. And
Speaker 4: looking at social media feedback every time we talk about
Speaker 4: the governor's race, it's a back and forth between the
Speaker 4: Hilton and Bianco's supporters. But I think that for as
Speaker 4: much love as Chad gets, I think Steve Hilton's going
Speaker 4: to carry it and I think that Trump endorsement was
Speaker 4: really only a small piece of it.
Speaker 1: Did any of the Democratic candidates have a visible presence
Speaker 1: in the Central Valley this cycle?
Speaker 4: We saw Bisera come through for at least one town hall,
Speaker 4: but in terms of really serious efforts to connect with
Speaker 4: valley voters, no, there were no major events from the Democrats,
Speaker 4: Like I said, other than Bisera. Katie Porter did come
Speaker 4: through for an early candidate forum, and Katie and left
Speaker 4: again immediately because she's getting no love in the Central Valley.
Speaker 3: But she said she loves the tacos in Bakersfield.
Speaker 4: Look after Hilton's Barstow Street taco fiasco, she gets a
Speaker 4: pass on the Bakersfield Crag.
Speaker 1: When you would mention Katie Porter's name on your radio
Speaker 1: program on KMJ and Fresno, what kind of reaction would
Speaker 1: you get in the male bag and on social media, Oh, the.
Speaker 4: Boos and the hisses were absolutely mind betting. She is
Speaker 4: not well liked. And it's interesting because a lot of
Speaker 4: the coverage, and I'm sure you saw this, a lot
Speaker 4: of the coverage revolved around, oh, well, a woman can't
Speaker 4: have a strong personality in politics without getting called the
Speaker 4: B word and I never heard our audience go down
Speaker 4: that road. The objection to her was not that she's female.
Speaker 4: The objection to her was that she treats her staff
Speaker 4: like garbage, and she's just kind of a belligerent dope.
Speaker 3: So it's you've just tickled Johnny Pink. His favorite topic
Speaker 3: in this whole race has been Katie Porter.
Speaker 1: Oh, and let me tell you, all you have to
Speaker 1: do is mention her name. And the email is so
Speaker 1: filthy we can't even read it on the air. But
Speaker 1: every time you hit the Pinota, candy comes out.
Speaker 4: Oh, unquestionably, No, she is. She suffers from exactly the
Speaker 4: same personality defect Hillary and Kamala have that it's not
Speaker 4: that it's a female candidate, it's that it's an unlikable
Speaker 4: human being.
Speaker 1: Well, one listener send us an email today suggesting that
Speaker 1: if she loses this race, she could go to the
Speaker 1: state of Idaho and run for office there because potatoes
Speaker 1: are their biggest export.
Speaker 3: Poor Candie.
Speaker 1: All right, So we now are about sixty seconds away
Speaker 1: from the polls closing here in California. If you're not
Speaker 1: in the parking lot, if you're not in line right now,
Speaker 1: you're probably not going to get a chance to vote.
Speaker 1: So if you're right there and you can make that
Speaker 1: fifty yard dash and get in that line, you'll be okay.
Speaker 1: If not, you probably missed your opportun tunity to vote.
Speaker 1: In theory, we're going to have results coming up in
Speaker 1: just about forty five seconds. We're here live with you
Speaker 1: until nine o'clock in the evening covering this primary election
Speaker 1: here in the Golden State. It's John Phillips, Randy Wang,
Speaker 1: Frank Motec, Phil Teresi. Don't you go anywhere