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"excerpt": "The two Democrats campaigning to represent District 11 in Congress debated AI safety, housing affordability and foreign policy. ",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#Transcript\">View the full episode transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Long before she became Madam Speaker, Nancy Pelosi was “Little Nancy” D’Alesandro. Raised in Little Italy in Baltimore, Maryland, she learned the lessons of power from her larger-than-life parents: “Tommy the Elder,” a Congressman and mayor of Baltimore, and “Big Nancy,” a master political organizer. Decades later, those lessons served her well. In 1994, when Republicans took control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, Pelosi wanted to win it back – and win big. But first: she’d have to wage a war against the men standing in her way, including within her own party. \u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>If you had a phrase or a few words to describe Nancy Pelosi, what would they be?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Well, I’ll just tell you what I told President Obama when he was first kind of meeting her. He goes, just tell me a little. I mean, he knew her, but didn’t know her. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Rahm Emanuel. He was President Obama’s chief of staff. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>And I said, Nancy Pelosi is 99% D’Alesandro and 1% Pelosi. And what did that mean to you? She was her father’s daughter. And I says, if you understand that, you understand Nancy Pelosi. Do not forget that you’re dealing with a D’Alesandro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy Pelosi’s father, Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., was mayor of Baltimore, Maryland from 1947 to 1959. Before that, he served five terms in Congress, representing Maryland’s third district. For Emanuel, that Italian-American political family is the key to understanding Pelosi. Or, as she was known in Baltimore, Little Nancy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott In the Field: \u003c/strong>So we’re in Little Italy in Baltimore on Albermarle Street hoping to get some background on little Nancy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>I just keep thinking of hairspray. Good morning Baltimore.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s our producer Ariella Markowitz. To learn more about the neighborhood and Nancy’s family, we met up with one of Nancy Pelosi’s childhood playmates. Sorry to make you come out in the rain.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, that’s all right. I’m only a block away. I live on the corner. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Mary Ann Campanella is 84 years old. She grew up here in Baltimore, little Italy, just across the street from Nancy. She’s lived in the neighborhood all of her life. Her deep voice, strong opinions, quaffed silver hair and warm embrace, they all reminded me of my mother. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, come on. Whoops. Careful. I’m all right, babe. I just got needles in my knees. Old age sucks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our plan was to check out one of the neighborhood’s best known restaurants, Chipparelli’s. It opened in 1940, that’s the same year little Nancy was born.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Hi, sweetie.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Chiaparelli’s is a classic Italian restaurant. White tablecloths, waitresses that call you babe and honey. I order a cup of Italian wedding soup and lasagna while Marianne holds court in the dining room.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>How you doing today, baby doll? You okay?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>It’s the kind of neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else’s business.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Hi Mike, what are you doing in here today? It’s his birthday. Oh it’s your birthday? Oh Mike, I didn’t know it was your birthday. Happy birthday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>He’s a neighborhood guy. I knew Maryann all my life. She lives right across the street.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Mike Turocchi. He and Campanella grew up with Nancy D’Alesandro. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>She was queen princess. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>She was just the princess and the father. Tommy was what you call the consummate neighborhood mayor. I mean, he knew everybody. If you had a problem, you went to Tom. I mean my father was.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Senior, Tommy, senior.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>My father was an immigrant. He couldn’t hardly speak English and couldn’t read or write. If he had a problem, go see Mr. Thomas. I think Nancy learned from her father by watching and listening and seeing the way he ran the city and the way people looked up to him and the way he run his daily business.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy’s dad, Mayor Tommy, was the out-front, back-slapping, charismatic politician. But his wife ran the operation behind the scenes. Her name was Annunziata, but everyone called her Big Nancy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>Her mother was a very, very powerful person.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Powerful how like what do you?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>Just her demeanor and her presence, the way she carried herself, she was just, she was not a Little Italy mom. Let’s just put it that way. I mean, my mother was a mother of 12 and wore housecoats. Nancy was always dressed to the nines, looked great all the time. It was just the antithesis of what we were.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy had dreams of going to law school, never fulfilled. But her political instincts and raw talent for organizing, campaigning, and bringing order to chaos all rubbed off on the Nancy Pelosi we know today.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>I thought that that’s the product of her environment. Her mother had aspiration for her to be something special, and she was.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As I sat with these old timers, a picture of Nancy Pelosi came into sharper focus. A child watching her parents run the family business. Big city politics. I’m Scott Shafer from KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. This is The Speaker. Today, how Nancy Pelosi used those lessons to seize power. Baltimore style. Last episode, Nancy Pelosi beat out Harry Britt in a special election for San Francisco’s congressional seat. She told us about that day, in 1987, when she got sworn in.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Just the D’Alessandro family is big enough to be a crowd.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy the Elder got to see his daughter take the oath of office, along with the rest of the family.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I was born, my father was in Congress. When I in first grade, he became mayor of Baltimore. When I went to college, he was still mayor of Baltimore, so I did grow up in a political atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>How are you? You sound a lot better. How are YOU? That’s all the Italian I know, Mr. Mayor. That’s pretty good. You did pretty good! You get A for effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy D’Alesandro Jr. Was a smart-talking politician with a pencil mustache. And in this PBS footage from 1980, he’s retired from politics but still formally dressed in a brown three-piece suit and what looks like a large checkered bowtie. Tommy was one of 13 kids born in Little Italy, Baltimore. In 8th grade, he was kicked out of school by a no-nonsense nun. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>She was a great, she was a saint. She was the two-fisted sister. She used to slug us every time. Literally? Oh yeah. She knocked him less than two times. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Host: \u003c/strong>Did you deserve it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>Sometimes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As a kid, Tommy was often seen around the neighborhood hustling. He peddled newspapers on the street, sold chewing gum to sex workers. He spoke some Yiddish, would run errands for Jewish neighbors. He was the neighborhood Shabbos Goy. The non-Jew who helped Jews observed the Sabbath. Later, he sold insurance. In his early 20s, he decided to run for local office, the Maryland House of Delegates. He sought the endorsement of the local political bosses. Who would hang out in the smoke-filled Rennert Hotel, playing pinocle and eating oysters. They told Tommy to come back with 500 voter signatures.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>So I went around and got a petition. On this petition I had written, we, the undersigned registered Democratic voters of the 3rd Ward, 1st Legislative District recommend for your favorable consideration the candidacy of Tommy D’Alessandro, Jr. For the House of Delegates. He was born and raised in the district, knows the people and their needs, and would be a credit to both city and state if elected, signed by 500 people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>He won that election, his first of many. Two years later, Tommy D’Alessandro married Annunciata Lombardi, a local girl, six years his junior, Big Nancy. They had six boys, including one, Nicholas, who died as a young child. In 1938, Tommy was elected to Congress. Tommy and Big Nancy were dyed-in-the-wool Democrats. They even named one of their sons after the president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt D’Alessandro. After bringing six boys into the world, the D’alessandros finally had a girl. Little Nancy D’ Alessandro was born March 26th, 1940, and it made local headlines. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was born, our whole thing was, we were born devoutly Catholic, proud of our Italian-American heritage, fiercely patriotic, and in our case staunchly democratic. That was our neighborhood, Little Italy in Baltimore, Maryland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>For little Nancy, the family business was politics, local politics.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We were taught that we had responsibility to help other people, and politics was one way to do that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And to help other people, they had to win. Winning opened doors, and Tommy relished the victories.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>I carried Little Italy by 69 votes. Palmisano again, I beat him by 2800. At Janetsky again, I beat them by 11,000.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy D’Alessandro Jr. Taught his daughter her most legendary, if underappreciated, skill.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>You have to have the votes, so you have to know how to count.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Before she even graduated from high school, little Nancy got a sound education on the nuts and bolts of running a political operation, including the importance of a good ground game.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I could just remember seeing these people come to the house at night and have their community meetings and you’re going to be responsible for this area, this area this area this area. This is how many votes you need to get. How many do you think you’re gonna get and that was it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The D’Alesandros, they love to win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>And I won, I won again, again, then.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>And he won, again and again\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer:\u003c/strong> At a young age, Pelosi learned that power isn’t simply inherited and it certainly isn’t handed over by those who have it. Nope. If you want power, you have to go out and seize it. Once she got to Congress, Nancy Pelosi saw that her fellow Democrats had a big problem. In 1994, the Democrats lost the House for the first time in 40 years. This moment is sometimes called the Republican Revolution. Change was the message, tax cuts, term limits, and smaller government. It was led by a firebrand congressman from Georgia.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Newt Gingrich: \u003c/strong>This is a contract with Americans for America.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Having won the House for his party, Newt Gingrich became the first Republican speaker in forty years. A thorn in the side of Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Newt Gingrich: \u003c/strong>Our proposals, which will come out in May to shrink the federal government, to shrink the bureaucracy, to eliminate some departments, to save the taxpayers’ money, to move to a balanced budget, that’s what the voters want.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>They were in a deep depression.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Anna Eshoo, one of Nancy Pelosi’s closest friends in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>I mean, they were so stunned. Well, they had been the majority in the house for 40 years and then to drop off into nothingness. Oh my God.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Many of the junior Democratic congress members would get together to commiserate over dinner at an Italian restaurant or someone’s house.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>That, the gang. It was a raucous, great group. Nancy always would talk about winning, though, and how to win. She made up her mind that we needed to win\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She had strong opinions about how things should be run, thought that House Democratic leadership did a lousy job managing a banking scandal, and hadn’t done enough to modernize the way they ran campaigns. But to change things, Pelosi would have to overcome a huge obstacle.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>Congress is still a man’s club.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Leon Panetta, once a member of the gang from California, who became Obama’s head of the CIA.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>You’ve got to fight your way, and Nancy was willing to fight her way. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>When Pelosi got to Congress, women made up about 5% of the House. Anna Eshoo relayed this one story. She wasn’t there at the time, but she heard about it later. Nancy and some other Congresswomen were listening to the men talk about childbirth. Apparently the men were complaining about how hard childbirth was. For them\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>and she tries to get into the conversation. Now she had five babies in six years, you know? She was just so shocked that what the women were trying to say, the guys were. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Dominating.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>She would do an awful lot of listening, and she would listen, but then she would have something to say that was a lot more at the point of what we were concerned about. It wasn’t just complaining, it was like, what are we going to do about it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi was getting tired of listening. She wanted to get stuff done. And as election after election passed, she saw something that the men in charge wouldn’t acknowledge. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>94, 96, 98, I was like, there’s no plan to win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Leadership thought that the Republican revolution was just a blip, that things would go back to the way they were, with Democrats in charge. It was just matter of time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was more of an attitude thing, like the pendulum will swing, but I didn’t see really a decision to have it be a wrecking ball, not a pendulum, a wreckin’ ball. You decide to win, and then you make every decision in favor of winning. Quite frankly, I’m really tired of losing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She came into Congress wanting to make life better, for people who are often forgotten\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>This is not for the faint of heart. This is rough. But if you know why you’re doing it, that makes everything okay. My why was one in five children in America goes to sleep hungry at night. One in five Children in America, it lives in poverty. That’s my why, is to ask, go there for the children, for the Children.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>We don’t know exactly when Nancy Pelosi decided to run for leadership. When I asked Pelosi why she wanted to be leader, her line is, other people wanted me to run. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I got here, after a few years, members came to me and said, you should run for leadership. In fact, you should for speaker. I said, well, I absolutely positively would not do that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Barbara Boxer, the former senator from California, remembers a different Pelosi. They would commute back and forth from D.C. Together, chatting the whole time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barbara Boxer: \u003c/strong>We could just yak yak about everything. One of those days on the plane, we were talking about, what is your dream in politics? What do you really want to do? And she asked me that, and I said, I want to be U.S. Senator. This is when I was in the House, which was a pipe dream, trust me. Now, I’m telling you, Nancy says, that never happened. So maybe I dreamed it. And she said, I want be Speaker of the House.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You had to have some chutzpah at that point in her career to say, I wanna be speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barbara Boxer: \u003c/strong>Chutzpah doesn’t begin to describe it. It was impossible.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Walking in the street, I ain’t foam with these sidewalks. Okay. They’ll stop for us. Believe me, they will.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>After eating at Chiparelli’s in Baltimore with Nancy’s childhood friend, Mary Ann, we jaywalk across the street to Nancy’s Childhood Home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>The D’Alesandro Mansion. This is where young Nancy was born, right here in this home. You’ll see the plaques. Mercy Little Italy Health Center in memory of Nancy and Tommy D’Alesandro Jr.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big house. It’s a three-story brick row house on the corner of Albert Marl and Fawn streets.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, and good bricklayer. The Talons are noted for that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Back in the 40s, when Tommy D’Alesandro Jr. Was mayor, the House was essentially a political headquarters, often buzzing with activity. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Her father’s office was here when he was mayor, so he was right in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But everybody knew that if they couldn’t reach the mayor, next best was talk to his political partner and wife, Big Nancy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>My mom was spectacular. If she were living now, I don’t know if she might be president of the United States. She was so capable. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy was glamorous and smart. She loved betting on horses at the local track. She even invented a beauty product, had a patent registered for a facial steaming device. It was called Beautifier Vaporizer for treatment of the skin. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>And basically, it’s just boiling water, but it looks pretty dramatic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Susan Page. She wrote a biography about Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>Her mother kept what was called the favor file, which was basically a recording of the favors that constituents would come in and want to get from the mayor, whether it was better housing or help with a kid who had gotten in trouble with the law or whatever. And she would help figure out how they might be able to help this person and also keep a record so that they could go back to them when the next campaign came around and they needed some election help. And who was sitting on her right side during these sessions when people would file through their home looking for favors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Little Nancy, that’s who. She would take handwritten notes, later typed onto index cards and filed away.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>It is perfect training for being a congressional leader where your members have favors they need done and you keep track of them so that you can cash them in when you need them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I was a girl, I could hear what my mother would say when somebody would come to the door if they wanted a place to live in the projects, a bed in a city hospital, somebody going to jail or getting out of jail or whatever it happened to be.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy would help her neighbors with all kinds of problems, but they were also her husband’s constituents. So when election time came around, she’d open up the favor file to, in a sense, balance the books. She’d send women volunteers out to collect the votes. It’s been a key part of machine politics since the beginning. The ground game.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Women have always been the strength of the Democratic Party because you have to own the ground.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Speakers of the House wield enormous power. If the President and Vice President die, the Speaker becomes President. They dictate the agenda, appoint members to committees. In effect, Speakers decide which legislation lives or dies, or gets amended, and how. But Speaker of the house isn’t a job that just falls into your lap. Here’s what you need to do. Build alliances. Show that you have a vision. Raise funds for the party. So they’ll elect you to party leadership. That’s your stepping stone to speakership. One of the highest positions is whip. The term whip comes from England. The whipper in was the assistant to the huntsman, the person who keeps the hounds in line. The job requires deep trust as you’re herding votes. Hounds have to know you’ll use the whip. Early on, Pelosi learned a hard lesson about counting on the support of colleagues. She remembers thinking she had convinced a senior member of Congress to support her campaign to join the powerful Appropriations Committee, a coveted position. But when the time came, he voted for her opponent, so she cornered him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>You said that when even knowing, no, even knowing on the race, I’m for you. He said, yeah, that’s what I said. Well, knowing who’s in the race I’m, for you, so I say to people if they say you’d be so great, that’s a no. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi started studying what motivated her members. What were the carrots? And what were the sticks? Here’s Anna Eshoo again, Pelosi’s close friend in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>She came to know members better than they knew themselves. I always thought that. I thought, oh, that poor deer over there. He doesn’t know that she knows him backward and forward. She had her own internal study of people. She understood them. She made it her business to know them, to know their families, to know their children, to their districts. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Whip is an internal party position, so there’s no regular election schedule. You have to wait for someone to retire or decide to run for Senate or go back to state politics. Pelosi announced her bid ahead of time anyway to send a signal.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Said, you know, you’re breaking into the line. I said, what are we talking about? Because they had it. You’re gonna be next. You’ll be with, and you’ll move up to leader, and you will be with. And they had all guys. They had all the guys. And I said no, we’ve been waiting over 200 years, and that’s it. That’s it, and I know I can win. I’m not asking anybody to take a risk. I know, I’m gonna win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Clearly Pelosi had counted the votes, but she still had one big obstacle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Well, I was disappointed that she was going to run and not support me. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Steny Hoyer, a longtime Democratic congressman from Maryland. A reporter describes Steny as the textbook politician, gregarious, smooth, and a moderate to the core. Hoyer knew Nancy well. He’d also grown up in Maryland. Actually, they’d worked together back in the 60s when Pelosi was a receptionist for a Maryland senator. When Pelosi joined Congress two decades later, Hoyer was…\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Tickled Pink to see her, welcomed her with open arms. She was a great addition to the Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>We might say today they were frenemies, friends, but also rivals, eyeing the same position and leadership. Based on those wait your turn rules, he was expected to become whip when the job opened up.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>And then when I ran, they were like, well, who said she could run? Poor babies. When you think I’m waiting for you, lost all these elections that say I can run. And secondly, they said, because I had a lot of support from the women, they said why don’t you all write on a piece of paper the things you would like to see us do and we’ll do them for you. This is in this century. In this century! I’m not talking about 1958, I’m talking about in this century.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But Pelosi knew how to deal with tough old politicians. Her dad had been one. She knew she’d have to get some of them on her side to win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Jack Murtha was a member from Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Anna Eshoo again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Jack was the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to the Congress. He really looked like he was out of central casting, beautiful gray hair, impeccably dressed, his collars, his ties, very Irish and very serious about his work. And his work was all about the military. He sat on the floor in the very last seat. If you’re looking at the front of the chamber, the far left corner, it’s dark there. It’s so far away from everything else, but that’s where Jack sat.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi kept a small statue of a coal miner on her desk. It was a gift from her father, who’d gotten it from a former West Virginia Congressman.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>So Jack Murtha walks down the hall, comes in my office, and he sees that, and was like, oh my gosh. So then we became really good friends. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Jack Murtha was a representative from coal country, so that made an impression on him. She may have represented San Francisco, but he saw the Baltimore in her. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>We need her in the leadership. And that was, you know, I mean, the most members weren’t noticing how the relationship grew and deepened. So they were shocked. Jack, Murtha supporting Nancy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Murtha would actually go on to lead her campaign for Whip.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>To Hoyer’s disappointment. I was surprised because Jack Murtha, I thought, had indicated to me that he would be helpful to me. That did not turn out to be the case. Pelosi was coming for Hoyer spot.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I maybe thought it was his turn, but I didn’t know what dues he paid. I mean, that is to say, I paid all the dues in the world.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In 2000, Democrats were still hoping they could win back the House. They needed to flip around seven seats. Pelosi said she could pick up four seats in California, the party would have to do the rest. She kept her word, four more notes for the favor file. She remembers assuming they’d won back the majority.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>So I’m on my way to a press conference to meet the press. My staff is like holding me back like this on my coat. They said, wait a minute, we did not win the house. I said, how could they? They needed seven to win the House. They lost every other place. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She couldn’t stand it anymore. Even after delivering what she promised, they still lost. And she was still on the outside looking in.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was doing all this stuff, resources and all that stuff.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Fundraising.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>But I had never, until I became Speaker of the House, been in the Democratic Speaker’s office. Never. Until I walked into my own office. They never invited me to anything, nothing, because they had it all lined up for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In 2001, the sitting whip decided not to run for re-election. It was time for Democrats to elect a new whip. To start locking down votes, Nancy Pelosi first turned to her own California delegation. Several of them actually owed their seat to her. She had a running start. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Maryland is a small state and California is a huge state, so it made it very difficult. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Steny Hoyer again. Pelosi also raised more than twice as much money for candidates as Hoyer. Showing that you can raise money is important. It helps solidify your role as a strong party leader and it gives you leverage. Some members who didn’t support Pelosi, well, she never forgot. Washington legend has it she punished the longtime congressman from Michigan, John Dingell, helping ensure he was deposed from his high power committee chairmanship. Because he didn’t support her for whip. And even Steny Hoyer had to appreciate how meticulous she was. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Nancy’s a very, very hard worker. She’s very tenacious. She’s a thorough, she’s very smart. She is a wonderful counter of votes. When it was time for the vote, Pelosi was confident.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I tried to tell them that I’m going to win this. But they, to the end, which I was on the floor, I could hear them, you gotta be for standing tomorrow. This is a one vote race for babies. They didn’t know how to count.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi predicted she’d get 120 votes, she got 118. Steny Hoyer got 95. So, on October 10th, 2001, just a few weeks after 9-11,\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>And a woman has broken new ground in the nation’s capital, California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi becomes Democratic whip, the number two House leader right behind the Democratic leader, Richard Gephardt, the highest ranking woman in Congress ever. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Given 9/11, Pelosi’s groundbreaking election was easy to miss. But it was unmistakable. Pelosi was on her way to becoming Speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>What’s remarkable about the campaign that she ran was that she didn’t run it like a girl.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biographer Susan Page again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>You know, a lot of the women in Congress had accepted kind of secondary roles in leadership, like being the caucus secretary, or doing what it was the men were willing to let them to do because no woman had been in a real leadership position before, in a really leadership position that had power. And she just thought that was nonsense and plowed ahead. And I think to the dismay of these men who were in charge, she won.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>If there were not many more women in Congress, I might not have won. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Hmm, speaker image.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>A speaker, you know, or a whip at that time. Because whip was the first step. They knew, boom.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You just heard about Nancy Pelosi’s secret sauce, her recipe for taking over Congress. Her father taught her to bring the wrecking ball. Her mother taught her to bring a carrot with the favor file. Pelosi wasn’t whipped for long. In 2002, the party leader position opened up and she took it. Pelosi was now head of Democrats. But one thing standing in her way to being speaker, Republicans losing again wasn’t an option. It would be total war. Pelosi went on the CBS News magazine 60 Minutes, right before the 2006 election. Dressed in bright red, she sat across from correspondent Leslie Stahl.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leslie Stahl: \u003c/strong>You have called your Republican colleagues, these are quotes, immoral, corrupt, you say they’re running a criminal enterprise.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi – 60 Minutes: \u003c/strong>Well, actually, when I called them those names, I was being gentle. There are much worse things I could have said about them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The segment is titled, Two Heartbeats Away. Message, if the Democrats win, this woman will likely become the next Speaker of the House. It was a reference to the presidential line of succession. Speaker of House is third in line after the President and Vice President. For many Americans, this was probably the first real glimpse they got of Pelosi. She lays into the President, George W. Bush, often with a radiant smile. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi – 60 Minutes: \u003c/strong>This isn’t personal. He’s incompetent. Well, I think he is. That’s personal. Well, then I’m sorry. That’s his problem. I have very thick skin. I don’t care what they say about me. This election is about them. This is a referendum on them. Making them lame ducks is good enough for me. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Of course, Republicans fought tooth and nail to avoid becoming lame ducks. They flooded the airwaves with ads, warning that unless Republicans prevailed, the top leader in Congress would be an ultra-liberal from wacky San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival – Ad: \u003c/strong>You’ll reward illegal aliens with welfare, food stamps, and free education. And I had the privilege because of a woman being very defined by the Republicans coming after me. Hundreds of thousands of ads. Imagine how much money that cost.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>At this time, the US was over three years into the war in Iraq. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Pelosi had access to information about the 9-11 attacks. She voted for intervention in Afghanistan as retaliation for the attacks, but she never supported Bush starting the Iraq War, voting against it with 132 of her colleagues. As the war intensified, casualties mounting, the search for weapons of mass destruction coming up empty. Pelosi kept her eyes on the prize, winning back the House in the 2006 midterm elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Nancy is, and I say this as a compliment, she is comfortable with power and exercising it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Rahm Emanuel came in to help. He’s somewhat intense, known for shouting at donors for more money, stabbing a steak knife into the table to make a point.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Understands winning gives you that. If you win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>You get to set the table.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>To win back the House, Democrats had to pick up 15 seats. So Pelosi and Senate leader Harry Reid launched their answer to Newt Gingrich’s contract with America. Six for 06, a plan that promised more funding for national security, a minimum wage hike, and affordable healthcare. Meanwhile, Rahm Emanuel was busy recruiting candidates he thought could win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>We’re gonna find people that open the door to a group of voters because we gotta swing a district. You can’t win it on Democratic voters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And they started bringing in money. Federal fundraising tallies show that, compared to the previous election cycle, Democrats raised about 50% more for House candidates in 2006. Republicans still outspent Democrats, but Pelosi and Emanuel put a dent in their financial advantage. Some Democrats, AOC, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie, others, criticize taking money from corporations and PACs. How do you, and how does Nancy Pelosi, how do you see that criticism?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>You don’t tie one hand behind your back, okay? We can’t just put people on the field and then leave them out there to self-defend themselves. I hate what the court did. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>He’s referring to the Supreme Court case Citizens United decided in 2010. It reversed older restrictions on campaign spending and allowed corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>But that’s the world we live in. Again, she’s comfortable with power. Nancy exists in the arena.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Whichever party controls the White House usually loses seats in Congress in the midterms. But Pelosi was never content to just let the pendulum swing or it naturally would. Winning is never inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It isn’t that the tide goes in and out. That’s probably what they thought in the nineties that the Tide went out and now come back in. So I’m not really wedded to that concept. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>For the first time in 12 years, Democrats seized back control of the House. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>Washington turned upside down.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival – President Bush: \u003c/strong>It was a thumping.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>Power switch in the House. Democrats now firmly in control there. The Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, set to become the first woman Speaker of the House in American history. Pelosi was finally on top.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On January 4, 2007, holding one grandchild and surrounded by others, Pelosi was officially elected speaker. Republican leader John Boehner graciously handed Pelosi the gavel and history\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Mr. Speaker, I accept this gavel in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship. Before we move forward, because there’s so many children here and so many of them asked me if they could touch the gavel, I wanted to invite as many of them who wanted to come forward to come join me up here. I know my own grandchildren will. There it is.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We’re here for the children, we’re here \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>For the children would be Nancy Pelosi’s mantra.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I know that sometimes I have to take a punch and sometimes I have to throw a punch for the children, for the children.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The stars had finally aligned for Baltimore’s favorite daughter. Both her parents lived long enough to see Pelosi elected to Congress. They died before she became the most powerful woman in U.S. Politics ever. But their influence was undeniable. Little Nancy D’Alessandro had become the speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Well, the power of the speaker is awesome. There’s nothing to compare to that. It’s the second highest president, vice president. Let me feel your pulse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats had seized power, but she’d soon find out the difference between winning \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We’ll climb the fence. If that doesn’t work, we’ll pole vault in. If that does not work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re not letting anything stand in our way. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Did you believe it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Yes, I was determined we were going to get this done.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And govern it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Zeke Emanuel: \u003c/strong>The system is falling apart, costs are going up, people are getting pissed off. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mick Mulvaney: \u003c/strong>If you think your healthcare is great now, just wait until the government runs it for you. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>A lot going on. Thank you. You’re giving me PTSD right now.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s coming up next on The speaker. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Shafer. It’s reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound design by Christopher Beale. Fat-checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Susman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme song composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor in chief. Special thanks to our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television, and radio artists, San Francisco, Northern California, local.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Long before she became Madam Speaker, Nancy Pelosi was “Little Nancy” D’Alesandro. Raised in Little Italy in Baltimore, Maryland, she learned the lessons of power from her larger-than-life parents: “Tommy the Elder,” a Congressman and mayor of Baltimore, and “Big Nancy,” a master political organizer. Decades later, those lessons served her well. In 1994, when Republicans took control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, Pelosi wanted to win it back – and win big. But first: she’d have to wage a war against the men standing in her way, including within her own party. \u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Long before she became Madam Speaker, Nancy Pelosi was “Little Nancy” D’Alesandro. Raised in Little Italy in Baltimore, Maryland, she learned the lessons of power from her larger-than-life parents: “Tommy the Elder,” a Congressman and mayor of Baltimore, and “Big Nancy,” a master political organizer. Decades later, those lessons served her well. In 1994, when Republicans took control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, Pelosi wanted to win it back – and win big. But first: she’d have to wage a war against the men standing in her way, including within her own party. \u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>If you had a phrase or a few words to describe Nancy Pelosi, what would they be?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Well, I’ll just tell you what I told President Obama when he was first kind of meeting her. He goes, just tell me a little. I mean, he knew her, but didn’t know her. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Well, I’ll just tell you what I told President Obama when he was first kind of meeting her. He goes, just tell me a little. I mean, he knew her, but didn’t know her. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Rahm Emanuel. He was President Obama’s chief of staff. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>And I said, Nancy Pelosi is 99% D’Alesandro and 1% Pelosi. And what did that mean to you? She was her father’s daughter. And I says, if you understand that, you understand Nancy Pelosi. Do not forget that you’re dealing with a D’Alesandro.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>And I said, Nancy Pelosi is 99% D’Alesandro and 1% Pelosi. And what did that mean to you? She was her father’s daughter. And I says, if you understand that, you understand Nancy Pelosi. Do not forget that you’re dealing with a D’Alesandro.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy Pelosi’s father, Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., was mayor of Baltimore, Maryland from 1947 to 1959. Before that, he served five terms in Congress, representing Maryland’s third district. For Emanuel, that Italian-American political family is the key to understanding Pelosi. Or, as she was known in Baltimore, Little Nancy. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy Pelosi’s father, Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., was mayor of Baltimore, Maryland from 1947 to 1959. Before that, he served five terms in Congress, representing Maryland’s third district. For Emanuel, that Italian-American political family is the key to understanding Pelosi. Or, as she was known in Baltimore, Little Nancy. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott In the Field: \u003c/strong>So we’re in Little Italy in Baltimore on Albermarle Street hoping to get some background on little Nancy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott In the Field: \u003c/strong>So we’re in Little Italy in Baltimore on Albermarle Street hoping to get some background on little Nancy.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>I just keep thinking of hairspray. Good morning Baltimore.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s our producer Ariella Markowitz. To learn more about the neighborhood and Nancy’s family, we met up with one of Nancy Pelosi’s childhood playmates. Sorry to make you come out in the rain.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s our producer Ariella Markowitz. To learn more about the neighborhood and Nancy’s family, we met up with one of Nancy Pelosi’s childhood playmates. Sorry to make you come out in the rain.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, that’s all right. I’m only a block away. I live on the corner. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, that’s all right. I’m only a block away. I live on the corner. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Mary Ann Campanella is 84 years old. She grew up here in Baltimore, little Italy, just across the street from Nancy. She’s lived in the neighborhood all of her life. Her deep voice, strong opinions, quaffed silver hair and warm embrace, they all reminded me of my mother. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Mary Ann Campanella is 84 years old. She grew up here in Baltimore, little Italy, just across the street from Nancy. She’s lived in the neighborhood all of her life. Her deep voice, strong opinions, quaffed silver hair and warm embrace, they all reminded me of my mother. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, come on. Whoops. Careful. I’m all right, babe. I just got needles in my knees. Old age sucks.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, come on. Whoops. Careful. I’m all right, babe. I just got needles in my knees. Old age sucks.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our plan was to check out one of the neighborhood’s best known restaurants, Chipparelli’s. It opened in 1940, that’s the same year little Nancy was born.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our plan was to check out one of the neighborhood’s best known restaurants, Chipparelli’s. It opened in 1940, that’s the same year little Nancy was born.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Hi, sweetie.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Hi, sweetie.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Chiaparelli’s is a classic Italian restaurant. White tablecloths, waitresses that call you babe and honey. I order a cup of Italian wedding soup and lasagna while Marianne holds court in the dining room.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Chiaparelli’s is a classic Italian restaurant. White tablecloths, waitresses that call you babe and honey. I order a cup of Italian wedding soup and lasagna while Marianne holds court in the dining room.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>How you doing today, baby doll? You okay?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>How you doing today, baby doll? You okay?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>It’s the kind of neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else’s business.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Hi Mike, what are you doing in here today? It’s his birthday. Oh it’s your birthday? Oh Mike, I didn’t know it was your birthday. Happy birthday.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Hi Mike, what are you doing in here today? It’s his birthday. Oh it’s your birthday? Oh Mike, I didn’t know it was your birthday. Happy birthday.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>He’s a neighborhood guy. I knew Maryann all my life. She lives right across the street.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Mike Turocchi. He and Campanella grew up with Nancy D’Alesandro. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Mike Turocchi. He and Campanella grew up with Nancy D’Alesandro. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>She was queen princess. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>She was queen princess. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>She was just the princess and the father. Tommy was what you call the consummate neighborhood mayor. I mean, he knew everybody. If you had a problem, you went to Tom. I mean my father was.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>She was just the princess and the father. Tommy was what you call the consummate neighborhood mayor. I mean, he knew everybody. If you had a problem, you went to Tom. I mean my father was.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Senior, Tommy, senior.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Senior, Tommy, senior.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>My father was an immigrant. He couldn’t hardly speak English and couldn’t read or write. If he had a problem, go see Mr. Thomas. I think Nancy learned from her father by watching and listening and seeing the way he ran the city and the way people looked up to him and the way he run his daily business.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>My father was an immigrant. He couldn’t hardly speak English and couldn’t read or write. If he had a problem, go see Mr. Thomas. I think Nancy learned from her father by watching and listening and seeing the way he ran the city and the way people looked up to him and the way he run his daily business.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy’s dad, Mayor Tommy, was the out-front, back-slapping, charismatic politician. But his wife ran the operation behind the scenes. Her name was Annunziata, but everyone called her Big Nancy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy’s dad, Mayor Tommy, was the out-front, back-slapping, charismatic politician. But his wife ran the operation behind the scenes. Her name was Annunziata, but everyone called her Big Nancy.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>Her mother was a very, very powerful person.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>Her mother was a very, very powerful person.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Powerful how like what do you?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>Just her demeanor and her presence, the way she carried herself, she was just, she was not a Little Italy mom. Let’s just put it that way. I mean, my mother was a mother of 12 and wore housecoats. Nancy was always dressed to the nines, looked great all the time. It was just the antithesis of what we were.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>Just her demeanor and her presence, the way she carried herself, she was just, she was not a Little Italy mom. Let’s just put it that way. I mean, my mother was a mother of 12 and wore housecoats. Nancy was always dressed to the nines, looked great all the time. It was just the antithesis of what we were.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy had dreams of going to law school, never fulfilled. But her political instincts and raw talent for organizing, campaigning, and bringing order to chaos all rubbed off on the Nancy Pelosi we know today.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy had dreams of going to law school, never fulfilled. But her political instincts and raw talent for organizing, campaigning, and bringing order to chaos all rubbed off on the Nancy Pelosi we know today.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>I thought that that’s the product of her environment. Her mother had aspiration for her to be something special, and she was.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>I thought that that’s the product of her environment. Her mother had aspiration for her to be something special, and she was.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As I sat with these old timers, a picture of Nancy Pelosi came into sharper focus. A child watching her parents run the family business. Big city politics. I’m Scott Shafer from KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. This is The Speaker. Today, how Nancy Pelosi used those lessons to seize power. Baltimore style. Last episode, Nancy Pelosi beat out Harry Britt in a special election for San Francisco’s congressional seat. She told us about that day, in 1987, when she got sworn in.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As I sat with these old timers, a picture of Nancy Pelosi came into sharper focus. A child watching her parents run the family business. Big city politics. I’m Scott Shafer from KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. This is The Speaker. Today, how Nancy Pelosi used those lessons to seize power. Baltimore style. Last episode, Nancy Pelosi beat out Harry Britt in a special election for San Francisco’s congressional seat. She told us about that day, in 1987, when she got sworn in.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Just the D’Alessandro family is big enough to be a crowd.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy the Elder got to see his daughter take the oath of office, along with the rest of the family.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I was born, my father was in Congress. When I in first grade, he became mayor of Baltimore. When I went to college, he was still mayor of Baltimore, so I did grow up in a political atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>How are you? You sound a lot better. How are YOU? That’s all the Italian I know, Mr. Mayor. That’s pretty good. You did pretty good! You get A for effort.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>How are you? You sound a lot better. How are YOU? That’s all the Italian I know, Mr. Mayor. That’s pretty good. You did pretty good! You get A for effort.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy D’Alesandro Jr. Was a smart-talking politician with a pencil mustache. And in this PBS footage from 1980, he’s retired from politics but still formally dressed in a brown three-piece suit and what looks like a large checkered bowtie. Tommy was one of 13 kids born in Little Italy, Baltimore. In 8th grade, he was kicked out of school by a no-nonsense nun. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy D’Alesandro Jr. Was a smart-talking politician with a pencil mustache. And in this PBS footage from 1980, he’s retired from politics but still formally dressed in a brown three-piece suit and what looks like a large checkered bowtie. Tommy was one of 13 kids born in Little Italy, Baltimore. In 8th grade, he was kicked out of school by a no-nonsense nun. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>She was a great, she was a saint. She was the two-fisted sister. She used to slug us every time. Literally? Oh yeah. She knocked him less than two times. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Host: \u003c/strong>Did you deserve it?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>Sometimes.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As a kid, Tommy was often seen around the neighborhood hustling. He peddled newspapers on the street, sold chewing gum to sex workers. He spoke some Yiddish, would run errands for Jewish neighbors. He was the neighborhood Shabbos Goy. The non-Jew who helped Jews observed the Sabbath. Later, he sold insurance. In his early 20s, he decided to run for local office, the Maryland House of Delegates. He sought the endorsement of the local political bosses. Who would hang out in the smoke-filled Rennert Hotel, playing pinocle and eating oysters. They told Tommy to come back with 500 voter signatures.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>So I went around and got a petition. On this petition I had written, we, the undersigned registered Democratic voters of the 3rd Ward, 1st Legislative District recommend for your favorable consideration the candidacy of Tommy D’Alessandro, Jr. For the House of Delegates. He was born and raised in the district, knows the people and their needs, and would be a credit to both city and state if elected, signed by 500 people. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>He won that election, his first of many. Two years later, Tommy D’Alessandro married Annunciata Lombardi, a local girl, six years his junior, Big Nancy. They had six boys, including one, Nicholas, who died as a young child. In 1938, Tommy was elected to Congress. Tommy and Big Nancy were dyed-in-the-wool Democrats. They even named one of their sons after the president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt D’Alessandro. After bringing six boys into the world, the D’alessandros finally had a girl. Little Nancy D’ Alessandro was born March 26th, 1940, and it made local headlines. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>He won that election, his first of many. Two years later, Tommy D’Alessandro married Annunciata Lombardi, a local girl, six years his junior, Big Nancy. They had six boys, including one, Nicholas, who died as a young child. In 1938, Tommy was elected to Congress. Tommy and Big Nancy were dyed-in-the-wool Democrats. They even named one of their sons after the president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt D’Alessandro. After bringing six boys into the world, the D’alessandros finally had a girl. Little Nancy D’ Alessandro was born March 26th, 1940, and it made local headlines. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was born, our whole thing was, we were born devoutly Catholic, proud of our Italian-American heritage, fiercely patriotic, and in our case staunchly democratic. That was our neighborhood, Little Italy in Baltimore, Maryland.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was born, our whole thing was, we were born devoutly Catholic, proud of our Italian-American heritage, fiercely patriotic, and in our case staunchly democratic. That was our neighborhood, Little Italy in Baltimore, Maryland.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>For little Nancy, the family business was politics, local politics.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We were taught that we had responsibility to help other people, and politics was one way to do that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And to help other people, they had to win. Winning opened doors, and Tommy relished the victories.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>I carried Little Italy by 69 votes. Palmisano again, I beat him by 2800. At Janetsky again, I beat them by 11,000.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>I carried Little Italy by 69 votes. Palmisano again, I beat him by 2800. At Janetsky again, I beat them by 11,000.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy D’Alessandro Jr. Taught his daughter her most legendary, if underappreciated, skill.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>You have to have the votes, so you have to know how to count.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Before she even graduated from high school, little Nancy got a sound education on the nuts and bolts of running a political operation, including the importance of a good ground game.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Before she even graduated from high school, little Nancy got a sound education on the nuts and bolts of running a political operation, including the importance of a good ground game.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I could just remember seeing these people come to the house at night and have their community meetings and you’re going to be responsible for this area, this area this area this area. This is how many votes you need to get. How many do you think you’re gonna get and that was it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I could just remember seeing these people come to the house at night and have their community meetings and you’re going to be responsible for this area, this area this area this area. This is how many votes you need to get. How many do you think you’re gonna get and that was it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The D’Alesandros, they love to win.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>And I won, I won again, again, then.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>And I won, I won again, again, then.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>And he won, again and again\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>And he won, again and again\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer:\u003c/strong> At a young age, Pelosi learned that power isn’t simply inherited and it certainly isn’t handed over by those who have it. Nope. If you want power, you have to go out and seize it. Once she got to Congress, Nancy Pelosi saw that her fellow Democrats had a big problem. In 1994, the Democrats lost the House for the first time in 40 years. This moment is sometimes called the Republican Revolution. Change was the message, tax cuts, term limits, and smaller government. It was led by a firebrand congressman from Georgia.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer:\u003c/strong> At a young age, Pelosi learned that power isn’t simply inherited and it certainly isn’t handed over by those who have it. Nope. If you want power, you have to go out and seize it. Once she got to Congress, Nancy Pelosi saw that her fellow Democrats had a big problem. In 1994, the Democrats lost the House for the first time in 40 years. This moment is sometimes called the Republican Revolution. Change was the message, tax cuts, term limits, and smaller government. It was led by a firebrand congressman from Georgia.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Newt Gingrich: \u003c/strong>This is a contract with Americans for America.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Having won the House for his party, Newt Gingrich became the first Republican speaker in forty years. A thorn in the side of Democrats.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Having won the House for his party, Newt Gingrich became the first Republican speaker in forty years. A thorn in the side of Democrats.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Newt Gingrich: \u003c/strong>Our proposals, which will come out in May to shrink the federal government, to shrink the bureaucracy, to eliminate some departments, to save the taxpayers’ money, to move to a balanced budget, that’s what the voters want.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Newt Gingrich: \u003c/strong>Our proposals, which will come out in May to shrink the federal government, to shrink the bureaucracy, to eliminate some departments, to save the taxpayers’ money, to move to a balanced budget, that’s what the voters want.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>They were in a deep depression.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>They were in a deep depression.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Anna Eshoo, one of Nancy Pelosi’s closest friends in Congress. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>I mean, they were so stunned. Well, they had been the majority in the house for 40 years and then to drop off into nothingness. Oh my God.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>I mean, they were so stunned. Well, they had been the majority in the house for 40 years and then to drop off into nothingness. Oh my God.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Many of the junior Democratic congress members would get together to commiserate over dinner at an Italian restaurant or someone’s house.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>That, the gang. It was a raucous, great group. Nancy always would talk about winning, though, and how to win. She made up her mind that we needed to win\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>That, the gang. It was a raucous, great group. Nancy always would talk about winning, though, and how to win. She made up her mind that we needed to win\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She had strong opinions about how things should be run, thought that House Democratic leadership did a lousy job managing a banking scandal, and hadn’t done enough to modernize the way they ran campaigns. But to change things, Pelosi would have to overcome a huge obstacle.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She had strong opinions about how things should be run, thought that House Democratic leadership did a lousy job managing a banking scandal, and hadn’t done enough to modernize the way they ran campaigns. But to change things, Pelosi would have to overcome a huge obstacle.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>Congress is still a man’s club.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Leon Panetta, once a member of the gang from California, who became Obama’s head of the CIA.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>You’ve got to fight your way, and Nancy was willing to fight her way. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>When Pelosi got to Congress, women made up about 5% of the House. Anna Eshoo relayed this one story. She wasn’t there at the time, but she heard about it later. Nancy and some other Congresswomen were listening to the men talk about childbirth. Apparently the men were complaining about how hard childbirth was. For them\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>and she tries to get into the conversation. Now she had five babies in six years, you know? She was just so shocked that what the women were trying to say, the guys were. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>and she tries to get into the conversation. Now she had five babies in six years, you know? She was just so shocked that what the women were trying to say, the guys were. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Dominating.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>She would do an awful lot of listening, and she would listen, but then she would have something to say that was a lot more at the point of what we were concerned about. It wasn’t just complaining, it was like, what are we going to do about it?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>She would do an awful lot of listening, and she would listen, but then she would have something to say that was a lot more at the point of what we were concerned about. It wasn’t just complaining, it was like, what are we going to do about it?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi was getting tired of listening. She wanted to get stuff done. And as election after election passed, she saw something that the men in charge wouldn’t acknowledge. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>94, 96, 98, I was like, there’s no plan to win.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Leadership thought that the Republican revolution was just a blip, that things would go back to the way they were, with Democrats in charge. It was just matter of time. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Leadership thought that the Republican revolution was just a blip, that things would go back to the way they were, with Democrats in charge. It was just matter of time. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was more of an attitude thing, like the pendulum will swing, but I didn’t see really a decision to have it be a wrecking ball, not a pendulum, a wreckin’ ball. You decide to win, and then you make every decision in favor of winning. Quite frankly, I’m really tired of losing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was more of an attitude thing, like the pendulum will swing, but I didn’t see really a decision to have it be a wrecking ball, not a pendulum, a wreckin’ ball. You decide to win, and then you make every decision in favor of winning. Quite frankly, I’m really tired of losing.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She came into Congress wanting to make life better, for people who are often forgotten\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>This is not for the faint of heart. This is rough. But if you know why you’re doing it, that makes everything okay. My why was one in five children in America goes to sleep hungry at night. One in five Children in America, it lives in poverty. That’s my why, is to ask, go there for the children, for the Children.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>This is not for the faint of heart. This is rough. But if you know why you’re doing it, that makes everything okay. My why was one in five children in America goes to sleep hungry at night. One in five Children in America, it lives in poverty. That’s my why, is to ask, go there for the children, for the Children.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>We don’t know exactly when Nancy Pelosi decided to run for leadership. When I asked Pelosi why she wanted to be leader, her line is, other people wanted me to run. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>We don’t know exactly when Nancy Pelosi decided to run for leadership. When I asked Pelosi why she wanted to be leader, her line is, other people wanted me to run. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I got here, after a few years, members came to me and said, you should run for leadership. In fact, you should for speaker. I said, well, I absolutely positively would not do that. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I got here, after a few years, members came to me and said, you should run for leadership. In fact, you should for speaker. I said, well, I absolutely positively would not do that. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Barbara Boxer, the former senator from California, remembers a different Pelosi. They would commute back and forth from D.C. Together, chatting the whole time.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Barbara Boxer, the former senator from California, remembers a different Pelosi. They would commute back and forth from D.C. Together, chatting the whole time.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barbara Boxer: \u003c/strong>We could just yak yak about everything. One of those days on the plane, we were talking about, what is your dream in politics? What do you really want to do? And she asked me that, and I said, I want to be U.S. Senator. This is when I was in the House, which was a pipe dream, trust me. Now, I’m telling you, Nancy says, that never happened. So maybe I dreamed it. And she said, I want be Speaker of the House.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barbara Boxer: \u003c/strong>We could just yak yak about everything. One of those days on the plane, we were talking about, what is your dream in politics? What do you really want to do? And she asked me that, and I said, I want to be U.S. Senator. This is when I was in the House, which was a pipe dream, trust me. Now, I’m telling you, Nancy says, that never happened. So maybe I dreamed it. And she said, I want be Speaker of the House.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You had to have some chutzpah at that point in her career to say, I wanna be speaker.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You had to have some chutzpah at that point in her career to say, I wanna be speaker.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barbara Boxer: \u003c/strong>Chutzpah doesn’t begin to describe it. It was impossible.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barbara Boxer: \u003c/strong>Chutzpah doesn’t begin to describe it. It was impossible.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Walking in the street, I ain’t foam with these sidewalks. Okay. They’ll stop for us. Believe me, they will.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Walking in the street, I ain’t foam with these sidewalks. Okay. They’ll stop for us. Believe me, they will.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>After eating at Chiparelli’s in Baltimore with Nancy’s childhood friend, Mary Ann, we jaywalk across the street to Nancy’s Childhood Home.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>After eating at Chiparelli’s in Baltimore with Nancy’s childhood friend, Mary Ann, we jaywalk across the street to Nancy’s Childhood Home.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>The D’Alesandro Mansion. This is where young Nancy was born, right here in this home. You’ll see the plaques. Mercy Little Italy Health Center in memory of Nancy and Tommy D’Alesandro Jr.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>The D’Alesandro Mansion. This is where young Nancy was born, right here in this home. You’ll see the plaques. Mercy Little Italy Health Center in memory of Nancy and Tommy D’Alesandro Jr.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big house. It’s a three-story brick row house on the corner of Albert Marl and Fawn streets.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big house. It’s a three-story brick row house on the corner of Albert Marl and Fawn streets.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, and good bricklayer. The Talons are noted for that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, and good bricklayer. The Talons are noted for that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Back in the 40s, when Tommy D’Alesandro Jr. Was mayor, the House was essentially a political headquarters, often buzzing with activity. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Back in the 40s, when Tommy D’Alesandro Jr. Was mayor, the House was essentially a political headquarters, often buzzing with activity. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Her father’s office was here when he was mayor, so he was right in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Her father’s office was here when he was mayor, so he was right in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But everybody knew that if they couldn’t reach the mayor, next best was talk to his political partner and wife, Big Nancy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But everybody knew that if they couldn’t reach the mayor, next best was talk to his political partner and wife, Big Nancy.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>My mom was spectacular. If she were living now, I don’t know if she might be president of the United States. She was so capable. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>My mom was spectacular. If she were living now, I don’t know if she might be president of the United States. She was so capable. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy was glamorous and smart. She loved betting on horses at the local track. She even invented a beauty product, had a patent registered for a facial steaming device. It was called Beautifier Vaporizer for treatment of the skin. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy was glamorous and smart. She loved betting on horses at the local track. She even invented a beauty product, had a patent registered for a facial steaming device. It was called Beautifier Vaporizer for treatment of the skin. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>And basically, it’s just boiling water, but it looks pretty dramatic.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>And basically, it’s just boiling water, but it looks pretty dramatic.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Susan Page. She wrote a biography about Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Susan Page. She wrote a biography about Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>Her mother kept what was called the favor file, which was basically a recording of the favors that constituents would come in and want to get from the mayor, whether it was better housing or help with a kid who had gotten in trouble with the law or whatever. And she would help figure out how they might be able to help this person and also keep a record so that they could go back to them when the next campaign came around and they needed some election help. And who was sitting on her right side during these sessions when people would file through their home looking for favors.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>Her mother kept what was called the favor file, which was basically a recording of the favors that constituents would come in and want to get from the mayor, whether it was better housing or help with a kid who had gotten in trouble with the law or whatever. And she would help figure out how they might be able to help this person and also keep a record so that they could go back to them when the next campaign came around and they needed some election help. And who was sitting on her right side during these sessions when people would file through their home looking for favors.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Little Nancy, that’s who. She would take handwritten notes, later typed onto index cards and filed away.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Little Nancy, that’s who. She would take handwritten notes, later typed onto index cards and filed away.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>It is perfect training for being a congressional leader where your members have favors they need done and you keep track of them so that you can cash them in when you need them.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>It is perfect training for being a congressional leader where your members have favors they need done and you keep track of them so that you can cash them in when you need them.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I was a girl, I could hear what my mother would say when somebody would come to the door if they wanted a place to live in the projects, a bed in a city hospital, somebody going to jail or getting out of jail or whatever it happened to be.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I was a girl, I could hear what my mother would say when somebody would come to the door if they wanted a place to live in the projects, a bed in a city hospital, somebody going to jail or getting out of jail or whatever it happened to be.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy would help her neighbors with all kinds of problems, but they were also her husband’s constituents. So when election time came around, she’d open up the favor file to, in a sense, balance the books. She’d send women volunteers out to collect the votes. It’s been a key part of machine politics since the beginning. The ground game.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy would help her neighbors with all kinds of problems, but they were also her husband’s constituents. So when election time came around, she’d open up the favor file to, in a sense, balance the books. She’d send women volunteers out to collect the votes. It’s been a key part of machine politics since the beginning. The ground game.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Women have always been the strength of the Democratic Party because you have to own the ground.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Women have always been the strength of the Democratic Party because you have to own the ground.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Speakers of the House wield enormous power. If the President and Vice President die, the Speaker becomes President. They dictate the agenda, appoint members to committees. In effect, Speakers decide which legislation lives or dies, or gets amended, and how. But Speaker of the house isn’t a job that just falls into your lap. Here’s what you need to do. Build alliances. Show that you have a vision. Raise funds for the party. So they’ll elect you to party leadership. That’s your stepping stone to speakership. One of the highest positions is whip. The term whip comes from England. The whipper in was the assistant to the huntsman, the person who keeps the hounds in line. The job requires deep trust as you’re herding votes. Hounds have to know you’ll use the whip. Early on, Pelosi learned a hard lesson about counting on the support of colleagues. She remembers thinking she had convinced a senior member of Congress to support her campaign to join the powerful Appropriations Committee, a coveted position. But when the time came, he voted for her opponent, so she cornered him. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Speakers of the House wield enormous power. If the President and Vice President die, the Speaker becomes President. They dictate the agenda, appoint members to committees. In effect, Speakers decide which legislation lives or dies, or gets amended, and how. But Speaker of the house isn’t a job that just falls into your lap. Here’s what you need to do. Build alliances. Show that you have a vision. Raise funds for the party. So they’ll elect you to party leadership. That’s your stepping stone to speakership. One of the highest positions is whip. The term whip comes from England. The whipper in was the assistant to the huntsman, the person who keeps the hounds in line. The job requires deep trust as you’re herding votes. Hounds have to know you’ll use the whip. Early on, Pelosi learned a hard lesson about counting on the support of colleagues. She remembers thinking she had convinced a senior member of Congress to support her campaign to join the powerful Appropriations Committee, a coveted position. But when the time came, he voted for her opponent, so she cornered him. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>You said that when even knowing, no, even knowing on the race, I’m for you. He said, yeah, that’s what I said. Well, knowing who’s in the race I’m, for you, so I say to people if they say you’d be so great, that’s a no. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>You said that when even knowing, no, even knowing on the race, I’m for you. He said, yeah, that’s what I said. Well, knowing who’s in the race I’m, for you, so I say to people if they say you’d be so great, that’s a no. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi started studying what motivated her members. What were the carrots? And what were the sticks? Here’s Anna Eshoo again, Pelosi’s close friend in Congress. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi started studying what motivated her members. What were the carrots? And what were the sticks? Here’s Anna Eshoo again, Pelosi’s close friend in Congress. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>She came to know members better than they knew themselves. I always thought that. I thought, oh, that poor deer over there. He doesn’t know that she knows him backward and forward. She had her own internal study of people. She understood them. She made it her business to know them, to know their families, to know their children, to their districts. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>She came to know members better than they knew themselves. I always thought that. I thought, oh, that poor deer over there. He doesn’t know that she knows him backward and forward. She had her own internal study of people. She understood them. She made it her business to know them, to know their families, to know their children, to their districts. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Whip is an internal party position, so there’s no regular election schedule. You have to wait for someone to retire or decide to run for Senate or go back to state politics. Pelosi announced her bid ahead of time anyway to send a signal.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Whip is an internal party position, so there’s no regular election schedule. You have to wait for someone to retire or decide to run for Senate or go back to state politics. Pelosi announced her bid ahead of time anyway to send a signal.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Said, you know, you’re breaking into the line. I said, what are we talking about? Because they had it. You’re gonna be next. You’ll be with, and you’ll move up to leader, and you will be with. And they had all guys. They had all the guys. And I said no, we’ve been waiting over 200 years, and that’s it. That’s it, and I know I can win. I’m not asking anybody to take a risk. I know, I’m gonna win.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Said, you know, you’re breaking into the line. I said, what are we talking about? Because they had it. You’re gonna be next. You’ll be with, and you’ll move up to leader, and you will be with. And they had all guys. They had all the guys. And I said no, we’ve been waiting over 200 years, and that’s it. That’s it, and I know I can win. I’m not asking anybody to take a risk. I know, I’m gonna win.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Clearly Pelosi had counted the votes, but she still had one big obstacle. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Well, I was disappointed that she was going to run and not support me. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Well, I was disappointed that she was going to run and not support me. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Steny Hoyer, a longtime Democratic congressman from Maryland. A reporter describes Steny as the textbook politician, gregarious, smooth, and a moderate to the core. Hoyer knew Nancy well. He’d also grown up in Maryland. Actually, they’d worked together back in the 60s when Pelosi was a receptionist for a Maryland senator. When Pelosi joined Congress two decades later, Hoyer was…\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Tickled Pink to see her, welcomed her with open arms. She was a great addition to the Congress.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>We might say today they were frenemies, friends, but also rivals, eyeing the same position and leadership. Based on those wait your turn rules, he was expected to become whip when the job opened up.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>We might say today they were frenemies, friends, but also rivals, eyeing the same position and leadership. Based on those wait your turn rules, he was expected to become whip when the job opened up.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>And then when I ran, they were like, well, who said she could run? Poor babies. When you think I’m waiting for you, lost all these elections that say I can run. And secondly, they said, because I had a lot of support from the women, they said why don’t you all write on a piece of paper the things you would like to see us do and we’ll do them for you. This is in this century. In this century! I’m not talking about 1958, I’m talking about in this century.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>And then when I ran, they were like, well, who said she could run? Poor babies. When you think I’m waiting for you, lost all these elections that say I can run. And secondly, they said, because I had a lot of support from the women, they said why don’t you all write on a piece of paper the things you would like to see us do and we’ll do them for you. This is in this century. In this century! I’m not talking about 1958, I’m talking about in this century.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But Pelosi knew how to deal with tough old politicians. Her dad had been one. She knew she’d have to get some of them on her side to win.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But Pelosi knew how to deal with tough old politicians. Her dad had been one. She knew she’d have to get some of them on her side to win.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Jack Murtha was a member from Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Jack Murtha was a member from Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Anna Eshoo again.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Jack was the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to the Congress. He really looked like he was out of central casting, beautiful gray hair, impeccably dressed, his collars, his ties, very Irish and very serious about his work. And his work was all about the military. He sat on the floor in the very last seat. If you’re looking at the front of the chamber, the far left corner, it’s dark there. It’s so far away from everything else, but that’s where Jack sat.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Jack was the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to the Congress. He really looked like he was out of central casting, beautiful gray hair, impeccably dressed, his collars, his ties, very Irish and very serious about his work. And his work was all about the military. He sat on the floor in the very last seat. If you’re looking at the front of the chamber, the far left corner, it’s dark there. It’s so far away from everything else, but that’s where Jack sat.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi kept a small statue of a coal miner on her desk. It was a gift from her father, who’d gotten it from a former West Virginia Congressman.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>So Jack Murtha walks down the hall, comes in my office, and he sees that, and was like, oh my gosh. So then we became really good friends. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>So Jack Murtha walks down the hall, comes in my office, and he sees that, and was like, oh my gosh. So then we became really good friends. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Jack Murtha was a representative from coal country, so that made an impression on him. She may have represented San Francisco, but he saw the Baltimore in her. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Jack Murtha was a representative from coal country, so that made an impression on him. She may have represented San Francisco, but he saw the Baltimore in her. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>We need her in the leadership. And that was, you know, I mean, the most members weren’t noticing how the relationship grew and deepened. So they were shocked. Jack, Murtha supporting Nancy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>We need her in the leadership. And that was, you know, I mean, the most members weren’t noticing how the relationship grew and deepened. So they were shocked. Jack, Murtha supporting Nancy.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Murtha would actually go on to lead her campaign for Whip.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>To Hoyer’s disappointment. I was surprised because Jack Murtha, I thought, had indicated to me that he would be helpful to me. That did not turn out to be the case. Pelosi was coming for Hoyer spot.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>To Hoyer’s disappointment. I was surprised because Jack Murtha, I thought, had indicated to me that he would be helpful to me. That did not turn out to be the case. Pelosi was coming for Hoyer spot.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I maybe thought it was his turn, but I didn’t know what dues he paid. I mean, that is to say, I paid all the dues in the world.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I maybe thought it was his turn, but I didn’t know what dues he paid. I mean, that is to say, I paid all the dues in the world.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In 2000, Democrats were still hoping they could win back the House. They needed to flip around seven seats. Pelosi said she could pick up four seats in California, the party would have to do the rest. She kept her word, four more notes for the favor file. She remembers assuming they’d won back the majority.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In 2000, Democrats were still hoping they could win back the House. They needed to flip around seven seats. Pelosi said she could pick up four seats in California, the party would have to do the rest. She kept her word, four more notes for the favor file. She remembers assuming they’d won back the majority.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>So I’m on my way to a press conference to meet the press. My staff is like holding me back like this on my coat. They said, wait a minute, we did not win the house. I said, how could they? They needed seven to win the House. They lost every other place. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>So I’m on my way to a press conference to meet the press. My staff is like holding me back like this on my coat. They said, wait a minute, we did not win the house. I said, how could they? They needed seven to win the House. They lost every other place. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She couldn’t stand it anymore. Even after delivering what she promised, they still lost. And she was still on the outside looking in.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She couldn’t stand it anymore. Even after delivering what she promised, they still lost. And she was still on the outside looking in.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was doing all this stuff, resources and all that stuff.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was doing all this stuff, resources and all that stuff.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Fundraising.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>But I had never, until I became Speaker of the House, been in the Democratic Speaker’s office. Never. Until I walked into my own office. They never invited me to anything, nothing, because they had it all lined up for themselves.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>But I had never, until I became Speaker of the House, been in the Democratic Speaker’s office. Never. Until I walked into my own office. They never invited me to anything, nothing, because they had it all lined up for themselves.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In 2001, the sitting whip decided not to run for re-election. It was time for Democrats to elect a new whip. To start locking down votes, Nancy Pelosi first turned to her own California delegation. Several of them actually owed their seat to her. She had a running start. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In 2001, the sitting whip decided not to run for re-election. It was time for Democrats to elect a new whip. To start locking down votes, Nancy Pelosi first turned to her own California delegation. Several of them actually owed their seat to her. She had a running start. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Maryland is a small state and California is a huge state, so it made it very difficult. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Steny Hoyer again. Pelosi also raised more than twice as much money for candidates as Hoyer. Showing that you can raise money is important. It helps solidify your role as a strong party leader and it gives you leverage. Some members who didn’t support Pelosi, well, she never forgot. Washington legend has it she punished the longtime congressman from Michigan, John Dingell, helping ensure he was deposed from his high power committee chairmanship. Because he didn’t support her for whip. And even Steny Hoyer had to appreciate how meticulous she was. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Steny Hoyer again. Pelosi also raised more than twice as much money for candidates as Hoyer. Showing that you can raise money is important. It helps solidify your role as a strong party leader and it gives you leverage. Some members who didn’t support Pelosi, well, she never forgot. Washington legend has it she punished the longtime congressman from Michigan, John Dingell, helping ensure he was deposed from his high power committee chairmanship. Because he didn’t support her for whip. And even Steny Hoyer had to appreciate how meticulous she was. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Nancy’s a very, very hard worker. She’s very tenacious. She’s a thorough, she’s very smart. She is a wonderful counter of votes. When it was time for the vote, Pelosi was confident.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Nancy’s a very, very hard worker. She’s very tenacious. She’s a thorough, she’s very smart. She is a wonderful counter of votes. When it was time for the vote, Pelosi was confident.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I tried to tell them that I’m going to win this. But they, to the end, which I was on the floor, I could hear them, you gotta be for standing tomorrow. This is a one vote race for babies. They didn’t know how to count.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I tried to tell them that I’m going to win this. But they, to the end, which I was on the floor, I could hear them, you gotta be for standing tomorrow. This is a one vote race for babies. They didn’t know how to count.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi predicted she’d get 120 votes, she got 118. Steny Hoyer got 95. So, on October 10th, 2001, just a few weeks after 9-11,\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi predicted she’d get 120 votes, she got 118. Steny Hoyer got 95. So, on October 10th, 2001, just a few weeks after 9-11,\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>And a woman has broken new ground in the nation’s capital, California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi becomes Democratic whip, the number two House leader right behind the Democratic leader, Richard Gephardt, the highest ranking woman in Congress ever. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>And a woman has broken new ground in the nation’s capital, California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi becomes Democratic whip, the number two House leader right behind the Democratic leader, Richard Gephardt, the highest ranking woman in Congress ever. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Given 9/11, Pelosi’s groundbreaking election was easy to miss. But it was unmistakable. Pelosi was on her way to becoming Speaker.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Given 9/11, Pelosi’s groundbreaking election was easy to miss. But it was unmistakable. Pelosi was on her way to becoming Speaker.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>What’s remarkable about the campaign that she ran was that she didn’t run it like a girl.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>What’s remarkable about the campaign that she ran was that she didn’t run it like a girl.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biographer Susan Page again.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biographer Susan Page again.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>You know, a lot of the women in Congress had accepted kind of secondary roles in leadership, like being the caucus secretary, or doing what it was the men were willing to let them to do because no woman had been in a real leadership position before, in a really leadership position that had power. And she just thought that was nonsense and plowed ahead. And I think to the dismay of these men who were in charge, she won.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>You know, a lot of the women in Congress had accepted kind of secondary roles in leadership, like being the caucus secretary, or doing what it was the men were willing to let them to do because no woman had been in a real leadership position before, in a really leadership position that had power. And she just thought that was nonsense and plowed ahead. And I think to the dismay of these men who were in charge, she won.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>If there were not many more women in Congress, I might not have won. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>If there were not many more women in Congress, I might not have won. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Hmm, speaker image.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Hmm, speaker image.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>A speaker, you know, or a whip at that time. Because whip was the first step. They knew, boom.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>A speaker, you know, or a whip at that time. Because whip was the first step. They knew, boom.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You just heard about Nancy Pelosi’s secret sauce, her recipe for taking over Congress. Her father taught her to bring the wrecking ball. Her mother taught her to bring a carrot with the favor file. Pelosi wasn’t whipped for long. In 2002, the party leader position opened up and she took it. Pelosi was now head of Democrats. But one thing standing in her way to being speaker, Republicans losing again wasn’t an option. It would be total war. Pelosi went on the CBS News magazine 60 Minutes, right before the 2006 election. Dressed in bright red, she sat across from correspondent Leslie Stahl.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You just heard about Nancy Pelosi’s secret sauce, her recipe for taking over Congress. Her father taught her to bring the wrecking ball. Her mother taught her to bring a carrot with the favor file. Pelosi wasn’t whipped for long. In 2002, the party leader position opened up and she took it. Pelosi was now head of Democrats. But one thing standing in her way to being speaker, Republicans losing again wasn’t an option. It would be total war. Pelosi went on the CBS News magazine 60 Minutes, right before the 2006 election. Dressed in bright red, she sat across from correspondent Leslie Stahl.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leslie Stahl: \u003c/strong>You have called your Republican colleagues, these are quotes, immoral, corrupt, you say they’re running a criminal enterprise.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leslie Stahl: \u003c/strong>You have called your Republican colleagues, these are quotes, immoral, corrupt, you say they’re running a criminal enterprise.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi – 60 Minutes: \u003c/strong>Well, actually, when I called them those names, I was being gentle. There are much worse things I could have said about them.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi – 60 Minutes: \u003c/strong>Well, actually, when I called them those names, I was being gentle. There are much worse things I could have said about them.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The segment is titled, Two Heartbeats Away. Message, if the Democrats win, this woman will likely become the next Speaker of the House. It was a reference to the presidential line of succession. Speaker of House is third in line after the President and Vice President. For many Americans, this was probably the first real glimpse they got of Pelosi. She lays into the President, George W. Bush, often with a radiant smile. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The segment is titled, Two Heartbeats Away. Message, if the Democrats win, this woman will likely become the next Speaker of the House. It was a reference to the presidential line of succession. Speaker of House is third in line after the President and Vice President. For many Americans, this was probably the first real glimpse they got of Pelosi. She lays into the President, George W. Bush, often with a radiant smile. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi – 60 Minutes: \u003c/strong>This isn’t personal. He’s incompetent. Well, I think he is. That’s personal. Well, then I’m sorry. That’s his problem. I have very thick skin. I don’t care what they say about me. This election is about them. This is a referendum on them. Making them lame ducks is good enough for me. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Of course, Republicans fought tooth and nail to avoid becoming lame ducks. They flooded the airwaves with ads, warning that unless Republicans prevailed, the top leader in Congress would be an ultra-liberal from wacky San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival – Ad: \u003c/strong>You’ll reward illegal aliens with welfare, food stamps, and free education. And I had the privilege because of a woman being very defined by the Republicans coming after me. Hundreds of thousands of ads. Imagine how much money that cost.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>At this time, the US was over three years into the war in Iraq. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Pelosi had access to information about the 9-11 attacks. She voted for intervention in Afghanistan as retaliation for the attacks, but she never supported Bush starting the Iraq War, voting against it with 132 of her colleagues. As the war intensified, casualties mounting, the search for weapons of mass destruction coming up empty. Pelosi kept her eyes on the prize, winning back the House in the 2006 midterm elections.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Nancy is, and I say this as a compliment, she is comfortable with power and exercising it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Rahm Emanuel came in to help. He’s somewhat intense, known for shouting at donors for more money, stabbing a steak knife into the table to make a point.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Rahm Emanuel came in to help. He’s somewhat intense, known for shouting at donors for more money, stabbing a steak knife into the table to make a point.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Understands winning gives you that. If you win.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>To win back the House, Democrats had to pick up 15 seats. So Pelosi and Senate leader Harry Reid launched their answer to Newt Gingrich’s contract with America. Six for 06, a plan that promised more funding for national security, a minimum wage hike, and affordable healthcare. Meanwhile, Rahm Emanuel was busy recruiting candidates he thought could win.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>To win back the House, Democrats had to pick up 15 seats. So Pelosi and Senate leader Harry Reid launched their answer to Newt Gingrich’s contract with America. Six for 06, a plan that promised more funding for national security, a minimum wage hike, and affordable healthcare. Meanwhile, Rahm Emanuel was busy recruiting candidates he thought could win.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>We’re gonna find people that open the door to a group of voters because we gotta swing a district. You can’t win it on Democratic voters.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And they started bringing in money. Federal fundraising tallies show that, compared to the previous election cycle, Democrats raised about 50% more for House candidates in 2006. Republicans still outspent Democrats, but Pelosi and Emanuel put a dent in their financial advantage. Some Democrats, AOC, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie, others, criticize taking money from corporations and PACs. How do you, and how does Nancy Pelosi, how do you see that criticism?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And they started bringing in money. Federal fundraising tallies show that, compared to the previous election cycle, Democrats raised about 50% more for House candidates in 2006. Republicans still outspent Democrats, but Pelosi and Emanuel put a dent in their financial advantage. Some Democrats, AOC, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie, others, criticize taking money from corporations and PACs. How do you, and how does Nancy Pelosi, how do you see that criticism?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>You don’t tie one hand behind your back, okay? We can’t just put people on the field and then leave them out there to self-defend themselves. I hate what the court did. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>You don’t tie one hand behind your back, okay? We can’t just put people on the field and then leave them out there to self-defend themselves. I hate what the court did. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>He’s referring to the Supreme Court case Citizens United decided in 2010. It reversed older restrictions on campaign spending and allowed corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>He’s referring to the Supreme Court case Citizens United decided in 2010. It reversed older restrictions on campaign spending and allowed corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>But that’s the world we live in. Again, she’s comfortable with power. Nancy exists in the arena.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Whichever party controls the White House usually loses seats in Congress in the midterms. But Pelosi was never content to just let the pendulum swing or it naturally would. Winning is never inevitable.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It isn’t that the tide goes in and out. That’s probably what they thought in the nineties that the Tide went out and now come back in. So I’m not really wedded to that concept. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It isn’t that the tide goes in and out. That’s probably what they thought in the nineties that the Tide went out and now come back in. So I’m not really wedded to that concept. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>For the first time in 12 years, Democrats seized back control of the House. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>Washington turned upside down.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival – President Bush: \u003c/strong>It was a thumping.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>Power switch in the House. Democrats now firmly in control there. The Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, set to become the first woman Speaker of the House in American history. Pelosi was finally on top.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>Power switch in the House. Democrats now firmly in control there. The Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, set to become the first woman Speaker of the House in American history. Pelosi was finally on top.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On January 4, 2007, holding one grandchild and surrounded by others, Pelosi was officially elected speaker. Republican leader John Boehner graciously handed Pelosi the gavel and history\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Mr. Speaker, I accept this gavel in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship. Before we move forward, because there’s so many children here and so many of them asked me if they could touch the gavel, I wanted to invite as many of them who wanted to come forward to come join me up here. I know my own grandchildren will. There it is.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Mr. Speaker, I accept this gavel in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship. Before we move forward, because there’s so many children here and so many of them asked me if they could touch the gavel, I wanted to invite as many of them who wanted to come forward to come join me up here. I know my own grandchildren will. There it is.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We’re here for the children, we’re here \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>For the children would be Nancy Pelosi’s mantra.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I know that sometimes I have to take a punch and sometimes I have to throw a punch for the children, for the children.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I know that sometimes I have to take a punch and sometimes I have to throw a punch for the children, for the children.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The stars had finally aligned for Baltimore’s favorite daughter. Both her parents lived long enough to see Pelosi elected to Congress. They died before she became the most powerful woman in U.S. Politics ever. But their influence was undeniable. Little Nancy D’Alessandro had become the speaker.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The stars had finally aligned for Baltimore’s favorite daughter. Both her parents lived long enough to see Pelosi elected to Congress. They died before she became the most powerful woman in U.S. Politics ever. But their influence was undeniable. Little Nancy D’Alessandro had become the speaker.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Well, the power of the speaker is awesome. There’s nothing to compare to that. It’s the second highest president, vice president. Let me feel your pulse.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats had seized power, but she’d soon find out the difference between winning \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We’ll climb the fence. If that doesn’t work, we’ll pole vault in. If that does not work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re not letting anything stand in our way. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We’ll climb the fence. If that doesn’t work, we’ll pole vault in. If that does not work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re not letting anything stand in our way. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Did you believe it?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Yes, I was determined we were going to get this done.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And govern it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And govern it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Zeke Emanuel: \u003c/strong>The system is falling apart, costs are going up, people are getting pissed off. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Zeke Emanuel: \u003c/strong>The system is falling apart, costs are going up, people are getting pissed off. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mick Mulvaney: \u003c/strong>If you think your healthcare is great now, just wait until the government runs it for you. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mick Mulvaney: \u003c/strong>If you think your healthcare is great now, just wait until the government runs it for you. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>A lot going on. Thank you. You’re giving me PTSD right now.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>A lot going on. Thank you. You’re giving me PTSD right now.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s coming up next on The speaker. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s coming up next on The speaker. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Shafer. It’s reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound design by Christopher Beale. Fat-checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Susman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme song composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor in chief. Special thanks to our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television, and radio artists, San Francisco, Northern California, local.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Shafer. It’s reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound design by Christopher Beale. Fat-checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Susman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme song composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor in chief. Special thanks to our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television, and radio artists, San Francisco, Northern California, local.\u003c/p>\n"
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#Transcript\">View the full episode transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Long before she became Madam Speaker, Nancy Pelosi was “Little Nancy” D’Alesandro. Raised in Little Italy in Baltimore, Maryland, she learned the lessons of power from her larger-than-life parents: “Tommy the Elder,” a Congressman and mayor of Baltimore, and “Big Nancy,” a master political organizer. Decades later, those lessons served her well. In 1994, when Republicans took control of Congress for the first time in 40 years, Pelosi wanted to win it back – and win big. But first: she’d have to wage a war against the men standing in her way, including within her own party. \u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Transcript\">Episode Transcript\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>If you had a phrase or a few words to describe Nancy Pelosi, what would they be?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Well, I’ll just tell you what I told President Obama when he was first kind of meeting her. He goes, just tell me a little. I mean, he knew her, but didn’t know her. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Rahm Emanuel. He was President Obama’s chief of staff. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>And I said, Nancy Pelosi is 99% D’Alesandro and 1% Pelosi. And what did that mean to you? She was her father’s daughter. And I says, if you understand that, you understand Nancy Pelosi. Do not forget that you’re dealing with a D’Alesandro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy Pelosi’s father, Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., was mayor of Baltimore, Maryland from 1947 to 1959. Before that, he served five terms in Congress, representing Maryland’s third district. For Emanuel, that Italian-American political family is the key to understanding Pelosi. Or, as she was known in Baltimore, Little Nancy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott In the Field: \u003c/strong>So we’re in Little Italy in Baltimore on Albermarle Street hoping to get some background on little Nancy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ariella Markowitz: \u003c/strong>I just keep thinking of hairspray. Good morning Baltimore.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s our producer Ariella Markowitz. To learn more about the neighborhood and Nancy’s family, we met up with one of Nancy Pelosi’s childhood playmates. Sorry to make you come out in the rain.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, that’s all right. I’m only a block away. I live on the corner. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Mary Ann Campanella is 84 years old. She grew up here in Baltimore, little Italy, just across the street from Nancy. She’s lived in the neighborhood all of her life. Her deep voice, strong opinions, quaffed silver hair and warm embrace, they all reminded me of my mother. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, come on. Whoops. Careful. I’m all right, babe. I just got needles in my knees. Old age sucks.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Our plan was to check out one of the neighborhood’s best known restaurants, Chipparelli’s. It opened in 1940, that’s the same year little Nancy was born.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Hi, sweetie.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Chiaparelli’s is a classic Italian restaurant. White tablecloths, waitresses that call you babe and honey. I order a cup of Italian wedding soup and lasagna while Marianne holds court in the dining room.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>How you doing today, baby doll? You okay?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>It’s the kind of neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else’s business.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Hi Mike, what are you doing in here today? It’s his birthday. Oh it’s your birthday? Oh Mike, I didn’t know it was your birthday. Happy birthday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>He’s a neighborhood guy. I knew Maryann all my life. She lives right across the street.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Mike Turocchi. He and Campanella grew up with Nancy D’Alesandro. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>She was queen princess. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>She was just the princess and the father. Tommy was what you call the consummate neighborhood mayor. I mean, he knew everybody. If you had a problem, you went to Tom. I mean my father was.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Senior, Tommy, senior.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>My father was an immigrant. He couldn’t hardly speak English and couldn’t read or write. If he had a problem, go see Mr. Thomas. I think Nancy learned from her father by watching and listening and seeing the way he ran the city and the way people looked up to him and the way he run his daily business.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy’s dad, Mayor Tommy, was the out-front, back-slapping, charismatic politician. But his wife ran the operation behind the scenes. Her name was Annunziata, but everyone called her Big Nancy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>Her mother was a very, very powerful person.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Powerful how like what do you?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>Just her demeanor and her presence, the way she carried herself, she was just, she was not a Little Italy mom. Let’s just put it that way. I mean, my mother was a mother of 12 and wore housecoats. Nancy was always dressed to the nines, looked great all the time. It was just the antithesis of what we were.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy had dreams of going to law school, never fulfilled. But her political instincts and raw talent for organizing, campaigning, and bringing order to chaos all rubbed off on the Nancy Pelosi we know today.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mike Tirocchi: \u003c/strong>I thought that that’s the product of her environment. Her mother had aspiration for her to be something special, and she was.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As I sat with these old timers, a picture of Nancy Pelosi came into sharper focus. A child watching her parents run the family business. Big city politics. I’m Scott Shafer from KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. This is The Speaker. Today, how Nancy Pelosi used those lessons to seize power. Baltimore style. Last episode, Nancy Pelosi beat out Harry Britt in a special election for San Francisco’s congressional seat. She told us about that day, in 1987, when she got sworn in.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Just the D’Alessandro family is big enough to be a crowd.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy the Elder got to see his daughter take the oath of office, along with the rest of the family.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I was born, my father was in Congress. When I in first grade, he became mayor of Baltimore. When I went to college, he was still mayor of Baltimore, so I did grow up in a political atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>How are you? You sound a lot better. How are YOU? That’s all the Italian I know, Mr. Mayor. That’s pretty good. You did pretty good! You get A for effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy D’Alesandro Jr. Was a smart-talking politician with a pencil mustache. And in this PBS footage from 1980, he’s retired from politics but still formally dressed in a brown three-piece suit and what looks like a large checkered bowtie. Tommy was one of 13 kids born in Little Italy, Baltimore. In 8th grade, he was kicked out of school by a no-nonsense nun. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>She was a great, she was a saint. She was the two-fisted sister. She used to slug us every time. Literally? Oh yeah. She knocked him less than two times. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Host: \u003c/strong>Did you deserve it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>Sometimes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>As a kid, Tommy was often seen around the neighborhood hustling. He peddled newspapers on the street, sold chewing gum to sex workers. He spoke some Yiddish, would run errands for Jewish neighbors. He was the neighborhood Shabbos Goy. The non-Jew who helped Jews observed the Sabbath. Later, he sold insurance. In his early 20s, he decided to run for local office, the Maryland House of Delegates. He sought the endorsement of the local political bosses. Who would hang out in the smoke-filled Rennert Hotel, playing pinocle and eating oysters. They told Tommy to come back with 500 voter signatures.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>So I went around and got a petition. On this petition I had written, we, the undersigned registered Democratic voters of the 3rd Ward, 1st Legislative District recommend for your favorable consideration the candidacy of Tommy D’Alessandro, Jr. For the House of Delegates. He was born and raised in the district, knows the people and their needs, and would be a credit to both city and state if elected, signed by 500 people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>He won that election, his first of many. Two years later, Tommy D’Alessandro married Annunciata Lombardi, a local girl, six years his junior, Big Nancy. They had six boys, including one, Nicholas, who died as a young child. In 1938, Tommy was elected to Congress. Tommy and Big Nancy were dyed-in-the-wool Democrats. They even named one of their sons after the president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt D’Alessandro. After bringing six boys into the world, the D’alessandros finally had a girl. Little Nancy D’ Alessandro was born March 26th, 1940, and it made local headlines. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was born, our whole thing was, we were born devoutly Catholic, proud of our Italian-American heritage, fiercely patriotic, and in our case staunchly democratic. That was our neighborhood, Little Italy in Baltimore, Maryland.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>For little Nancy, the family business was politics, local politics.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We were taught that we had responsibility to help other people, and politics was one way to do that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And to help other people, they had to win. Winning opened doors, and Tommy relished the victories.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>I carried Little Italy by 69 votes. Palmisano again, I beat him by 2800. At Janetsky again, I beat them by 11,000.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Tommy D’Alessandro Jr. Taught his daughter her most legendary, if underappreciated, skill.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>You have to have the votes, so you have to know how to count.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Before she even graduated from high school, little Nancy got a sound education on the nuts and bolts of running a political operation, including the importance of a good ground game.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I could just remember seeing these people come to the house at night and have their community meetings and you’re going to be responsible for this area, this area this area this area. This is how many votes you need to get. How many do you think you’re gonna get and that was it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The D’Alesandros, they love to win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Tommy D’Alesandro the Elder: \u003c/strong>And I won, I won again, again, then.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>And he won, again and again\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer:\u003c/strong> At a young age, Pelosi learned that power isn’t simply inherited and it certainly isn’t handed over by those who have it. Nope. If you want power, you have to go out and seize it. Once she got to Congress, Nancy Pelosi saw that her fellow Democrats had a big problem. In 1994, the Democrats lost the House for the first time in 40 years. This moment is sometimes called the Republican Revolution. Change was the message, tax cuts, term limits, and smaller government. It was led by a firebrand congressman from Georgia.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Newt Gingrich: \u003c/strong>This is a contract with Americans for America.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Having won the House for his party, Newt Gingrich became the first Republican speaker in forty years. A thorn in the side of Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Newt Gingrich: \u003c/strong>Our proposals, which will come out in May to shrink the federal government, to shrink the bureaucracy, to eliminate some departments, to save the taxpayers’ money, to move to a balanced budget, that’s what the voters want.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>They were in a deep depression.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Anna Eshoo, one of Nancy Pelosi’s closest friends in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>I mean, they were so stunned. Well, they had been the majority in the house for 40 years and then to drop off into nothingness. Oh my God.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Many of the junior Democratic congress members would get together to commiserate over dinner at an Italian restaurant or someone’s house.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>That, the gang. It was a raucous, great group. Nancy always would talk about winning, though, and how to win. She made up her mind that we needed to win\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She had strong opinions about how things should be run, thought that House Democratic leadership did a lousy job managing a banking scandal, and hadn’t done enough to modernize the way they ran campaigns. But to change things, Pelosi would have to overcome a huge obstacle.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>Congress is still a man’s club.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Leon Panetta, once a member of the gang from California, who became Obama’s head of the CIA.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>You’ve got to fight your way, and Nancy was willing to fight her way. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>When Pelosi got to Congress, women made up about 5% of the House. Anna Eshoo relayed this one story. She wasn’t there at the time, but she heard about it later. Nancy and some other Congresswomen were listening to the men talk about childbirth. Apparently the men were complaining about how hard childbirth was. For them\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>and she tries to get into the conversation. Now she had five babies in six years, you know? She was just so shocked that what the women were trying to say, the guys were. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Dominating.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leon Panetta: \u003c/strong>She would do an awful lot of listening, and she would listen, but then she would have something to say that was a lot more at the point of what we were concerned about. It wasn’t just complaining, it was like, what are we going to do about it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi was getting tired of listening. She wanted to get stuff done. And as election after election passed, she saw something that the men in charge wouldn’t acknowledge. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>94, 96, 98, I was like, there’s no plan to win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Leadership thought that the Republican revolution was just a blip, that things would go back to the way they were, with Democrats in charge. It was just matter of time. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It was more of an attitude thing, like the pendulum will swing, but I didn’t see really a decision to have it be a wrecking ball, not a pendulum, a wreckin’ ball. You decide to win, and then you make every decision in favor of winning. Quite frankly, I’m really tired of losing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She came into Congress wanting to make life better, for people who are often forgotten\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>This is not for the faint of heart. This is rough. But if you know why you’re doing it, that makes everything okay. My why was one in five children in America goes to sleep hungry at night. One in five Children in America, it lives in poverty. That’s my why, is to ask, go there for the children, for the Children.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>We don’t know exactly when Nancy Pelosi decided to run for leadership. When I asked Pelosi why she wanted to be leader, her line is, other people wanted me to run. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I got here, after a few years, members came to me and said, you should run for leadership. In fact, you should for speaker. I said, well, I absolutely positively would not do that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Barbara Boxer, the former senator from California, remembers a different Pelosi. They would commute back and forth from D.C. Together, chatting the whole time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barbara Boxer: \u003c/strong>We could just yak yak about everything. One of those days on the plane, we were talking about, what is your dream in politics? What do you really want to do? And she asked me that, and I said, I want to be U.S. Senator. This is when I was in the House, which was a pipe dream, trust me. Now, I’m telling you, Nancy says, that never happened. So maybe I dreamed it. And she said, I want be Speaker of the House.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You had to have some chutzpah at that point in her career to say, I wanna be speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Barbara Boxer: \u003c/strong>Chutzpah doesn’t begin to describe it. It was impossible.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Walking in the street, I ain’t foam with these sidewalks. Okay. They’ll stop for us. Believe me, they will.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>After eating at Chiparelli’s in Baltimore with Nancy’s childhood friend, Mary Ann, we jaywalk across the street to Nancy’s Childhood Home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>The D’Alesandro Mansion. This is where young Nancy was born, right here in this home. You’ll see the plaques. Mercy Little Italy Health Center in memory of Nancy and Tommy D’Alesandro Jr.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big house. It’s a three-story brick row house on the corner of Albert Marl and Fawn streets.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Oh, and good bricklayer. The Talons are noted for that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Back in the 40s, when Tommy D’Alesandro Jr. Was mayor, the House was essentially a political headquarters, often buzzing with activity. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mary Ann Campanella: \u003c/strong>Her father’s office was here when he was mayor, so he was right in the neighborhood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But everybody knew that if they couldn’t reach the mayor, next best was talk to his political partner and wife, Big Nancy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>My mom was spectacular. If she were living now, I don’t know if she might be president of the United States. She was so capable. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy was glamorous and smart. She loved betting on horses at the local track. She even invented a beauty product, had a patent registered for a facial steaming device. It was called Beautifier Vaporizer for treatment of the skin. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>And basically, it’s just boiling water, but it looks pretty dramatic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Susan Page. She wrote a biography about Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>Her mother kept what was called the favor file, which was basically a recording of the favors that constituents would come in and want to get from the mayor, whether it was better housing or help with a kid who had gotten in trouble with the law or whatever. And she would help figure out how they might be able to help this person and also keep a record so that they could go back to them when the next campaign came around and they needed some election help. And who was sitting on her right side during these sessions when people would file through their home looking for favors.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Little Nancy, that’s who. She would take handwritten notes, later typed onto index cards and filed away.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>It is perfect training for being a congressional leader where your members have favors they need done and you keep track of them so that you can cash them in when you need them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>When I was a girl, I could hear what my mother would say when somebody would come to the door if they wanted a place to live in the projects, a bed in a city hospital, somebody going to jail or getting out of jail or whatever it happened to be.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Big Nancy would help her neighbors with all kinds of problems, but they were also her husband’s constituents. So when election time came around, she’d open up the favor file to, in a sense, balance the books. She’d send women volunteers out to collect the votes. It’s been a key part of machine politics since the beginning. The ground game.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Women have always been the strength of the Democratic Party because you have to own the ground.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Speakers of the House wield enormous power. If the President and Vice President die, the Speaker becomes President. They dictate the agenda, appoint members to committees. In effect, Speakers decide which legislation lives or dies, or gets amended, and how. But Speaker of the house isn’t a job that just falls into your lap. Here’s what you need to do. Build alliances. Show that you have a vision. Raise funds for the party. So they’ll elect you to party leadership. That’s your stepping stone to speakership. One of the highest positions is whip. The term whip comes from England. The whipper in was the assistant to the huntsman, the person who keeps the hounds in line. The job requires deep trust as you’re herding votes. Hounds have to know you’ll use the whip. Early on, Pelosi learned a hard lesson about counting on the support of colleagues. She remembers thinking she had convinced a senior member of Congress to support her campaign to join the powerful Appropriations Committee, a coveted position. But when the time came, he voted for her opponent, so she cornered him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>You said that when even knowing, no, even knowing on the race, I’m for you. He said, yeah, that’s what I said. Well, knowing who’s in the race I’m, for you, so I say to people if they say you’d be so great, that’s a no. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi started studying what motivated her members. What were the carrots? And what were the sticks? Here’s Anna Eshoo again, Pelosi’s close friend in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>She came to know members better than they knew themselves. I always thought that. I thought, oh, that poor deer over there. He doesn’t know that she knows him backward and forward. She had her own internal study of people. She understood them. She made it her business to know them, to know their families, to know their children, to their districts. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Whip is an internal party position, so there’s no regular election schedule. You have to wait for someone to retire or decide to run for Senate or go back to state politics. Pelosi announced her bid ahead of time anyway to send a signal.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Said, you know, you’re breaking into the line. I said, what are we talking about? Because they had it. You’re gonna be next. You’ll be with, and you’ll move up to leader, and you will be with. And they had all guys. They had all the guys. And I said no, we’ve been waiting over 200 years, and that’s it. That’s it, and I know I can win. I’m not asking anybody to take a risk. I know, I’m gonna win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Clearly Pelosi had counted the votes, but she still had one big obstacle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Well, I was disappointed that she was going to run and not support me. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s Steny Hoyer, a longtime Democratic congressman from Maryland. A reporter describes Steny as the textbook politician, gregarious, smooth, and a moderate to the core. Hoyer knew Nancy well. He’d also grown up in Maryland. Actually, they’d worked together back in the 60s when Pelosi was a receptionist for a Maryland senator. When Pelosi joined Congress two decades later, Hoyer was…\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Tickled Pink to see her, welcomed her with open arms. She was a great addition to the Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>We might say today they were frenemies, friends, but also rivals, eyeing the same position and leadership. Based on those wait your turn rules, he was expected to become whip when the job opened up.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>And then when I ran, they were like, well, who said she could run? Poor babies. When you think I’m waiting for you, lost all these elections that say I can run. And secondly, they said, because I had a lot of support from the women, they said why don’t you all write on a piece of paper the things you would like to see us do and we’ll do them for you. This is in this century. In this century! I’m not talking about 1958, I’m talking about in this century.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>But Pelosi knew how to deal with tough old politicians. Her dad had been one. She knew she’d have to get some of them on her side to win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Jack Murtha was a member from Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Anna Eshoo again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>Jack was the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to the Congress. He really looked like he was out of central casting, beautiful gray hair, impeccably dressed, his collars, his ties, very Irish and very serious about his work. And his work was all about the military. He sat on the floor in the very last seat. If you’re looking at the front of the chamber, the far left corner, it’s dark there. It’s so far away from everything else, but that’s where Jack sat.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi kept a small statue of a coal miner on her desk. It was a gift from her father, who’d gotten it from a former West Virginia Congressman.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>So Jack Murtha walks down the hall, comes in my office, and he sees that, and was like, oh my gosh. So then we became really good friends. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Jack Murtha was a representative from coal country, so that made an impression on him. She may have represented San Francisco, but he saw the Baltimore in her. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Anna Eshoo: \u003c/strong>We need her in the leadership. And that was, you know, I mean, the most members weren’t noticing how the relationship grew and deepened. So they were shocked. Jack, Murtha supporting Nancy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Murtha would actually go on to lead her campaign for Whip.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>To Hoyer’s disappointment. I was surprised because Jack Murtha, I thought, had indicated to me that he would be helpful to me. That did not turn out to be the case. Pelosi was coming for Hoyer spot.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I maybe thought it was his turn, but I didn’t know what dues he paid. I mean, that is to say, I paid all the dues in the world.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In 2000, Democrats were still hoping they could win back the House. They needed to flip around seven seats. Pelosi said she could pick up four seats in California, the party would have to do the rest. She kept her word, four more notes for the favor file. She remembers assuming they’d won back the majority.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>So I’m on my way to a press conference to meet the press. My staff is like holding me back like this on my coat. They said, wait a minute, we did not win the house. I said, how could they? They needed seven to win the House. They lost every other place. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>She couldn’t stand it anymore. Even after delivering what she promised, they still lost. And she was still on the outside looking in.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I was doing all this stuff, resources and all that stuff.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Fundraising.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>But I had never, until I became Speaker of the House, been in the Democratic Speaker’s office. Never. Until I walked into my own office. They never invited me to anything, nothing, because they had it all lined up for themselves.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>In 2001, the sitting whip decided not to run for re-election. It was time for Democrats to elect a new whip. To start locking down votes, Nancy Pelosi first turned to her own California delegation. Several of them actually owed their seat to her. She had a running start. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Maryland is a small state and California is a huge state, so it made it very difficult. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Steny Hoyer again. Pelosi also raised more than twice as much money for candidates as Hoyer. Showing that you can raise money is important. It helps solidify your role as a strong party leader and it gives you leverage. Some members who didn’t support Pelosi, well, she never forgot. Washington legend has it she punished the longtime congressman from Michigan, John Dingell, helping ensure he was deposed from his high power committee chairmanship. Because he didn’t support her for whip. And even Steny Hoyer had to appreciate how meticulous she was. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steny Hoyer: \u003c/strong>Nancy’s a very, very hard worker. She’s very tenacious. She’s a thorough, she’s very smart. She is a wonderful counter of votes. When it was time for the vote, Pelosi was confident.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I tried to tell them that I’m going to win this. But they, to the end, which I was on the floor, I could hear them, you gotta be for standing tomorrow. This is a one vote race for babies. They didn’t know how to count.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Pelosi predicted she’d get 120 votes, she got 118. Steny Hoyer got 95. So, on October 10th, 2001, just a few weeks after 9-11,\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>And a woman has broken new ground in the nation’s capital, California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi becomes Democratic whip, the number two House leader right behind the Democratic leader, Richard Gephardt, the highest ranking woman in Congress ever. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Given 9/11, Pelosi’s groundbreaking election was easy to miss. But it was unmistakable. Pelosi was on her way to becoming Speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>What’s remarkable about the campaign that she ran was that she didn’t run it like a girl.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Biographer Susan Page again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Susan Page: \u003c/strong>You know, a lot of the women in Congress had accepted kind of secondary roles in leadership, like being the caucus secretary, or doing what it was the men were willing to let them to do because no woman had been in a real leadership position before, in a really leadership position that had power. And she just thought that was nonsense and plowed ahead. And I think to the dismay of these men who were in charge, she won.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>If there were not many more women in Congress, I might not have won. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Hmm, speaker image.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>A speaker, you know, or a whip at that time. Because whip was the first step. They knew, boom.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>You just heard about Nancy Pelosi’s secret sauce, her recipe for taking over Congress. Her father taught her to bring the wrecking ball. Her mother taught her to bring a carrot with the favor file. Pelosi wasn’t whipped for long. In 2002, the party leader position opened up and she took it. Pelosi was now head of Democrats. But one thing standing in her way to being speaker, Republicans losing again wasn’t an option. It would be total war. Pelosi went on the CBS News magazine 60 Minutes, right before the 2006 election. Dressed in bright red, she sat across from correspondent Leslie Stahl.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leslie Stahl: \u003c/strong>You have called your Republican colleagues, these are quotes, immoral, corrupt, you say they’re running a criminal enterprise.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi – 60 Minutes: \u003c/strong>Well, actually, when I called them those names, I was being gentle. There are much worse things I could have said about them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The segment is titled, Two Heartbeats Away. Message, if the Democrats win, this woman will likely become the next Speaker of the House. It was a reference to the presidential line of succession. Speaker of House is third in line after the President and Vice President. For many Americans, this was probably the first real glimpse they got of Pelosi. She lays into the President, George W. Bush, often with a radiant smile. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi – 60 Minutes: \u003c/strong>This isn’t personal. He’s incompetent. Well, I think he is. That’s personal. Well, then I’m sorry. That’s his problem. I have very thick skin. I don’t care what they say about me. This election is about them. This is a referendum on them. Making them lame ducks is good enough for me. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Of course, Republicans fought tooth and nail to avoid becoming lame ducks. They flooded the airwaves with ads, warning that unless Republicans prevailed, the top leader in Congress would be an ultra-liberal from wacky San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival – Ad: \u003c/strong>You’ll reward illegal aliens with welfare, food stamps, and free education. And I had the privilege because of a woman being very defined by the Republicans coming after me. Hundreds of thousands of ads. Imagine how much money that cost.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>At this time, the US was over three years into the war in Iraq. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Pelosi had access to information about the 9-11 attacks. She voted for intervention in Afghanistan as retaliation for the attacks, but she never supported Bush starting the Iraq War, voting against it with 132 of her colleagues. As the war intensified, casualties mounting, the search for weapons of mass destruction coming up empty. Pelosi kept her eyes on the prize, winning back the House in the 2006 midterm elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Nancy is, and I say this as a compliment, she is comfortable with power and exercising it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Rahm Emanuel came in to help. He’s somewhat intense, known for shouting at donors for more money, stabbing a steak knife into the table to make a point.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>Understands winning gives you that. If you win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>You get to set the table.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>To win back the House, Democrats had to pick up 15 seats. So Pelosi and Senate leader Harry Reid launched their answer to Newt Gingrich’s contract with America. Six for 06, a plan that promised more funding for national security, a minimum wage hike, and affordable healthcare. Meanwhile, Rahm Emanuel was busy recruiting candidates he thought could win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>We’re gonna find people that open the door to a group of voters because we gotta swing a district. You can’t win it on Democratic voters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And they started bringing in money. Federal fundraising tallies show that, compared to the previous election cycle, Democrats raised about 50% more for House candidates in 2006. Republicans still outspent Democrats, but Pelosi and Emanuel put a dent in their financial advantage. Some Democrats, AOC, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie, others, criticize taking money from corporations and PACs. How do you, and how does Nancy Pelosi, how do you see that criticism?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>You don’t tie one hand behind your back, okay? We can’t just put people on the field and then leave them out there to self-defend themselves. I hate what the court did. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>He’s referring to the Supreme Court case Citizens United decided in 2010. It reversed older restrictions on campaign spending and allowed corporations and other outside groups to spend unlimited money on elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>But that’s the world we live in. Again, she’s comfortable with power. Nancy exists in the arena.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Whichever party controls the White House usually loses seats in Congress in the midterms. But Pelosi was never content to just let the pendulum swing or it naturally would. Winning is never inevitable.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>It isn’t that the tide goes in and out. That’s probably what they thought in the nineties that the Tide went out and now come back in. So I’m not really wedded to that concept. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>For the first time in 12 years, Democrats seized back control of the House. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>Washington turned upside down.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival – President Bush: \u003c/strong>It was a thumping.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Archival News Clip: \u003c/strong>Power switch in the House. Democrats now firmly in control there. The Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, set to become the first woman Speaker of the House in American history. Pelosi was finally on top.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>On January 4, 2007, holding one grandchild and surrounded by others, Pelosi was officially elected speaker. Republican leader John Boehner graciously handed Pelosi the gavel and history\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Mr. Speaker, I accept this gavel in the spirit of partnership, not partisanship. Before we move forward, because there’s so many children here and so many of them asked me if they could touch the gavel, I wanted to invite as many of them who wanted to come forward to come join me up here. I know my own grandchildren will. There it is.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We’re here for the children, we’re here \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>For the children would be Nancy Pelosi’s mantra.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>I know that sometimes I have to take a punch and sometimes I have to throw a punch for the children, for the children.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The stars had finally aligned for Baltimore’s favorite daughter. Both her parents lived long enough to see Pelosi elected to Congress. They died before she became the most powerful woman in U.S. Politics ever. But their influence was undeniable. Little Nancy D’Alessandro had become the speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Well, the power of the speaker is awesome. There’s nothing to compare to that. It’s the second highest president, vice president. Let me feel your pulse.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats had seized power, but she’d soon find out the difference between winning \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>We’ll climb the fence. If that doesn’t work, we’ll pole vault in. If that does not work, we’ll parachute in. But we’re not letting anything stand in our way. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>Did you believe it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Nancy Pelosi: \u003c/strong>Yes, I was determined we were going to get this done.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>And govern it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Zeke Emanuel: \u003c/strong>The system is falling apart, costs are going up, people are getting pissed off. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mick Mulvaney: \u003c/strong>If you think your healthcare is great now, just wait until the government runs it for you. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rahm Emanuel: \u003c/strong>A lot going on. Thank you. You’re giving me PTSD right now.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>That’s coming up next on The speaker. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Shafer: \u003c/strong>The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Shafer. It’s reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound design by Christopher Beale. Fat-checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Susman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme song composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor in chief. Special thanks to our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television, and radio artists, San Francisco, Northern California, local.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#Transcript\">View Full Episode Transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Before her historic Speakership, even before she got to the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi worked for years outside the spotlight as an official in the California Democratic party while she raised her family in San Francisco. That was until 1987, when tragic circumstances led her to do something she hadn’t considered before: run for Congress. Her first hurdle? A city in crisis and a motivated opponent from a community impacted by a deadly epidemic.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Transcript\">Episode Transcript \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Hi, I’m Scott Schafer. I’ve been covering politics for nearly 30 years, especially here in San Francisco. As a reporter, I’ve watched a lot of people rise from San Francisco into the national arena. Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Dianne Feinstein. But no one has fascinated me more than Nancy Pelosi, trailblazer, power broker, lightning rod, first woman ever speaker of the house. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Tonight on Express, the campaigning has been intense. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: I remember watching her way back in 1987. That was the first time she was running for Congress here in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: We do have 14 candidates here, so can we keep this discussion on an even scale? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: This is from a televised debate hosted here at KQED, the public media outlet where I work. All the candidates are sitting on risers, lots of poofy, teased hair, wide-framed glasses, and Pelosi is in the front row, perfect blowout, wearing a purple blazer. [00:00:57][15.8]\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I think this is the most hilarious thing that a woman can come into this district from outside of it and buy this election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: [00:01:04] Pelosi’s critics, mostly other Democrats, call her a wealthy socialite. They say she’s the establishment pick. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: And what we have is we have, in this election, somebody saying, the machine backs me, I’ve got a million bucks, I don’t live in your district, I have never met many of your slobs, but I’m going to be your new leader because I got bucks and I’m powerful. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: How can she relate to people like me a single-parent working mother? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Let’s let Nancy talk. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I don’t think you have to be sick to be a doctor or poor to understand the problems of the poor. I have spent my life committed to the ideals of the Democratic Party. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It’s an interesting moment, Pelosi turns their argument around, saying that she’s the right candidate precisely because she’s been working behind the scenes. She knows the game inside out. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I believe that I will be the best and most effective representative for San Francisco because I have worked in that arena for 25 years, both at the local, state, and national level. I have work with the members of Congress long before they went to Congress and long since. I have persuaded them on votes, both by one-on-one persuasion and by mobilizing in their districts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Last year, Pelosi announced she was retiring. As a journalist, I started thinking about how she went from being relatively unknown to one of the most formidable politicians of her generation, and about the role she’s played leading up to this political moment, a moment where faith in the Democratic Party and public trust in U.S. Institutions are at their lowest in decades. And she agreed to talk, a series of five interviews. Okay, we’re gonna put you right there I wear the red light.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Unfortunately, this is not visual because I got off the plane. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Our first interview, she had just gotten off a cross-country flight, she was also nursing a cold, but I knew how to get things started on the right foot.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I’m glad I’m seeing that. I’m going to go right into it, okay? I think I should test them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Nancy Pelosi is kind of a tough interview. I’ve done it many times before, usually about a political issue. She’s always warm and gracious until you ask something that annoys her and then she lets you know it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I don’t feel that way at all. I don’t even know why you’re asking that question. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She can be loyal to her talking points. Frustrating. How do you want people to remember your legacy?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Not so fast on the legacy. We have to win the house, which we will do. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She’ll completely deny the premise of your question. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: No, I didn’t oppose it for many years. I posed it when they suggested it, and then Kalka said they won it and I supported it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But I figured this is the time, right now, before she leaves office, to really reckon with the force that is Nancy Pelosi. From KQED, this is The Speaker, how Nancy Pelosi changed the face of power. This is the inside story of her rise and what she did when she got there, as told by the people who were in the rooms where it all happened.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anna Eshoo: Nancy always would talk about winning and how to win. I said, Mr. President, we’re so excited about doing health care, but understand this, it’s going to be carpet bombing, take no prisoners, you name it, total warfare.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rahm Emanuel: She is comfortable with power and exercising it. Nancy exists in the arena. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mick Mulvaney: I’ve often described it with a little bit tongue-in-cheek, because I’m not going to accuse anybody. I want to make clear here that I’m not slandering anybody, I’m not accusing anybody of any criminal activity, but she reminded me of a mafia boss. That’s how she ran the place.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: They were going to get a bullet in my effing brain. You know, they used the F word a lot about me throughout the whole thing. They were gonna hang Vice President Gallows for him.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Today, how Nancy Pelosi got to Congress. She had been the ultimate insider, working for years as a high-up official in the Democratic Party, forged by San Francisco politics. But also an outsider, a woman, a mother of five kids, behind the scenes. Had you not ever considered running with her?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I had zero interest in running for office. Why? It was like, did you not want to go skydiving? I didn’t even think of it. I loved public service, and I was the ultimate volunteer, the chair of the California Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: There she was, diligently working behind the scenes, until a twist of fate tested what she was made of. Nancy Pelosi never planned to run for public office, but in 1987, San Francisco’s congresswoman, Sala Burton, was dying. She was a big woman. She was, like, shrunk up on cancer. That’s John Burton, Sala’s brother-in-law, part of the family’s political operation. Let me set the scene here. The congresswoman is on her deathbed. She hasn’t yet endorsed a successor, but her endorsement is priceless. Her family has held this seat since the \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>John Burton: She calls the group of us back to her hospital bed, where she’s just like, and she tells us, I’m not going to run again. I’d like you to support Nancy Pelosi. She starts going into Nancy Pelosi, she’s operational. She’s right on the issue. She says, she said, he said, and I walk out, she says, is she bullshitting or what?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: John Burton didn’t see Nancy Pelosi as a candidate. She was the Democratic fundraiser, organizer, behind the scenes. But Sawa saw it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>John Burton: Something else. She saw in Nancy Pelosi a tough, strong, determined, liberal, caring for people person. I mean, it was just, I walked out and I said, holy my God. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: She said to me, I’m going to ask you if you will run for my seat, and I need to know your answer now.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi told Salah she had to check with her family first. She had five kids. By 1987, only one was still living at home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: My daughter Alexandra, she says, mother, what teenage girl does not want her mother out of the house three nights of the week? Then she said, get a life.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Maybe her youngest daughter didn’t really see it, but Pelosi definitely had a life. She moved her family to San Francisco in 1969, just a couple years after the Summer of Love, a time when the city was home to artists like Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane. Pelosi was hardly a member of the counterculture, but insists she loves the Gratiful Dead. For those first few years, she had her hands full with the kids.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Especially, I have five and six years to have to understand. Sometimes I didn’t even wash my face. Being a mom is probably the best preparation for anything because you are multitasking all of the time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But politics was in her DNA. She’d grown up in a political family. Her dad became the mayor of Baltimore when she was just seven. San Francisco is her husband Paul’s hometown. The year they moved back, his brother Ron was on the board of supervisors. They lived down the street from San Francisco mayor Joe Alioto.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: When people came and saw our house, they would say, oh, this is a big house. We’ll have lots of political events here.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: And you did.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And we did. How do you turn people down then? And my kids were so cute as they were getting a little bit bigger, they were making the hors d’oeuvres and serving the hors-d’oeuves and the rest of that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She started taking on more political stuff, organizing volunteers, hosting candidates in her home, raising money. She became a prolific fundraiser for Democratic candidates. In 1976, California Governor Jerry Brown decided to run for president. A left coast challenge to Jimmy Carter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jerry Brown: Ten years of problems in Vietnam and Watergate and all the scandals you read about in the FBI and the CIA. I think people, I think the people are ready for a new generation of leadership.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Brown entered the race pretty late in the game, but Pelosi used her Baltimore political connections to help him win Maryland’s Democratic primary. Here’s another candidate, Barbara Mikulski. Pelosi helped her win a Senate seat.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barbara Mikulski: [00:09:44] I was out there going earring to earring with Linda Chavez. She had Ronald Reagan, and I had Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: By 1981, Pelosi was chair of the California Democratic Party, in charge of getting Democrats elected all across the state. She had a reputation for being relentless, but she was also known for her personal touch. When Nancy talked to you, you felt like you were the center of the world. That’s Art Agnos, a former mayor of San Francisco and also, by the way, my ex-boss. I worked on his staff from 1986 to 1992. That was before I became a reporter for KQED in 1998. Anyway, Art remembers going over to Pelosi’s house for dinner back in the 70s. He was just a staffer himself back then. She invited us to her home for dinner with Leo, who was the main person. Art’s talking about Leo McCarthy. McCarthy was the speaker of the state assembly. That’s California’s version of the House of Representatives. She made sure that… \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Art Agnos: I brought my kids? No one ever said bring your kids. Pelosi even had her kids babysitting his kids, taking them upstairs to the bedroom, playing games. Her kids are taking care of my kids. I was the staff guy. She generated a kind of loyalty and love from my family that came from her attentive, thoughtful, sweet interest in us.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: This is what Sala Burton saw in Nancy Pelosi, according to Art.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Sala Burton anointed Nancy Pelosi to be her successor. After she died on February 1st, there would be a primary just two months later, in April, to pick the top candidate for each party. So now the race was on. Sala’s brother-in-law, John Burton, would run Pelosi’s campaign and they would use the Burton playbook.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Phil Burton: No person is an island under themselves. We all need each other and we’ve got each other, I promise you that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s Phil Burton, John’s older brother, Sal’s husband, a chain-smoking giant in San Francisco politics. The Burton political machine specialized in something that seems pretty standard today — coalition politics. They mobilized groups other politicians overlooked. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Their coalition was gay. It wasn’t LGBT as it is today, but you know, it was, it wasn’t called that. Gay, African-American, labor.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Phil Burton put it a little differently.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Phil Burton: I’ve got the support of the gays and the cops as well, ain’t that a bitch? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: We ran everything at that day’s game. We were the most diverse operation politically in this city, period. And Nancy was a part of that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s another former San Francisco mayor.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: I’m Willie Brown, period. I was part of Phil Burton’s operation. What do you remember about her? Well, I just remember that she was a very attractive woman. Oh, very opinionated, I must say.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She sort of had an unlikely friendship with John, who once accidentally left cocaine in the pocket of a suit he sent to the dry cleaners.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: In the drinking world. John was all the things that you wouldn’t even think Nancy would know about. But they had a friendship.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Close with the Burtons, raised campaign funds for them, but she also helped their rivals within the party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: I’m telling you.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She had her whole body in both camps.” Her campaign chose the slogan, a voice that will be heard. Her campaign promised all the other candidates could talk, but with her connections and her experience, she would be the most effective at doing things in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: It was not like she was going to be the next Jesse Jackson. No, Nancy was the pro who was going to help orchestrate the process.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She pulled together a team of field captains who had experience with the United Farm Workers Union to set up her ground game. An army of volunteers knocked on doors, made phone calls, staffed campaign events and signed up other volunteers to get out the vote on election day. At one point, Pelosi’s brother Tommy came to visit campaign headquarters in San Francisco. He’d been the mayor of Baltimore just like their father.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And he said, Daddy sent me to make sure that you had your ground game in place. So I said, well, come see what it is.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: On sheets of butcher paper, Pelosi and her team had mapped out the strategy in true Burton fashion. They had divided up the city into factions and were seeing how they could make a winning coalition, gaming out worst-case scenarios.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Every black vote, Asian, gay vote, the lefties, if we give them every possible vote, not that they would get every possible, Nancy loses by a couple thousand votes. We have sent our troops out to get 5,000 more votes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Their team sent targeted mailers to different communities—Italian, African American, gay—and they quietly slipped some to Republicans. John Burton again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>John Burton: I’d go to things with her, go to that, and just watch her. One time some group was kind of screwing over her and walked out and she says, don’t worry, we will show them how truly unimportant they are after the election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But, she wasn’t going to take a single vote for granted. Before she ran for the House in 1987, Pelosi had run in one other election inside the party for chair of the Democratic National Committee. That’s the group that coordinates strategy, establishes the Democratic Party platform. She lost. And she learned a lesson she never forgot.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I had done everything in the party and worked with many people. People that I had worked with forever were making terrible statements about me.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi said she was the target of all sorts of attacks, including sexist ones. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: So when I ran for Congress, and people would call me and say, did you see what someone so said? I said, yeah, don’t bother me with that. If you’re concerned about that, get on the phone and make some calls, walk some precincts, but don’t think I care about what somebody else says. And I would not have realized that had I not seen how Democrats treated Democrats when I run for the other office.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Democrats against Democrats, a knife fight in a phone booth. That’s what Pelosi was entering in the primary. Against a motivated opponent fighting for a city reeling from a deadly epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Where did it go?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: This is an old news clip from 1987. A singer charms a crowd with a famous Judy Garland cover.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Politics in San Francisco, a fundraiser in a cabaret that caters to gays. At this event, the candidate is gay as well, Democrat Harry Britt.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The bar is packed with gay and lesbian supporters. The sign at the door reads, We’re just wild about Harry Britt.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: While he would be a political outsider elsewhere in the country with his progressive agenda, he fits in easily in San Francisco. Liberal credentials are essential. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt was a San Francisco supervisor and Nancy Pelosi’s toughest rival. He was soft-spoken, with a serious tone, kind of an intellectual, a little socially awkward. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: I’m from Texas and I come from a family of Southerners. I was a Methodist minister for a major part of my life and that was\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That was Britt in a TV interview. He never intended to run for office. Like Pelosi, he was more behind the scenes. In 1977, he volunteered to help elect Harvey Milk to the board of supervisors. Milk was the first openly gay person elected in California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harvey Milk: There are 15 million lesbian and gay men waiting to hear your voice! We are coming out of the closet! When are you going to come out of yours?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The next year, Harvey Milk was assassinated, along with the mayor at the time, George Moscone. The killer was Dan White. He had been on the board of supervisors with Milk. A year before he died, Harvey milk made a recording. A list of people he would want to replace him if he were assassinated. And who was on that list?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harvey Milk: The third choice I would have would be Harry Britt, who most people don’t know, but I’ve watched Harry, and Harry’s been involved with three campaigns, and I’ve watched Harry grow and grow and grow, and a very, very dedicated and strong person. One who will not be pushed around. One who understands where the movement is and where it must go. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: Harvey’s gone, but all of us who cared about him and the things that he stood for realize now that it’s our job.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: The murders unified, made us cohesive, and that translated into political muscle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Tom Amiano was active in the gay rights movement, friends with Harvey Milk, and Harry.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: Harvey was very charismatic and out there, and Harry was just a steady, even presence.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: In the early 80s, the community was still reeling from the assassinations, and then another deadly threat emerged. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: AIDS was rampant. Every day somebody died. Every day you saw somebody with purple splotches or you’d say, hey, what happened to Michael? He was supposed to show. You didn’t hear, he died.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: I moved to San Francisco in 1981, just as some gay men started coming down with some unusual symptoms. Thrush or yeast infections in the throat that wouldn’t go away, fungal infections in the lungs, lesions on the skin, weight loss. Doctors didn’t know why, but soon they were dying. As the casualties mounted, so did the fear. There was no test for the virus yet. We didn’t even know it was a virus. Many of us were worried, afraid we had this ticking time bomb inside of us. But there was nothing to do but be careful and wait. It escalated quickly. By 1984, it became common to see people with full blown AIDS emaciated, looking old beyond their years, covered with purple splotches, Kaposi sarcoma. We’d see men who looked to be at death’s door, slowly walking or shuffling around the Castro neighborhood. There were funerals, lots of funerals, many for people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. It was a slow motion disaster. But it seemed no one in Washington cared. Harry Britt again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: So I think it’s legitimate for us to point out that the people who care the most about AIDS and certainly the gay community which cares in a passionate way about AIDS is very united behind my candidacy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: These were the stakes of the 87th Special Election. In that Congressional race, many saw Harry Britt, not Pelosi, as the champion the gay community needed in Washington. It was also a chance to make history.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: It was beyond who’s Harry Britt, it was beyond whose Nancy Pelosi. It was that we might get an openly gay member of Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s Gwen Craig. She came to San Francisco in 1975. She worked closely with Milk and would become involved in Harry Britt’s campaign.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: The nonchalance, it seemed, of Congress and the executive administrations just was maddening.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The CDC first published an article describing five young gay patients in Los Angeles whose immune systems suddenly failed in 1981. But President Reagan didn’t publicly address the crisis for four years, only then because he was asked about it. By 1987, nearly 2,000 San Franciscans had died of AIDS. I remember a lot of people in the gay community thought that Pelosi, a wealthy, straight, white woman, wasn’t the best person to fight for them in Washington. The Brit campaign didn’t hold back. Here’s one ad they ran.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival Ad: Inspector Riley, Missing Person Squad. Yeah, we’ve heard that report. No, we haven’t seen Nancy Pelosi. That’s why she’s a missing person. Nobody has seen Nancy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt’s campaign sent out mailers calling her a dilettante.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Most people didn’t know what that meant.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And they said, does that mean you’re a debut talent? Aren’t you old to be a debut? They did one piece.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: Call that referred to Nancy Pelosi as party girl because she came from being head of the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Gwen Craig again, Lesbian Activist. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: I didn’t like that piece at all.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: What was it that you didn’t like about it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: Well, I thought it was rather misogynist. You know, I though it was sexist. I thought that it belittled her in a way because of her gender. So I became then uncomfortable with my support of Harry for a while after that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: They warned us it would be brutal, and it would a bloodbath, and I’d be sorry I ever got in the race, but I wasn’t frightened by any of that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi did something in 1987 that she rarely does. She agreed to a televised debate a week before the election, right here at KQED. Pelosi was the front-runner. She had a lot to lose.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic Party insider, runs ahead in recent polls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt was close on her heels. In addition to being part of the gay movement, he was a democratic socialist. He believed in challenging corporate power structures, and once tried to rein in wealthy landlords with commercial rent control.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: A gay activist who is to the left of his chief opponents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Just before the debate, Pelosi’s campaign threatened to pull out. Her staff was worried the other candidates would gang up on her.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Calm down a little bit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It was a free for all, with all 14 candidates left, right and center. It made for great live television.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Mr. Zur, this is not a forum for you just to make a speech. At this point in this discussion, we are—you’ve got a lot of words in.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The moderators asked if her critics were right, that she was out of touch. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: But there are a lot of people who seem to be disturbed by, I guess, where you come from. The idea of your wealth and your connections among the well-to-do. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: And Harry Britt questioned whether she could be trusted to fight for everyday people.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: How can you be an effective advocate for consumer issues like keeping interest rates low on credit cards when you’ve gotten money from banks and savings and loan associations? How can really fight to get oil companies to clean up toxic waste when you got money from Chevron and Getty and all these people? I challenge Nancy Pelosi who has never had to stand up to that kind of pressure.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Based on available campaign finance records, we couldn’t verify if Pelosi took money from Chevron for her campaign. But members of the influential Getty family, her family friends who made their fortune in oil, did donate $5,000 to her congressional campaign. But Pelosi pointed her finger and returned fire.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Harry, have you taken any PAC money? Have you taken a PAC money. I have not taken any money. Any PAC money, have any you taken PAC money \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt’s campaign was mostly grassroots funded, but Pelosi? Her campaign spent around a million dollars, more than the other 13 candidates combined. Pelosi also self-funded, giving more than $200,000 to her own campaign.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: How can she relate to people like me, a single parent, working mother, or somebody else?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Another candidate, San Francisco City Supervisor Carol Rue Silver, jumped in. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Problems are different. She’s never met a payroll. She has never had to worry about child care. She has not had a kid in a public school. She never worried about the things that worry most of the people in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Let’s let Nancy answer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: First of all, my ability to fund my own campaign to the extent that I can and to raise money over 1,500 contributors to my campaign gives me an independence that none of my candidates, I believe, share, especially the four supervisors who were reported this week to have received $1,000 each from the Embarcadero Center and then voted to give them a street this week. So if you want to talk about independence, let’s talk about Independence.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi knew that she needed to do something to neutralize the idea that she was beholden to wealthy interests. So she counterpunched by saying to her opponents, well, you’re not exactly pure either. According to federal campaign fundraising data, each of the four city supervisors did receive a thousand dollar contribution from the CEO of the Embarcadero Center. That’s a set of high-rise office buildings downtown. We couldn’t verify the claim that he got a favor in return. But she’s doing something here by implying that. She’s undercutting them. It’s a classic campaign tactic, pointing out the hypocrisy in your opponent’s charge. After the primary, that same CEO gave $1,000 to Pelosi’s campaign for Congress. That’s politics. Pelosi has always argued that the PAC money she took was from Democratic allies who cared about regular people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Labor unions, from the Nurses Association, from organizations dedicated to the election of women to Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: To her, raising money was just a means to an end. This was the late 80s. Money was changing politics as we knew it, and Pelosi was going to do everything she needed to do to win. You didn’t take any of that personally.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: No, I mean it’s a campaign. What do you expect?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival: There was a special election here in San Francisco today to fill a congressional seat left empty by the death of congresswoman Sala Burton.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: As the election got close, Pelosi had dropped in the polls, so election day was a nail-biter. Britt needed a big turnout in the predominantly gay Castro neighborhood, and he got that. But in the end, he could not overcome Pelosi’s ground game.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival: And here in San Francisco, the Democrat Nancy Pelosi defeated Harry Britt, a city supervisor who is gay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Under rules for special elections like this one, the top contender from each party would move on to a runoff in June. Britt was out. Gwen Craig and Tom Amiano again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: People took it pretty hard. They were really disappointed, because I think a lot of people thought, we’re gonna actually get an openly gay person going to Congress. That’s going to be such a huge step forward.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: We’re all in a little bit of despair. You know, who is this woman? What does she know?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: After she won the primary, Pelosi called a meeting with AIDS activists. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: It wasn’t milquetoast ones, you know, it was angry ones. And they met with her. And I’m not saying that the reaction was 100% positive. I know that she shed some tears and I’m sure that they were sincere. But to the hard-bitten, we didn’t want tears.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt wasn’t the only person who understood the magnitude of the crisis. Pelosi also knew people who died of the disease, family friends, political staffers, people in her community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: People were dying and I was visiting people in the hospital that we were close to and they were robust young men out there and then they were like a bag of bones in the hospitals, a bag a bones.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: During the election, Pelosi had also promised action on AIDS.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival: We want to stop spending money on a big defense budget and instead address it to the most important crisis of our time, the AIDS crisis.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: In the runoff, Pelosi easily defeated the Republican. She was on her way to Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: Without objection, the gentlewoman from California is reckoned.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: Thank you very much for your kind remarks and to all of you. It’s a very sentimental day for me as you can see.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: When a new member of Congress is first sworn in, it’s kind of rare for them to say anything of note, let alone something controversial. But on that day, in June of 1987, Pelosi, sounding a little nervous, surprised everyone.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: And now we must take the leadership, of course, in the crisis of AIDS, and I look forward to working with you on that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Now Brit’s supporters would have to put their faith in the person who defeated him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: On a foggy morning in 1989, protesters unfurled a banner across the Golden Gate Bridge reading AIDS equals genocide, silence equals death, calling out the newly elected president and former Vice President George H.W. Bush.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: They blocked traffic for more than an hour. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I was one of the persons that sat on the bridge on January 31st, 1989. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: It was so cold.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Since 1988 Mike Shriver had been organizing with act up a direct action group focused on AIDS.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: During Pelosi’s first full term in Congress, the deaths continued unabated. There was no vaccine, no cure, limited treatment. So people took to the bridge.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: It’s one of the proudest moments of my life, actually. And as we were being pulled one person at a time to being arrested, my mentor, he said to me, if I could feel the way that I feel right now, I will live forever. I will survive the epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: By 1988, Shriver and his peers had started focusing on how to change policy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: This whole cadre of ACT UP individuals taught themselves how to become experts in research, experts in policy, experts in drug development. I happened to go down the track of the public health policy stuff.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: He remembers a meeting with Nancy Pelosi. He was there with someone who needed access to an experimental AIDS treatment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I got to sit there in the room and he talked to Mrs. Pelosi and he said, I didn’t vote for you, but you’re my representative and I expect that you’ll take care of me. And she looked him deadpan and said, absolutely, that is my job.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It was our purpose. That’s just the way it was. It wasn’t like, I really hope you will do this. This is absolutely urgent that you do this.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: When I asked Pelosi about her support for AIDS funding, she was very matter of fact about it. To her, it seemed like a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Was not prepared for discrimination. Now these people were not anti-gay, they just thought the rest of the room was.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: For sure, Pelosi had solid allies, like California Congressmembers Barbara Boxer and Henry Waxman from Los Angeles. But they faced opposition because of the stigma of AIDS. And then activists had an idea.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Cleve Jones came to my house with Art Agnos when I’m a newly elected member of Congress and says he has this idea that people will make a quilt for their loved ones. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Cleve Jones was a young activist who had worked for Harvey Milk. He later went on to mobilize the community to respond to HIV AIDS and co-created what became known as the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Tens of thousands of panels, handcrafted with care, by mothers and fathers, brothers, co-workers, friends, lovers and spouses, sewn into three by six foot panels. Panels for everyone, from musicians like Freddie Mercury of Queen and Sylvester. To political activists and artists like Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe, to others who lived quieter lives but whose death crushed those who loved them. Jones had a vision. He wanted to spread huge sections of the quilt out on the National Mall in Washington.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Enormous quilts, enormous, big as the mall. Pelosi was on board to help bring the quilt to DC, but there was a hitch.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: The National Park Service says, we’ll give you a corner where you can have a few patches. Can you imagine? So I said, well, they’re certainly not gonna do that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She asked the National Park Service, why can’t we display the full quilt? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It’s gonna kill the grass, but why? Because if you have something on the grass for more than 20 minutes, it kills the grass.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi had an idea.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: We have hundreds of people, we can pick it up every 20 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The National Park Service caved, and on October 11, 1987, the AIDS quilt was first displayed in Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It was so beautiful.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival – AIDS memorial quilt: Bill Cathcart. Bob Greenwood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Across the National Mall, the names of the fallen echoed as Cleve Jones read some of them. I was there then.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival – AIDS memorial quilt: Douglas Lowery.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi was one of the few members of Congress there. Even then, she was laser-focused. She told a reporter for GayUSA…\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Now, the first day I… \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Became a member, I became a co-sponsor of the Gay Civil Rights Bill, Ted Weiss’ bill, and we have a few pieces of legislation regarding AIDS, more money for AIDS, confidentiality, non-discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: At a time when HIV AIDS still felt like a death sentence, Nancy Pelosi helped change the prognosis. Pelosi co-authored the Ryan White Care Act. Ryan White was a teenager from Indiana who had hemophilia. He got AIDS from a medical treatment. After his diagnosis, his school banned him from attending class. To some lawmakers, White was someone they could help without worrying about attacks by religious zealots who thought AIDS was God’s punishment of gay men and IV drug users. Pelosi understood this. Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Art Agnos: She looked like the all-American woman. She was, she is beautiful. She had lovely kids, she had a handsome husband. What the hell is she doing with these weird people? When she showed up, she looks like us. How come she’s talking like that? And I think that gave her a entree to discussing AIDS, gay people, all the kinds of issues that are important to us in San Francisco. They listened because she looked like them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The Ryan White Care Act passed in 1990. It created a financial safety net for people with HIV who were underinsured. She also helped push through a bill that allocated funds that people with HIV could use for housing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I got to go with her, and I’m sitting there watching her work.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s the conference between the House and Senate that divides up government funding. Mike Shriver remembers one instance.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: The very first year that she got the most significant increase for HIV prevention was a year that a senator from Pennsylvania looked for some money for substance abuse treatment that he needed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That Senator, Arlen Specter, promised Nancy Pelosi he would restore her funding for HIV programs the next year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: He made the commitment to her and he did it. For her, you know, you live up to your word. And if you don’t remember your word, I’ll tell you what you told me. And I thought, that’s magic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Mike Shriver lives with HIV.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I relied on Ryan White funding for my care and for my dental care and had I not had that, I would not have had access to the drugs that eventually had become what continue to keep me alive and keep me in remission with my HIV disease.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: So you’re saying she’s the reason you’re still here?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I absolutely believe that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: There’s this one thing Mike told me that really stuck with me. He was telling me about a text exchange he had with Nancy after a health emergency in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I had just emailed her the day before talking about finishing my IVIG infusion, which took five consecutive days, which just flattened me out. And she wrote back, Michael, loved getting your promising report. Love you, Nancy. A couple of emojis and then thank you. I’m so lucky, I am so privileged. I do not ever underestimate, like I don’t take this for granted. Nancy is not really good about receiving compliments. It’s not her favorite thing to experience and I’ve had to do it a couple of times and realize I know this is gonna piss you off or it’s gonna make you a little bit mad but I need you to hear how important it is of what you’ve done for us. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: When Pelosi ran in 1987, her slogan was a voice that will be heard. And when Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the House\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: San Francisco for giving me the privilege.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She brought it back home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: When I ran, my slogan was, a voice that will be heard. I think they’ve heard us. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It took nearly 20 years, but Pelosi was on a path to becoming the first woman ever elected House Speaker. Next time on the speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I don’t see a plan here to win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rahm Emanuel: If you win, you get to set the table. Nancy Pelosi’s path to the top. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barbara Boxer: One of those days on the plane, we were talking about, what is your dream in politics? And she said, I want to be Speaker of the House.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: You had to have some chutzpah at that point in her career to say I want to be speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barbara Boxer: Chutzpah doesn’t begin to describe it. It was impossible.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Shafer. Co-reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound design by Christopher Beale. Additional mixing by Brendan Willard. Fact checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Sussman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme song composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor-in-chief. Special thanks to our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television, and radio artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Before her historic Speakership, even before she got to the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi worked for years outside the spotlight as an official in the California Democratic party while she raised her family in San Francisco. That was until 1987, when tragic circumstances led her to do something she hadn’t considered before: run for Congress. Her first hurdle? A city in crisis and a motivated opponent from a community impacted by a deadly epidemic.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Before her historic Speakership, even before she got to the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi worked for years outside the spotlight as an official in the California Democratic party while she raised her family in San Francisco. That was until 1987, when tragic circumstances led her to do something she hadn’t considered before: run for Congress. Her first hurdle? A city in crisis and a motivated opponent from a community impacted by a deadly epidemic.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Hi, I’m Scott Schafer. I’ve been covering politics for nearly 30 years, especially here in San Francisco. As a reporter, I’ve watched a lot of people rise from San Francisco into the national arena. Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Dianne Feinstein. But no one has fascinated me more than Nancy Pelosi, trailblazer, power broker, lightning rod, first woman ever speaker of the house. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Hi, I’m Scott Schafer. I’ve been covering politics for nearly 30 years, especially here in San Francisco. As a reporter, I’ve watched a lot of people rise from San Francisco into the national arena. Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Dianne Feinstein. But no one has fascinated me more than Nancy Pelosi, trailblazer, power broker, lightning rod, first woman ever speaker of the house. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Tonight on Express, the campaigning has been intense. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: I remember watching her way back in 1987. That was the first time she was running for Congress here in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: We do have 14 candidates here, so can we keep this discussion on an even scale? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: This is from a televised debate hosted here at KQED, the public media outlet where I work. All the candidates are sitting on risers, lots of poofy, teased hair, wide-framed glasses, and Pelosi is in the front row, perfect blowout, wearing a purple blazer. [00:00:57][15.8]\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I think this is the most hilarious thing that a woman can come into this district from outside of it and buy this election. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: [00:01:04] Pelosi’s critics, mostly other Democrats, call her a wealthy socialite. They say she’s the establishment pick. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: And what we have is we have, in this election, somebody saying, the machine backs me, I’ve got a million bucks, I don’t live in your district, I have never met many of your slobs, but I’m going to be your new leader because I got bucks and I’m powerful. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: How can she relate to people like me a single-parent working mother? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Let’s let Nancy talk. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I don’t think you have to be sick to be a doctor or poor to understand the problems of the poor. I have spent my life committed to the ideals of the Democratic Party. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I don’t think you have to be sick to be a doctor or poor to understand the problems of the poor. I have spent my life committed to the ideals of the Democratic Party. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It’s an interesting moment, Pelosi turns their argument around, saying that she’s the right candidate precisely because she’s been working behind the scenes. She knows the game inside out. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It’s an interesting moment, Pelosi turns their argument around, saying that she’s the right candidate precisely because she’s been working behind the scenes. She knows the game inside out. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I believe that I will be the best and most effective representative for San Francisco because I have worked in that arena for 25 years, both at the local, state, and national level. I have work with the members of Congress long before they went to Congress and long since. I have persuaded them on votes, both by one-on-one persuasion and by mobilizing in their districts.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I believe that I will be the best and most effective representative for San Francisco because I have worked in that arena for 25 years, both at the local, state, and national level. I have work with the members of Congress long before they went to Congress and long since. I have persuaded them on votes, both by one-on-one persuasion and by mobilizing in their districts.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Last year, Pelosi announced she was retiring. As a journalist, I started thinking about how she went from being relatively unknown to one of the most formidable politicians of her generation, and about the role she’s played leading up to this political moment, a moment where faith in the Democratic Party and public trust in U.S. Institutions are at their lowest in decades. And she agreed to talk, a series of five interviews. Okay, we’re gonna put you right there I wear the red light.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Last year, Pelosi announced she was retiring. As a journalist, I started thinking about how she went from being relatively unknown to one of the most formidable politicians of her generation, and about the role she’s played leading up to this political moment, a moment where faith in the Democratic Party and public trust in U.S. Institutions are at their lowest in decades. And she agreed to talk, a series of five interviews. Okay, we’re gonna put you right there I wear the red light.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Unfortunately, this is not visual because I got off the plane. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Our first interview, she had just gotten off a cross-country flight, she was also nursing a cold, but I knew how to get things started on the right foot.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Our first interview, she had just gotten off a cross-country flight, she was also nursing a cold, but I knew how to get things started on the right foot.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I’m glad I’m seeing that. I’m going to go right into it, okay? I think I should test them.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Nancy Pelosi is kind of a tough interview. I’ve done it many times before, usually about a political issue. She’s always warm and gracious until you ask something that annoys her and then she lets you know it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Nancy Pelosi is kind of a tough interview. I’ve done it many times before, usually about a political issue. She’s always warm and gracious until you ask something that annoys her and then she lets you know it.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I don’t feel that way at all. I don’t even know why you’re asking that question. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She can be loyal to her talking points. Frustrating. How do you want people to remember your legacy?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Not so fast on the legacy. We have to win the house, which we will do. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She’ll completely deny the premise of your question. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: No, I didn’t oppose it for many years. I posed it when they suggested it, and then Kalka said they won it and I supported it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But I figured this is the time, right now, before she leaves office, to really reckon with the force that is Nancy Pelosi. From KQED, this is The Speaker, how Nancy Pelosi changed the face of power. This is the inside story of her rise and what she did when she got there, as told by the people who were in the rooms where it all happened.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Anna Eshoo: Nancy always would talk about winning and how to win. I said, Mr. President, we’re so excited about doing health care, but understand this, it’s going to be carpet bombing, take no prisoners, you name it, total warfare.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Anna Eshoo: Nancy always would talk about winning and how to win. I said, Mr. President, we’re so excited about doing health care, but understand this, it’s going to be carpet bombing, take no prisoners, you name it, total warfare.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rahm Emanuel: She is comfortable with power and exercising it. Nancy exists in the arena. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mick Mulvaney: I’ve often described it with a little bit tongue-in-cheek, because I’m not going to accuse anybody. I want to make clear here that I’m not slandering anybody, I’m not accusing anybody of any criminal activity, but she reminded me of a mafia boss. That’s how she ran the place.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Mick Mulvaney: I’ve often described it with a little bit tongue-in-cheek, because I’m not going to accuse anybody. I want to make clear here that I’m not slandering anybody, I’m not accusing anybody of any criminal activity, but she reminded me of a mafia boss. That’s how she ran the place.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: They were going to get a bullet in my effing brain. You know, they used the F word a lot about me throughout the whole thing. They were gonna hang Vice President Gallows for him.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: They were going to get a bullet in my effing brain. You know, they used the F word a lot about me throughout the whole thing. They were gonna hang Vice President Gallows for him.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Today, how Nancy Pelosi got to Congress. She had been the ultimate insider, working for years as a high-up official in the Democratic Party, forged by San Francisco politics. But also an outsider, a woman, a mother of five kids, behind the scenes. Had you not ever considered running with her?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I had zero interest in running for office. Why? It was like, did you not want to go skydiving? I didn’t even think of it. I loved public service, and I was the ultimate volunteer, the chair of the California Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I had zero interest in running for office. Why? It was like, did you not want to go skydiving? I didn’t even think of it. I loved public service, and I was the ultimate volunteer, the chair of the California Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: There she was, diligently working behind the scenes, until a twist of fate tested what she was made of. Nancy Pelosi never planned to run for public office, but in 1987, San Francisco’s congresswoman, Sala Burton, was dying. She was a big woman. She was, like, shrunk up on cancer. That’s John Burton, Sala’s brother-in-law, part of the family’s political operation. Let me set the scene here. The congresswoman is on her deathbed. She hasn’t yet endorsed a successor, but her endorsement is priceless. Her family has held this seat since the \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: There she was, diligently working behind the scenes, until a twist of fate tested what she was made of. Nancy Pelosi never planned to run for public office, but in 1987, San Francisco’s congresswoman, Sala Burton, was dying. She was a big woman. She was, like, shrunk up on cancer. That’s John Burton, Sala’s brother-in-law, part of the family’s political operation. Let me set the scene here. The congresswoman is on her deathbed. She hasn’t yet endorsed a successor, but her endorsement is priceless. Her family has held this seat since the \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>John Burton: She calls the group of us back to her hospital bed, where she’s just like, and she tells us, I’m not going to run again. I’d like you to support Nancy Pelosi. She starts going into Nancy Pelosi, she’s operational. She’s right on the issue. She says, she said, he said, and I walk out, she says, is she bullshitting or what?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>John Burton: She calls the group of us back to her hospital bed, where she’s just like, and she tells us, I’m not going to run again. I’d like you to support Nancy Pelosi. She starts going into Nancy Pelosi, she’s operational. She’s right on the issue. She says, she said, he said, and I walk out, she says, is she bullshitting or what?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: John Burton didn’t see Nancy Pelosi as a candidate. She was the Democratic fundraiser, organizer, behind the scenes. But Sawa saw it.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>John Burton: Something else. She saw in Nancy Pelosi a tough, strong, determined, liberal, caring for people person. I mean, it was just, I walked out and I said, holy my God. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: She said to me, I’m going to ask you if you will run for my seat, and I need to know your answer now.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi told Salah she had to check with her family first. She had five kids. By 1987, only one was still living at home.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: My daughter Alexandra, she says, mother, what teenage girl does not want her mother out of the house three nights of the week? Then she said, get a life.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Maybe her youngest daughter didn’t really see it, but Pelosi definitely had a life. She moved her family to San Francisco in 1969, just a couple years after the Summer of Love, a time when the city was home to artists like Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane. Pelosi was hardly a member of the counterculture, but insists she loves the Gratiful Dead. For those first few years, she had her hands full with the kids.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Maybe her youngest daughter didn’t really see it, but Pelosi definitely had a life. She moved her family to San Francisco in 1969, just a couple years after the Summer of Love, a time when the city was home to artists like Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane. Pelosi was hardly a member of the counterculture, but insists she loves the Gratiful Dead. For those first few years, she had her hands full with the kids.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Especially, I have five and six years to have to understand. Sometimes I didn’t even wash my face. Being a mom is probably the best preparation for anything because you are multitasking all of the time.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Especially, I have five and six years to have to understand. Sometimes I didn’t even wash my face. Being a mom is probably the best preparation for anything because you are multitasking all of the time.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But politics was in her DNA. She’d grown up in a political family. Her dad became the mayor of Baltimore when she was just seven. San Francisco is her husband Paul’s hometown. The year they moved back, his brother Ron was on the board of supervisors. They lived down the street from San Francisco mayor Joe Alioto.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But politics was in her DNA. She’d grown up in a political family. Her dad became the mayor of Baltimore when she was just seven. San Francisco is her husband Paul’s hometown. The year they moved back, his brother Ron was on the board of supervisors. They lived down the street from San Francisco mayor Joe Alioto.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: When people came and saw our house, they would say, oh, this is a big house. We’ll have lots of political events here.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: And you did.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And we did. How do you turn people down then? And my kids were so cute as they were getting a little bit bigger, they were making the hors d’oeuvres and serving the hors-d’oeuves and the rest of that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And we did. How do you turn people down then? And my kids were so cute as they were getting a little bit bigger, they were making the hors d’oeuvres and serving the hors-d’oeuves and the rest of that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She started taking on more political stuff, organizing volunteers, hosting candidates in her home, raising money. She became a prolific fundraiser for Democratic candidates. In 1976, California Governor Jerry Brown decided to run for president. A left coast challenge to Jimmy Carter.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She started taking on more political stuff, organizing volunteers, hosting candidates in her home, raising money. She became a prolific fundraiser for Democratic candidates. In 1976, California Governor Jerry Brown decided to run for president. A left coast challenge to Jimmy Carter.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Jerry Brown: Ten years of problems in Vietnam and Watergate and all the scandals you read about in the FBI and the CIA. I think people, I think the people are ready for a new generation of leadership.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Jerry Brown: Ten years of problems in Vietnam and Watergate and all the scandals you read about in the FBI and the CIA. I think people, I think the people are ready for a new generation of leadership.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Brown entered the race pretty late in the game, but Pelosi used her Baltimore political connections to help him win Maryland’s Democratic primary. Here’s another candidate, Barbara Mikulski. Pelosi helped her win a Senate seat.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Brown entered the race pretty late in the game, but Pelosi used her Baltimore political connections to help him win Maryland’s Democratic primary. Here’s another candidate, Barbara Mikulski. Pelosi helped her win a Senate seat.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barbara Mikulski: [00:09:44] I was out there going earring to earring with Linda Chavez. She had Ronald Reagan, and I had Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: By 1981, Pelosi was chair of the California Democratic Party, in charge of getting Democrats elected all across the state. She had a reputation for being relentless, but she was also known for her personal touch. When Nancy talked to you, you felt like you were the center of the world. That’s Art Agnos, a former mayor of San Francisco and also, by the way, my ex-boss. I worked on his staff from 1986 to 1992. That was before I became a reporter for KQED in 1998. Anyway, Art remembers going over to Pelosi’s house for dinner back in the 70s. He was just a staffer himself back then. She invited us to her home for dinner with Leo, who was the main person. Art’s talking about Leo McCarthy. McCarthy was the speaker of the state assembly. That’s California’s version of the House of Representatives. She made sure that… \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: By 1981, Pelosi was chair of the California Democratic Party, in charge of getting Democrats elected all across the state. She had a reputation for being relentless, but she was also known for her personal touch. When Nancy talked to you, you felt like you were the center of the world. That’s Art Agnos, a former mayor of San Francisco and also, by the way, my ex-boss. I worked on his staff from 1986 to 1992. That was before I became a reporter for KQED in 1998. Anyway, Art remembers going over to Pelosi’s house for dinner back in the 70s. He was just a staffer himself back then. She invited us to her home for dinner with Leo, who was the main person. Art’s talking about Leo McCarthy. McCarthy was the speaker of the state assembly. That’s California’s version of the House of Representatives. She made sure that… \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Art Agnos: I brought my kids? No one ever said bring your kids. Pelosi even had her kids babysitting his kids, taking them upstairs to the bedroom, playing games. Her kids are taking care of my kids. I was the staff guy. She generated a kind of loyalty and love from my family that came from her attentive, thoughtful, sweet interest in us.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Art Agnos: I brought my kids? No one ever said bring your kids. Pelosi even had her kids babysitting his kids, taking them upstairs to the bedroom, playing games. Her kids are taking care of my kids. I was the staff guy. She generated a kind of loyalty and love from my family that came from her attentive, thoughtful, sweet interest in us.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: This is what Sala Burton saw in Nancy Pelosi, according to Art.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Sala Burton anointed Nancy Pelosi to be her successor. After she died on February 1st, there would be a primary just two months later, in April, to pick the top candidate for each party. So now the race was on. Sala’s brother-in-law, John Burton, would run Pelosi’s campaign and they would use the Burton playbook.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Sala Burton anointed Nancy Pelosi to be her successor. After she died on February 1st, there would be a primary just two months later, in April, to pick the top candidate for each party. So now the race was on. Sala’s brother-in-law, John Burton, would run Pelosi’s campaign and they would use the Burton playbook.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Phil Burton: No person is an island under themselves. We all need each other and we’ve got each other, I promise you that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s Phil Burton, John’s older brother, Sal’s husband, a chain-smoking giant in San Francisco politics. The Burton political machine specialized in something that seems pretty standard today — coalition politics. They mobilized groups other politicians overlooked. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Their coalition was gay. It wasn’t LGBT as it is today, but you know, it was, it wasn’t called that. Gay, African-American, labor.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Phil Burton put it a little differently.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Phil Burton: I’ve got the support of the gays and the cops as well, ain’t that a bitch? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: We ran everything at that day’s game. We were the most diverse operation politically in this city, period. And Nancy was a part of that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: We ran everything at that day’s game. We were the most diverse operation politically in this city, period. And Nancy was a part of that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s another former San Francisco mayor.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: I’m Willie Brown, period. I was part of Phil Burton’s operation. What do you remember about her? Well, I just remember that she was a very attractive woman. Oh, very opinionated, I must say.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: I’m Willie Brown, period. I was part of Phil Burton’s operation. What do you remember about her? Well, I just remember that she was a very attractive woman. Oh, very opinionated, I must say.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She sort of had an unlikely friendship with John, who once accidentally left cocaine in the pocket of a suit he sent to the dry cleaners.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: In the drinking world. John was all the things that you wouldn’t even think Nancy would know about. But they had a friendship.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Close with the Burtons, raised campaign funds for them, but she also helped their rivals within the party.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: I’m telling you.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She had her whole body in both camps.” Her campaign chose the slogan, a voice that will be heard. Her campaign promised all the other candidates could talk, but with her connections and her experience, she would be the most effective at doing things in Congress. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She had her whole body in both camps.” Her campaign chose the slogan, a voice that will be heard. Her campaign promised all the other candidates could talk, but with her connections and her experience, she would be the most effective at doing things in Congress. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: It was not like she was going to be the next Jesse Jackson. No, Nancy was the pro who was going to help orchestrate the process.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She pulled together a team of field captains who had experience with the United Farm Workers Union to set up her ground game. An army of volunteers knocked on doors, made phone calls, staffed campaign events and signed up other volunteers to get out the vote on election day. At one point, Pelosi’s brother Tommy came to visit campaign headquarters in San Francisco. He’d been the mayor of Baltimore just like their father.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She pulled together a team of field captains who had experience with the United Farm Workers Union to set up her ground game. An army of volunteers knocked on doors, made phone calls, staffed campaign events and signed up other volunteers to get out the vote on election day. At one point, Pelosi’s brother Tommy came to visit campaign headquarters in San Francisco. He’d been the mayor of Baltimore just like their father.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And he said, Daddy sent me to make sure that you had your ground game in place. So I said, well, come see what it is.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: On sheets of butcher paper, Pelosi and her team had mapped out the strategy in true Burton fashion. They had divided up the city into factions and were seeing how they could make a winning coalition, gaming out worst-case scenarios.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Every black vote, Asian, gay vote, the lefties, if we give them every possible vote, not that they would get every possible, Nancy loses by a couple thousand votes. We have sent our troops out to get 5,000 more votes.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Every black vote, Asian, gay vote, the lefties, if we give them every possible vote, not that they would get every possible, Nancy loses by a couple thousand votes. We have sent our troops out to get 5,000 more votes.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Their team sent targeted mailers to different communities—Italian, African American, gay—and they quietly slipped some to Republicans. John Burton again. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>John Burton: I’d go to things with her, go to that, and just watch her. One time some group was kind of screwing over her and walked out and she says, don’t worry, we will show them how truly unimportant they are after the election.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>John Burton: I’d go to things with her, go to that, and just watch her. One time some group was kind of screwing over her and walked out and she says, don’t worry, we will show them how truly unimportant they are after the election.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But, she wasn’t going to take a single vote for granted. Before she ran for the House in 1987, Pelosi had run in one other election inside the party for chair of the Democratic National Committee. That’s the group that coordinates strategy, establishes the Democratic Party platform. She lost. And she learned a lesson she never forgot.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But, she wasn’t going to take a single vote for granted. Before she ran for the House in 1987, Pelosi had run in one other election inside the party for chair of the Democratic National Committee. That’s the group that coordinates strategy, establishes the Democratic Party platform. She lost. And she learned a lesson she never forgot.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I had done everything in the party and worked with many people. People that I had worked with forever were making terrible statements about me.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi said she was the target of all sorts of attacks, including sexist ones. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: So when I ran for Congress, and people would call me and say, did you see what someone so said? I said, yeah, don’t bother me with that. If you’re concerned about that, get on the phone and make some calls, walk some precincts, but don’t think I care about what somebody else says. And I would not have realized that had I not seen how Democrats treated Democrats when I run for the other office.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: So when I ran for Congress, and people would call me and say, did you see what someone so said? I said, yeah, don’t bother me with that. If you’re concerned about that, get on the phone and make some calls, walk some precincts, but don’t think I care about what somebody else says. And I would not have realized that had I not seen how Democrats treated Democrats when I run for the other office.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Democrats against Democrats, a knife fight in a phone booth. That’s what Pelosi was entering in the primary. Against a motivated opponent fighting for a city reeling from a deadly epidemic.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Democrats against Democrats, a knife fight in a phone booth. That’s what Pelosi was entering in the primary. Against a motivated opponent fighting for a city reeling from a deadly epidemic.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Where did it go?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: This is an old news clip from 1987. A singer charms a crowd with a famous Judy Garland cover.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Politics in San Francisco, a fundraiser in a cabaret that caters to gays. At this event, the candidate is gay as well, Democrat Harry Britt.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Politics in San Francisco, a fundraiser in a cabaret that caters to gays. At this event, the candidate is gay as well, Democrat Harry Britt.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The bar is packed with gay and lesbian supporters. The sign at the door reads, We’re just wild about Harry Britt.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The bar is packed with gay and lesbian supporters. The sign at the door reads, We’re just wild about Harry Britt.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: While he would be a political outsider elsewhere in the country with his progressive agenda, he fits in easily in San Francisco. Liberal credentials are essential. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: While he would be a political outsider elsewhere in the country with his progressive agenda, he fits in easily in San Francisco. Liberal credentials are essential. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt was a San Francisco supervisor and Nancy Pelosi’s toughest rival. He was soft-spoken, with a serious tone, kind of an intellectual, a little socially awkward. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt was a San Francisco supervisor and Nancy Pelosi’s toughest rival. He was soft-spoken, with a serious tone, kind of an intellectual, a little socially awkward. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: I’m from Texas and I come from a family of Southerners. I was a Methodist minister for a major part of my life and that was\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That was Britt in a TV interview. He never intended to run for office. Like Pelosi, he was more behind the scenes. In 1977, he volunteered to help elect Harvey Milk to the board of supervisors. Milk was the first openly gay person elected in California.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That was Britt in a TV interview. He never intended to run for office. Like Pelosi, he was more behind the scenes. In 1977, he volunteered to help elect Harvey Milk to the board of supervisors. Milk was the first openly gay person elected in California.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Harvey Milk: There are 15 million lesbian and gay men waiting to hear your voice! We are coming out of the closet! When are you going to come out of yours?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The next year, Harvey Milk was assassinated, along with the mayor at the time, George Moscone. The killer was Dan White. He had been on the board of supervisors with Milk. A year before he died, Harvey milk made a recording. A list of people he would want to replace him if he were assassinated. And who was on that list?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The next year, Harvey Milk was assassinated, along with the mayor at the time, George Moscone. The killer was Dan White. He had been on the board of supervisors with Milk. A year before he died, Harvey milk made a recording. A list of people he would want to replace him if he were assassinated. And who was on that list?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Harvey Milk: The third choice I would have would be Harry Britt, who most people don’t know, but I’ve watched Harry, and Harry’s been involved with three campaigns, and I’ve watched Harry grow and grow and grow, and a very, very dedicated and strong person. One who will not be pushed around. One who understands where the movement is and where it must go. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Harvey Milk: The third choice I would have would be Harry Britt, who most people don’t know, but I’ve watched Harry, and Harry’s been involved with three campaigns, and I’ve watched Harry grow and grow and grow, and a very, very dedicated and strong person. One who will not be pushed around. One who understands where the movement is and where it must go. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt again.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: Harvey’s gone, but all of us who cared about him and the things that he stood for realize now that it’s our job.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: The murders unified, made us cohesive, and that translated into political muscle. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Tom Amiano was active in the gay rights movement, friends with Harvey Milk, and Harry.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: Harvey was very charismatic and out there, and Harry was just a steady, even presence.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: In the early 80s, the community was still reeling from the assassinations, and then another deadly threat emerged. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: AIDS was rampant. Every day somebody died. Every day you saw somebody with purple splotches or you’d say, hey, what happened to Michael? He was supposed to show. You didn’t hear, he died.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: I moved to San Francisco in 1981, just as some gay men started coming down with some unusual symptoms. Thrush or yeast infections in the throat that wouldn’t go away, fungal infections in the lungs, lesions on the skin, weight loss. Doctors didn’t know why, but soon they were dying. As the casualties mounted, so did the fear. There was no test for the virus yet. We didn’t even know it was a virus. Many of us were worried, afraid we had this ticking time bomb inside of us. But there was nothing to do but be careful and wait. It escalated quickly. By 1984, it became common to see people with full blown AIDS emaciated, looking old beyond their years, covered with purple splotches, Kaposi sarcoma. We’d see men who looked to be at death’s door, slowly walking or shuffling around the Castro neighborhood. There were funerals, lots of funerals, many for people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. It was a slow motion disaster. But it seemed no one in Washington cared. Harry Britt again. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: I moved to San Francisco in 1981, just as some gay men started coming down with some unusual symptoms. Thrush or yeast infections in the throat that wouldn’t go away, fungal infections in the lungs, lesions on the skin, weight loss. Doctors didn’t know why, but soon they were dying. As the casualties mounted, so did the fear. There was no test for the virus yet. We didn’t even know it was a virus. Many of us were worried, afraid we had this ticking time bomb inside of us. But there was nothing to do but be careful and wait. It escalated quickly. By 1984, it became common to see people with full blown AIDS emaciated, looking old beyond their years, covered with purple splotches, Kaposi sarcoma. We’d see men who looked to be at death’s door, slowly walking or shuffling around the Castro neighborhood. There were funerals, lots of funerals, many for people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. It was a slow motion disaster. But it seemed no one in Washington cared. Harry Britt again. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: So I think it’s legitimate for us to point out that the people who care the most about AIDS and certainly the gay community which cares in a passionate way about AIDS is very united behind my candidacy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: These were the stakes of the 87th Special Election. In that Congressional race, many saw Harry Britt, not Pelosi, as the champion the gay community needed in Washington. It was also a chance to make history.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: It was beyond who’s Harry Britt, it was beyond whose Nancy Pelosi. It was that we might get an openly gay member of Congress.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s Gwen Craig. She came to San Francisco in 1975. She worked closely with Milk and would become involved in Harry Britt’s campaign.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s Gwen Craig. She came to San Francisco in 1975. She worked closely with Milk and would become involved in Harry Britt’s campaign.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: The nonchalance, it seemed, of Congress and the executive administrations just was maddening.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The CDC first published an article describing five young gay patients in Los Angeles whose immune systems suddenly failed in 1981. But President Reagan didn’t publicly address the crisis for four years, only then because he was asked about it. By 1987, nearly 2,000 San Franciscans had died of AIDS. I remember a lot of people in the gay community thought that Pelosi, a wealthy, straight, white woman, wasn’t the best person to fight for them in Washington. The Brit campaign didn’t hold back. Here’s one ad they ran.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The CDC first published an article describing five young gay patients in Los Angeles whose immune systems suddenly failed in 1981. But President Reagan didn’t publicly address the crisis for four years, only then because he was asked about it. By 1987, nearly 2,000 San Franciscans had died of AIDS. I remember a lot of people in the gay community thought that Pelosi, a wealthy, straight, white woman, wasn’t the best person to fight for them in Washington. The Brit campaign didn’t hold back. Here’s one ad they ran.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Archival Ad: Inspector Riley, Missing Person Squad. Yeah, we’ve heard that report. No, we haven’t seen Nancy Pelosi. That’s why she’s a missing person. Nobody has seen Nancy. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Archival Ad: Inspector Riley, Missing Person Squad. Yeah, we’ve heard that report. No, we haven’t seen Nancy Pelosi. That’s why she’s a missing person. Nobody has seen Nancy. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt’s campaign sent out mailers calling her a dilettante.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt’s campaign sent out mailers calling her a dilettante.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Most people didn’t know what that meant.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi again. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And they said, does that mean you’re a debut talent? Aren’t you old to be a debut? They did one piece.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: Call that referred to Nancy Pelosi as party girl because she came from being head of the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: Call that referred to Nancy Pelosi as party girl because she came from being head of the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Gwen Craig again, Lesbian Activist. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Gwen Craig again, Lesbian Activist. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: I didn’t like that piece at all.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: What was it that you didn’t like about it?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: Well, I thought it was rather misogynist. You know, I though it was sexist. I thought that it belittled her in a way because of her gender. So I became then uncomfortable with my support of Harry for a while after that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: Well, I thought it was rather misogynist. You know, I though it was sexist. I thought that it belittled her in a way because of her gender. So I became then uncomfortable with my support of Harry for a while after that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: They warned us it would be brutal, and it would a bloodbath, and I’d be sorry I ever got in the race, but I wasn’t frightened by any of that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: They warned us it would be brutal, and it would a bloodbath, and I’d be sorry I ever got in the race, but I wasn’t frightened by any of that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi did something in 1987 that she rarely does. She agreed to a televised debate a week before the election, right here at KQED. Pelosi was the front-runner. She had a lot to lose.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi did something in 1987 that she rarely does. She agreed to a televised debate a week before the election, right here at KQED. Pelosi was the front-runner. She had a lot to lose.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic Party insider, runs ahead in recent polls. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt was close on her heels. In addition to being part of the gay movement, he was a democratic socialist. He believed in challenging corporate power structures, and once tried to rein in wealthy landlords with commercial rent control.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt was close on her heels. In addition to being part of the gay movement, he was a democratic socialist. He believed in challenging corporate power structures, and once tried to rein in wealthy landlords with commercial rent control.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: A gay activist who is to the left of his chief opponents. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: A gay activist who is to the left of his chief opponents. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Just before the debate, Pelosi’s campaign threatened to pull out. Her staff was worried the other candidates would gang up on her.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Just before the debate, Pelosi’s campaign threatened to pull out. Her staff was worried the other candidates would gang up on her.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Calm down a little bit.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Calm down a little bit.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It was a free for all, with all 14 candidates left, right and center. It made for great live television.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It was a free for all, with all 14 candidates left, right and center. It made for great live television.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Mr. Zur, this is not a forum for you just to make a speech. At this point in this discussion, we are—you’ve got a lot of words in.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Mr. Zur, this is not a forum for you just to make a speech. At this point in this discussion, we are—you’ve got a lot of words in.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The moderators asked if her critics were right, that she was out of touch. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The moderators asked if her critics were right, that she was out of touch. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: But there are a lot of people who seem to be disturbed by, I guess, where you come from. The idea of your wealth and your connections among the well-to-do. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: But there are a lot of people who seem to be disturbed by, I guess, where you come from. The idea of your wealth and your connections among the well-to-do. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: And Harry Britt questioned whether she could be trusted to fight for everyday people.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: And Harry Britt questioned whether she could be trusted to fight for everyday people.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: How can you be an effective advocate for consumer issues like keeping interest rates low on credit cards when you’ve gotten money from banks and savings and loan associations? How can really fight to get oil companies to clean up toxic waste when you got money from Chevron and Getty and all these people? I challenge Nancy Pelosi who has never had to stand up to that kind of pressure.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: How can you be an effective advocate for consumer issues like keeping interest rates low on credit cards when you’ve gotten money from banks and savings and loan associations? How can really fight to get oil companies to clean up toxic waste when you got money from Chevron and Getty and all these people? I challenge Nancy Pelosi who has never had to stand up to that kind of pressure.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Based on available campaign finance records, we couldn’t verify if Pelosi took money from Chevron for her campaign. But members of the influential Getty family, her family friends who made their fortune in oil, did donate $5,000 to her congressional campaign. But Pelosi pointed her finger and returned fire.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Based on available campaign finance records, we couldn’t verify if Pelosi took money from Chevron for her campaign. But members of the influential Getty family, her family friends who made their fortune in oil, did donate $5,000 to her congressional campaign. But Pelosi pointed her finger and returned fire.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Harry, have you taken any PAC money? Have you taken a PAC money. I have not taken any money. Any PAC money, have any you taken PAC money \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Harry, have you taken any PAC money? Have you taken a PAC money. I have not taken any money. Any PAC money, have any you taken PAC money \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt’s campaign was mostly grassroots funded, but Pelosi? Her campaign spent around a million dollars, more than the other 13 candidates combined. Pelosi also self-funded, giving more than $200,000 to her own campaign.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt’s campaign was mostly grassroots funded, but Pelosi? Her campaign spent around a million dollars, more than the other 13 candidates combined. Pelosi also self-funded, giving more than $200,000 to her own campaign.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: How can she relate to people like me, a single parent, working mother, or somebody else?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: How can she relate to people like me, a single parent, working mother, or somebody else?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Another candidate, San Francisco City Supervisor Carol Rue Silver, jumped in. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Another candidate, San Francisco City Supervisor Carol Rue Silver, jumped in. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Problems are different. She’s never met a payroll. She has never had to worry about child care. She has not had a kid in a public school. She never worried about the things that worry most of the people in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Problems are different. She’s never met a payroll. She has never had to worry about child care. She has not had a kid in a public school. She never worried about the things that worry most of the people in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Let’s let Nancy answer.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Let’s let Nancy answer.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: First of all, my ability to fund my own campaign to the extent that I can and to raise money over 1,500 contributors to my campaign gives me an independence that none of my candidates, I believe, share, especially the four supervisors who were reported this week to have received $1,000 each from the Embarcadero Center and then voted to give them a street this week. So if you want to talk about independence, let’s talk about Independence.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: First of all, my ability to fund my own campaign to the extent that I can and to raise money over 1,500 contributors to my campaign gives me an independence that none of my candidates, I believe, share, especially the four supervisors who were reported this week to have received $1,000 each from the Embarcadero Center and then voted to give them a street this week. So if you want to talk about independence, let’s talk about Independence.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi knew that she needed to do something to neutralize the idea that she was beholden to wealthy interests. So she counterpunched by saying to her opponents, well, you’re not exactly pure either. According to federal campaign fundraising data, each of the four city supervisors did receive a thousand dollar contribution from the CEO of the Embarcadero Center. That’s a set of high-rise office buildings downtown. We couldn’t verify the claim that he got a favor in return. But she’s doing something here by implying that. She’s undercutting them. It’s a classic campaign tactic, pointing out the hypocrisy in your opponent’s charge. After the primary, that same CEO gave $1,000 to Pelosi’s campaign for Congress. That’s politics. Pelosi has always argued that the PAC money she took was from Democratic allies who cared about regular people. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi knew that she needed to do something to neutralize the idea that she was beholden to wealthy interests. So she counterpunched by saying to her opponents, well, you’re not exactly pure either. According to federal campaign fundraising data, each of the four city supervisors did receive a thousand dollar contribution from the CEO of the Embarcadero Center. That’s a set of high-rise office buildings downtown. We couldn’t verify the claim that he got a favor in return. But she’s doing something here by implying that. She’s undercutting them. It’s a classic campaign tactic, pointing out the hypocrisy in your opponent’s charge. After the primary, that same CEO gave $1,000 to Pelosi’s campaign for Congress. That’s politics. Pelosi has always argued that the PAC money she took was from Democratic allies who cared about regular people. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Labor unions, from the Nurses Association, from organizations dedicated to the election of women to Congress.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Labor unions, from the Nurses Association, from organizations dedicated to the election of women to Congress.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: To her, raising money was just a means to an end. This was the late 80s. Money was changing politics as we knew it, and Pelosi was going to do everything she needed to do to win. You didn’t take any of that personally.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: To her, raising money was just a means to an end. This was the late 80s. Money was changing politics as we knew it, and Pelosi was going to do everything she needed to do to win. You didn’t take any of that personally.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: No, I mean it’s a campaign. What do you expect?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: No, I mean it’s a campaign. What do you expect?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Archival: There was a special election here in San Francisco today to fill a congressional seat left empty by the death of congresswoman Sala Burton.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Archival: There was a special election here in San Francisco today to fill a congressional seat left empty by the death of congresswoman Sala Burton.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: As the election got close, Pelosi had dropped in the polls, so election day was a nail-biter. Britt needed a big turnout in the predominantly gay Castro neighborhood, and he got that. But in the end, he could not overcome Pelosi’s ground game.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: As the election got close, Pelosi had dropped in the polls, so election day was a nail-biter. Britt needed a big turnout in the predominantly gay Castro neighborhood, and he got that. But in the end, he could not overcome Pelosi’s ground game.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Archival: And here in San Francisco, the Democrat Nancy Pelosi defeated Harry Britt, a city supervisor who is gay.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Archival: And here in San Francisco, the Democrat Nancy Pelosi defeated Harry Britt, a city supervisor who is gay.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Under rules for special elections like this one, the top contender from each party would move on to a runoff in June. Britt was out. Gwen Craig and Tom Amiano again. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Under rules for special elections like this one, the top contender from each party would move on to a runoff in June. Britt was out. Gwen Craig and Tom Amiano again. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: People took it pretty hard. They were really disappointed, because I think a lot of people thought, we’re gonna actually get an openly gay person going to Congress. That’s going to be such a huge step forward.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: People took it pretty hard. They were really disappointed, because I think a lot of people thought, we’re gonna actually get an openly gay person going to Congress. That’s going to be such a huge step forward.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: We’re all in a little bit of despair. You know, who is this woman? What does she know?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: After she won the primary, Pelosi called a meeting with AIDS activists. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: It wasn’t milquetoast ones, you know, it was angry ones. And they met with her. And I’m not saying that the reaction was 100% positive. I know that she shed some tears and I’m sure that they were sincere. But to the hard-bitten, we didn’t want tears.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: It wasn’t milquetoast ones, you know, it was angry ones. And they met with her. And I’m not saying that the reaction was 100% positive. I know that she shed some tears and I’m sure that they were sincere. But to the hard-bitten, we didn’t want tears.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt wasn’t the only person who understood the magnitude of the crisis. Pelosi also knew people who died of the disease, family friends, political staffers, people in her community.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: People were dying and I was visiting people in the hospital that we were close to and they were robust young men out there and then they were like a bag of bones in the hospitals, a bag a bones.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: During the election, Pelosi had also promised action on AIDS.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Archival: We want to stop spending money on a big defense budget and instead address it to the most important crisis of our time, the AIDS crisis.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: In the runoff, Pelosi easily defeated the Republican. She was on her way to Congress.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: Without objection, the gentlewoman from California is reckoned.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: Thank you very much for your kind remarks and to all of you. It’s a very sentimental day for me as you can see.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: Thank you very much for your kind remarks and to all of you. It’s a very sentimental day for me as you can see.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: When a new member of Congress is first sworn in, it’s kind of rare for them to say anything of note, let alone something controversial. But on that day, in June of 1987, Pelosi, sounding a little nervous, surprised everyone.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: And now we must take the leadership, of course, in the crisis of AIDS, and I look forward to working with you on that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: And now we must take the leadership, of course, in the crisis of AIDS, and I look forward to working with you on that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Now Brit’s supporters would have to put their faith in the person who defeated him. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: On a foggy morning in 1989, protesters unfurled a banner across the Golden Gate Bridge reading AIDS equals genocide, silence equals death, calling out the newly elected president and former Vice President George H.W. Bush.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: On a foggy morning in 1989, protesters unfurled a banner across the Golden Gate Bridge reading AIDS equals genocide, silence equals death, calling out the newly elected president and former Vice President George H.W. Bush.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: They blocked traffic for more than an hour. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I was one of the persons that sat on the bridge on January 31st, 1989. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: It was so cold.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Since 1988 Mike Shriver had been organizing with act up a direct action group focused on AIDS.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: During Pelosi’s first full term in Congress, the deaths continued unabated. There was no vaccine, no cure, limited treatment. So people took to the bridge.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: It’s one of the proudest moments of my life, actually. And as we were being pulled one person at a time to being arrested, my mentor, he said to me, if I could feel the way that I feel right now, I will live forever. I will survive the epidemic.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: It’s one of the proudest moments of my life, actually. And as we were being pulled one person at a time to being arrested, my mentor, he said to me, if I could feel the way that I feel right now, I will live forever. I will survive the epidemic.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: By 1988, Shriver and his peers had started focusing on how to change policy. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: This whole cadre of ACT UP individuals taught themselves how to become experts in research, experts in policy, experts in drug development. I happened to go down the track of the public health policy stuff.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: He remembers a meeting with Nancy Pelosi. He was there with someone who needed access to an experimental AIDS treatment.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I got to sit there in the room and he talked to Mrs. Pelosi and he said, I didn’t vote for you, but you’re my representative and I expect that you’ll take care of me. And she looked him deadpan and said, absolutely, that is my job.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It was our purpose. That’s just the way it was. It wasn’t like, I really hope you will do this. This is absolutely urgent that you do this.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: When I asked Pelosi about her support for AIDS funding, she was very matter of fact about it. To her, it seemed like a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Was not prepared for discrimination. Now these people were not anti-gay, they just thought the rest of the room was.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: For sure, Pelosi had solid allies, like California Congressmembers Barbara Boxer and Henry Waxman from Los Angeles. But they faced opposition because of the stigma of AIDS. And then activists had an idea.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Cleve Jones came to my house with Art Agnos when I’m a newly elected member of Congress and says he has this idea that people will make a quilt for their loved ones. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Cleve Jones was a young activist who had worked for Harvey Milk. He later went on to mobilize the community to respond to HIV AIDS and co-created what became known as the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Tens of thousands of panels, handcrafted with care, by mothers and fathers, brothers, co-workers, friends, lovers and spouses, sewn into three by six foot panels. Panels for everyone, from musicians like Freddie Mercury of Queen and Sylvester. To political activists and artists like Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe, to others who lived quieter lives but whose death crushed those who loved them. Jones had a vision. He wanted to spread huge sections of the quilt out on the National Mall in Washington.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Cleve Jones was a young activist who had worked for Harvey Milk. He later went on to mobilize the community to respond to HIV AIDS and co-created what became known as the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Tens of thousands of panels, handcrafted with care, by mothers and fathers, brothers, co-workers, friends, lovers and spouses, sewn into three by six foot panels. Panels for everyone, from musicians like Freddie Mercury of Queen and Sylvester. To political activists and artists like Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe, to others who lived quieter lives but whose death crushed those who loved them. Jones had a vision. He wanted to spread huge sections of the quilt out on the National Mall in Washington.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Enormous quilts, enormous, big as the mall. Pelosi was on board to help bring the quilt to DC, but there was a hitch.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Enormous quilts, enormous, big as the mall. Pelosi was on board to help bring the quilt to DC, but there was a hitch.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: The National Park Service says, we’ll give you a corner where you can have a few patches. Can you imagine? So I said, well, they’re certainly not gonna do that.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: The National Park Service says, we’ll give you a corner where you can have a few patches. Can you imagine? So I said, well, they’re certainly not gonna do that.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She asked the National Park Service, why can’t we display the full quilt? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It’s gonna kill the grass, but why? Because if you have something on the grass for more than 20 minutes, it kills the grass.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It’s gonna kill the grass, but why? Because if you have something on the grass for more than 20 minutes, it kills the grass.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi had an idea.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: We have hundreds of people, we can pick it up every 20 minutes.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: We have hundreds of people, we can pick it up every 20 minutes.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The National Park Service caved, and on October 11, 1987, the AIDS quilt was first displayed in Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The National Park Service caved, and on October 11, 1987, the AIDS quilt was first displayed in Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It was so beautiful.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Archival – AIDS memorial quilt: Bill Cathcart. Bob Greenwood.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Archival – AIDS memorial quilt: Bill Cathcart. Bob Greenwood.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Across the National Mall, the names of the fallen echoed as Cleve Jones read some of them. I was there then.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Archival – AIDS memorial quilt: Douglas Lowery.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Archival – AIDS memorial quilt: Douglas Lowery.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi was one of the few members of Congress there. Even then, she was laser-focused. She told a reporter for GayUSA…\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Now, the first day I… \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Became a member, I became a co-sponsor of the Gay Civil Rights Bill, Ted Weiss’ bill, and we have a few pieces of legislation regarding AIDS, more money for AIDS, confidentiality, non-discrimination.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Became a member, I became a co-sponsor of the Gay Civil Rights Bill, Ted Weiss’ bill, and we have a few pieces of legislation regarding AIDS, more money for AIDS, confidentiality, non-discrimination.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: At a time when HIV AIDS still felt like a death sentence, Nancy Pelosi helped change the prognosis. Pelosi co-authored the Ryan White Care Act. Ryan White was a teenager from Indiana who had hemophilia. He got AIDS from a medical treatment. After his diagnosis, his school banned him from attending class. To some lawmakers, White was someone they could help without worrying about attacks by religious zealots who thought AIDS was God’s punishment of gay men and IV drug users. Pelosi understood this. Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos again.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: At a time when HIV AIDS still felt like a death sentence, Nancy Pelosi helped change the prognosis. Pelosi co-authored the Ryan White Care Act. Ryan White was a teenager from Indiana who had hemophilia. He got AIDS from a medical treatment. After his diagnosis, his school banned him from attending class. To some lawmakers, White was someone they could help without worrying about attacks by religious zealots who thought AIDS was God’s punishment of gay men and IV drug users. Pelosi understood this. Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos again.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Art Agnos: She looked like the all-American woman. She was, she is beautiful. She had lovely kids, she had a handsome husband. What the hell is she doing with these weird people? When she showed up, she looks like us. How come she’s talking like that? And I think that gave her a entree to discussing AIDS, gay people, all the kinds of issues that are important to us in San Francisco. They listened because she looked like them.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Art Agnos: She looked like the all-American woman. She was, she is beautiful. She had lovely kids, she had a handsome husband. What the hell is she doing with these weird people? When she showed up, she looks like us. How come she’s talking like that? And I think that gave her a entree to discussing AIDS, gay people, all the kinds of issues that are important to us in San Francisco. They listened because she looked like them.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The Ryan White Care Act passed in 1990. It created a financial safety net for people with HIV who were underinsured. She also helped push through a bill that allocated funds that people with HIV could use for housing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The Ryan White Care Act passed in 1990. It created a financial safety net for people with HIV who were underinsured. She also helped push through a bill that allocated funds that people with HIV could use for housing.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I got to go with her, and I’m sitting there watching her work.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I got to go with her, and I’m sitting there watching her work.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s the conference between the House and Senate that divides up government funding. Mike Shriver remembers one instance.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s the conference between the House and Senate that divides up government funding. Mike Shriver remembers one instance.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: The very first year that she got the most significant increase for HIV prevention was a year that a senator from Pennsylvania looked for some money for substance abuse treatment that he needed.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: The very first year that she got the most significant increase for HIV prevention was a year that a senator from Pennsylvania looked for some money for substance abuse treatment that he needed.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That Senator, Arlen Specter, promised Nancy Pelosi he would restore her funding for HIV programs the next year. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That Senator, Arlen Specter, promised Nancy Pelosi he would restore her funding for HIV programs the next year. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: He made the commitment to her and he did it. For her, you know, you live up to your word. And if you don’t remember your word, I’ll tell you what you told me. And I thought, that’s magic.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: He made the commitment to her and he did it. For her, you know, you live up to your word. And if you don’t remember your word, I’ll tell you what you told me. And I thought, that’s magic.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Mike Shriver lives with HIV.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Mike Shriver lives with HIV.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I relied on Ryan White funding for my care and for my dental care and had I not had that, I would not have had access to the drugs that eventually had become what continue to keep me alive and keep me in remission with my HIV disease.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I had just emailed her the day before talking about finishing my IVIG infusion, which took five consecutive days, which just flattened me out. And she wrote back, Michael, loved getting your promising report. Love you, Nancy. A couple of emojis and then thank you. I’m so lucky, I am so privileged. I do not ever underestimate, like I don’t take this for granted. Nancy is not really good about receiving compliments. It’s not her favorite thing to experience and I’ve had to do it a couple of times and realize I know this is gonna piss you off or it’s gonna make you a little bit mad but I need you to hear how important it is of what you’ve done for us. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Rahm Emanuel: If you win, you get to set the table. Nancy Pelosi’s path to the top. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Barbara Boxer: One of those days on the plane, we were talking about, what is your dream in politics? And she said, I want to be Speaker of the House.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Shafer. Co-reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound design by Christopher Beale. Additional mixing by Brendan Willard. Fact checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Sussman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme song composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor-in-chief. Special thanks to our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television, and radio artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"#Transcript\">View Full Episode Transcript\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Before her historic Speakership, even before she got to the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi worked for years outside the spotlight as an official in the California Democratic party while she raised her family in San Francisco. That was until 1987, when tragic circumstances led her to do something she hadn’t considered before: run for Congress. Her first hurdle? A city in crisis and a motivated opponent from a community impacted by a deadly epidemic.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"Transcript\">Episode Transcript \u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Hi, I’m Scott Schafer. I’ve been covering politics for nearly 30 years, especially here in San Francisco. As a reporter, I’ve watched a lot of people rise from San Francisco into the national arena. Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, Dianne Feinstein. But no one has fascinated me more than Nancy Pelosi, trailblazer, power broker, lightning rod, first woman ever speaker of the house. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Tonight on Express, the campaigning has been intense. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: I remember watching her way back in 1987. That was the first time she was running for Congress here in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: We do have 14 candidates here, so can we keep this discussion on an even scale? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: This is from a televised debate hosted here at KQED, the public media outlet where I work. All the candidates are sitting on risers, lots of poofy, teased hair, wide-framed glasses, and Pelosi is in the front row, perfect blowout, wearing a purple blazer. [00:00:57][15.8]\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I think this is the most hilarious thing that a woman can come into this district from outside of it and buy this election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: [00:01:04] Pelosi’s critics, mostly other Democrats, call her a wealthy socialite. They say she’s the establishment pick. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: And what we have is we have, in this election, somebody saying, the machine backs me, I’ve got a million bucks, I don’t live in your district, I have never met many of your slobs, but I’m going to be your new leader because I got bucks and I’m powerful. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: How can she relate to people like me a single-parent working mother? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Let’s let Nancy talk. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I don’t think you have to be sick to be a doctor or poor to understand the problems of the poor. I have spent my life committed to the ideals of the Democratic Party. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It’s an interesting moment, Pelosi turns their argument around, saying that she’s the right candidate precisely because she’s been working behind the scenes. She knows the game inside out. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: I believe that I will be the best and most effective representative for San Francisco because I have worked in that arena for 25 years, both at the local, state, and national level. I have work with the members of Congress long before they went to Congress and long since. I have persuaded them on votes, both by one-on-one persuasion and by mobilizing in their districts.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Last year, Pelosi announced she was retiring. As a journalist, I started thinking about how she went from being relatively unknown to one of the most formidable politicians of her generation, and about the role she’s played leading up to this political moment, a moment where faith in the Democratic Party and public trust in U.S. Institutions are at their lowest in decades. And she agreed to talk, a series of five interviews. Okay, we’re gonna put you right there I wear the red light.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Unfortunately, this is not visual because I got off the plane. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Our first interview, she had just gotten off a cross-country flight, she was also nursing a cold, but I knew how to get things started on the right foot.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I’m glad I’m seeing that. I’m going to go right into it, okay? I think I should test them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Nancy Pelosi is kind of a tough interview. I’ve done it many times before, usually about a political issue. She’s always warm and gracious until you ask something that annoys her and then she lets you know it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I don’t feel that way at all. I don’t even know why you’re asking that question. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She can be loyal to her talking points. Frustrating. How do you want people to remember your legacy?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Not so fast on the legacy. We have to win the house, which we will do. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She’ll completely deny the premise of your question. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: No, I didn’t oppose it for many years. I posed it when they suggested it, and then Kalka said they won it and I supported it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But I figured this is the time, right now, before she leaves office, to really reckon with the force that is Nancy Pelosi. From KQED, this is The Speaker, how Nancy Pelosi changed the face of power. This is the inside story of her rise and what she did when she got there, as told by the people who were in the rooms where it all happened.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Anna Eshoo: Nancy always would talk about winning and how to win. I said, Mr. President, we’re so excited about doing health care, but understand this, it’s going to be carpet bombing, take no prisoners, you name it, total warfare.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rahm Emanuel: She is comfortable with power and exercising it. Nancy exists in the arena. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mick Mulvaney: I’ve often described it with a little bit tongue-in-cheek, because I’m not going to accuse anybody. I want to make clear here that I’m not slandering anybody, I’m not accusing anybody of any criminal activity, but she reminded me of a mafia boss. That’s how she ran the place.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: They were going to get a bullet in my effing brain. You know, they used the F word a lot about me throughout the whole thing. They were gonna hang Vice President Gallows for him.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Today, how Nancy Pelosi got to Congress. She had been the ultimate insider, working for years as a high-up official in the Democratic Party, forged by San Francisco politics. But also an outsider, a woman, a mother of five kids, behind the scenes. Had you not ever considered running with her?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I had zero interest in running for office. Why? It was like, did you not want to go skydiving? I didn’t even think of it. I loved public service, and I was the ultimate volunteer, the chair of the California Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: There she was, diligently working behind the scenes, until a twist of fate tested what she was made of. Nancy Pelosi never planned to run for public office, but in 1987, San Francisco’s congresswoman, Sala Burton, was dying. She was a big woman. She was, like, shrunk up on cancer. That’s John Burton, Sala’s brother-in-law, part of the family’s political operation. Let me set the scene here. The congresswoman is on her deathbed. She hasn’t yet endorsed a successor, but her endorsement is priceless. Her family has held this seat since the \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>John Burton: She calls the group of us back to her hospital bed, where she’s just like, and she tells us, I’m not going to run again. I’d like you to support Nancy Pelosi. She starts going into Nancy Pelosi, she’s operational. She’s right on the issue. She says, she said, he said, and I walk out, she says, is she bullshitting or what?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: John Burton didn’t see Nancy Pelosi as a candidate. She was the Democratic fundraiser, organizer, behind the scenes. But Sawa saw it.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>John Burton: Something else. She saw in Nancy Pelosi a tough, strong, determined, liberal, caring for people person. I mean, it was just, I walked out and I said, holy my God. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: She said to me, I’m going to ask you if you will run for my seat, and I need to know your answer now.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi told Salah she had to check with her family first. She had five kids. By 1987, only one was still living at home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: My daughter Alexandra, she says, mother, what teenage girl does not want her mother out of the house three nights of the week? Then she said, get a life.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Maybe her youngest daughter didn’t really see it, but Pelosi definitely had a life. She moved her family to San Francisco in 1969, just a couple years after the Summer of Love, a time when the city was home to artists like Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane. Pelosi was hardly a member of the counterculture, but insists she loves the Gratiful Dead. For those first few years, she had her hands full with the kids.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Especially, I have five and six years to have to understand. Sometimes I didn’t even wash my face. Being a mom is probably the best preparation for anything because you are multitasking all of the time.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But politics was in her DNA. She’d grown up in a political family. Her dad became the mayor of Baltimore when she was just seven. San Francisco is her husband Paul’s hometown. The year they moved back, his brother Ron was on the board of supervisors. They lived down the street from San Francisco mayor Joe Alioto.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: When people came and saw our house, they would say, oh, this is a big house. We’ll have lots of political events here.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: And you did.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And we did. How do you turn people down then? And my kids were so cute as they were getting a little bit bigger, they were making the hors d’oeuvres and serving the hors-d’oeuves and the rest of that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She started taking on more political stuff, organizing volunteers, hosting candidates in her home, raising money. She became a prolific fundraiser for Democratic candidates. In 1976, California Governor Jerry Brown decided to run for president. A left coast challenge to Jimmy Carter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jerry Brown: Ten years of problems in Vietnam and Watergate and all the scandals you read about in the FBI and the CIA. I think people, I think the people are ready for a new generation of leadership.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Brown entered the race pretty late in the game, but Pelosi used her Baltimore political connections to help him win Maryland’s Democratic primary. Here’s another candidate, Barbara Mikulski. Pelosi helped her win a Senate seat.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barbara Mikulski: [00:09:44] I was out there going earring to earring with Linda Chavez. She had Ronald Reagan, and I had Nancy Pelosi.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: By 1981, Pelosi was chair of the California Democratic Party, in charge of getting Democrats elected all across the state. She had a reputation for being relentless, but she was also known for her personal touch. When Nancy talked to you, you felt like you were the center of the world. That’s Art Agnos, a former mayor of San Francisco and also, by the way, my ex-boss. I worked on his staff from 1986 to 1992. That was before I became a reporter for KQED in 1998. Anyway, Art remembers going over to Pelosi’s house for dinner back in the 70s. He was just a staffer himself back then. She invited us to her home for dinner with Leo, who was the main person. Art’s talking about Leo McCarthy. McCarthy was the speaker of the state assembly. That’s California’s version of the House of Representatives. She made sure that… \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Art Agnos: I brought my kids? No one ever said bring your kids. Pelosi even had her kids babysitting his kids, taking them upstairs to the bedroom, playing games. Her kids are taking care of my kids. I was the staff guy. She generated a kind of loyalty and love from my family that came from her attentive, thoughtful, sweet interest in us.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: This is what Sala Burton saw in Nancy Pelosi, according to Art.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Sala Burton anointed Nancy Pelosi to be her successor. After she died on February 1st, there would be a primary just two months later, in April, to pick the top candidate for each party. So now the race was on. Sala’s brother-in-law, John Burton, would run Pelosi’s campaign and they would use the Burton playbook.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Phil Burton: No person is an island under themselves. We all need each other and we’ve got each other, I promise you that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s Phil Burton, John’s older brother, Sal’s husband, a chain-smoking giant in San Francisco politics. The Burton political machine specialized in something that seems pretty standard today — coalition politics. They mobilized groups other politicians overlooked. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Their coalition was gay. It wasn’t LGBT as it is today, but you know, it was, it wasn’t called that. Gay, African-American, labor.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Phil Burton put it a little differently.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Phil Burton: I’ve got the support of the gays and the cops as well, ain’t that a bitch? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: We ran everything at that day’s game. We were the most diverse operation politically in this city, period. And Nancy was a part of that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s another former San Francisco mayor.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: I’m Willie Brown, period. I was part of Phil Burton’s operation. What do you remember about her? Well, I just remember that she was a very attractive woman. Oh, very opinionated, I must say.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She sort of had an unlikely friendship with John, who once accidentally left cocaine in the pocket of a suit he sent to the dry cleaners.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: In the drinking world. John was all the things that you wouldn’t even think Nancy would know about. But they had a friendship.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Close with the Burtons, raised campaign funds for them, but she also helped their rivals within the party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: I’m telling you.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She had her whole body in both camps.” Her campaign chose the slogan, a voice that will be heard. Her campaign promised all the other candidates could talk, but with her connections and her experience, she would be the most effective at doing things in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Willie Brown: It was not like she was going to be the next Jesse Jackson. No, Nancy was the pro who was going to help orchestrate the process.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She pulled together a team of field captains who had experience with the United Farm Workers Union to set up her ground game. An army of volunteers knocked on doors, made phone calls, staffed campaign events and signed up other volunteers to get out the vote on election day. At one point, Pelosi’s brother Tommy came to visit campaign headquarters in San Francisco. He’d been the mayor of Baltimore just like their father.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And he said, Daddy sent me to make sure that you had your ground game in place. So I said, well, come see what it is.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: On sheets of butcher paper, Pelosi and her team had mapped out the strategy in true Burton fashion. They had divided up the city into factions and were seeing how they could make a winning coalition, gaming out worst-case scenarios.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Every black vote, Asian, gay vote, the lefties, if we give them every possible vote, not that they would get every possible, Nancy loses by a couple thousand votes. We have sent our troops out to get 5,000 more votes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Their team sent targeted mailers to different communities—Italian, African American, gay—and they quietly slipped some to Republicans. John Burton again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>John Burton: I’d go to things with her, go to that, and just watch her. One time some group was kind of screwing over her and walked out and she says, don’t worry, we will show them how truly unimportant they are after the election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: But, she wasn’t going to take a single vote for granted. Before she ran for the House in 1987, Pelosi had run in one other election inside the party for chair of the Democratic National Committee. That’s the group that coordinates strategy, establishes the Democratic Party platform. She lost. And she learned a lesson she never forgot.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I had done everything in the party and worked with many people. People that I had worked with forever were making terrible statements about me.\u003cbr>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi said she was the target of all sorts of attacks, including sexist ones. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: So when I ran for Congress, and people would call me and say, did you see what someone so said? I said, yeah, don’t bother me with that. If you’re concerned about that, get on the phone and make some calls, walk some precincts, but don’t think I care about what somebody else says. And I would not have realized that had I not seen how Democrats treated Democrats when I run for the other office.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Democrats against Democrats, a knife fight in a phone booth. That’s what Pelosi was entering in the primary. Against a motivated opponent fighting for a city reeling from a deadly epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Where did it go?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: This is an old news clip from 1987. A singer charms a crowd with a famous Judy Garland cover.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Politics in San Francisco, a fundraiser in a cabaret that caters to gays. At this event, the candidate is gay as well, Democrat Harry Britt.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The bar is packed with gay and lesbian supporters. The sign at the door reads, We’re just wild about Harry Britt.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: While he would be a political outsider elsewhere in the country with his progressive agenda, he fits in easily in San Francisco. Liberal credentials are essential. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt was a San Francisco supervisor and Nancy Pelosi’s toughest rival. He was soft-spoken, with a serious tone, kind of an intellectual, a little socially awkward. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: I’m from Texas and I come from a family of Southerners. I was a Methodist minister for a major part of my life and that was\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That was Britt in a TV interview. He never intended to run for office. Like Pelosi, he was more behind the scenes. In 1977, he volunteered to help elect Harvey Milk to the board of supervisors. Milk was the first openly gay person elected in California.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harvey Milk: There are 15 million lesbian and gay men waiting to hear your voice! We are coming out of the closet! When are you going to come out of yours?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The next year, Harvey Milk was assassinated, along with the mayor at the time, George Moscone. The killer was Dan White. He had been on the board of supervisors with Milk. A year before he died, Harvey milk made a recording. A list of people he would want to replace him if he were assassinated. And who was on that list?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harvey Milk: The third choice I would have would be Harry Britt, who most people don’t know, but I’ve watched Harry, and Harry’s been involved with three campaigns, and I’ve watched Harry grow and grow and grow, and a very, very dedicated and strong person. One who will not be pushed around. One who understands where the movement is and where it must go. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: Harvey’s gone, but all of us who cared about him and the things that he stood for realize now that it’s our job.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: The murders unified, made us cohesive, and that translated into political muscle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Tom Amiano was active in the gay rights movement, friends with Harvey Milk, and Harry.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: Harvey was very charismatic and out there, and Harry was just a steady, even presence.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: In the early 80s, the community was still reeling from the assassinations, and then another deadly threat emerged. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: AIDS was rampant. Every day somebody died. Every day you saw somebody with purple splotches or you’d say, hey, what happened to Michael? He was supposed to show. You didn’t hear, he died.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: I moved to San Francisco in 1981, just as some gay men started coming down with some unusual symptoms. Thrush or yeast infections in the throat that wouldn’t go away, fungal infections in the lungs, lesions on the skin, weight loss. Doctors didn’t know why, but soon they were dying. As the casualties mounted, so did the fear. There was no test for the virus yet. We didn’t even know it was a virus. Many of us were worried, afraid we had this ticking time bomb inside of us. But there was nothing to do but be careful and wait. It escalated quickly. By 1984, it became common to see people with full blown AIDS emaciated, looking old beyond their years, covered with purple splotches, Kaposi sarcoma. We’d see men who looked to be at death’s door, slowly walking or shuffling around the Castro neighborhood. There were funerals, lots of funerals, many for people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. It was a slow motion disaster. But it seemed no one in Washington cared. Harry Britt again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: So I think it’s legitimate for us to point out that the people who care the most about AIDS and certainly the gay community which cares in a passionate way about AIDS is very united behind my candidacy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: These were the stakes of the 87th Special Election. In that Congressional race, many saw Harry Britt, not Pelosi, as the champion the gay community needed in Washington. It was also a chance to make history.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: It was beyond who’s Harry Britt, it was beyond whose Nancy Pelosi. It was that we might get an openly gay member of Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s Gwen Craig. She came to San Francisco in 1975. She worked closely with Milk and would become involved in Harry Britt’s campaign.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: The nonchalance, it seemed, of Congress and the executive administrations just was maddening.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The CDC first published an article describing five young gay patients in Los Angeles whose immune systems suddenly failed in 1981. But President Reagan didn’t publicly address the crisis for four years, only then because he was asked about it. By 1987, nearly 2,000 San Franciscans had died of AIDS. I remember a lot of people in the gay community thought that Pelosi, a wealthy, straight, white woman, wasn’t the best person to fight for them in Washington. The Brit campaign didn’t hold back. Here’s one ad they ran.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival Ad: Inspector Riley, Missing Person Squad. Yeah, we’ve heard that report. No, we haven’t seen Nancy Pelosi. That’s why she’s a missing person. Nobody has seen Nancy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt’s campaign sent out mailers calling her a dilettante.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Most people didn’t know what that meant.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: And they said, does that mean you’re a debut talent? Aren’t you old to be a debut? They did one piece.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: Call that referred to Nancy Pelosi as party girl because she came from being head of the Democratic Party.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Gwen Craig again, Lesbian Activist. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: I didn’t like that piece at all.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: What was it that you didn’t like about it?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: Well, I thought it was rather misogynist. You know, I though it was sexist. I thought that it belittled her in a way because of her gender. So I became then uncomfortable with my support of Harry for a while after that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: They warned us it would be brutal, and it would a bloodbath, and I’d be sorry I ever got in the race, but I wasn’t frightened by any of that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi did something in 1987 that she rarely does. She agreed to a televised debate a week before the election, right here at KQED. Pelosi was the front-runner. She had a lot to lose.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic Party insider, runs ahead in recent polls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Harry Britt was close on her heels. In addition to being part of the gay movement, he was a democratic socialist. He believed in challenging corporate power structures, and once tried to rein in wealthy landlords with commercial rent control.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: A gay activist who is to the left of his chief opponents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Just before the debate, Pelosi’s campaign threatened to pull out. Her staff was worried the other candidates would gang up on her.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Calm down a little bit.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It was a free for all, with all 14 candidates left, right and center. It made for great live television.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Mr. Zur, this is not a forum for you just to make a speech. At this point in this discussion, we are—you’ve got a lot of words in.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The moderators asked if her critics were right, that she was out of touch. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: But there are a lot of people who seem to be disturbed by, I guess, where you come from. The idea of your wealth and your connections among the well-to-do. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: And Harry Britt questioned whether she could be trusted to fight for everyday people.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Harry Britt: How can you be an effective advocate for consumer issues like keeping interest rates low on credit cards when you’ve gotten money from banks and savings and loan associations? How can really fight to get oil companies to clean up toxic waste when you got money from Chevron and Getty and all these people? I challenge Nancy Pelosi who has never had to stand up to that kind of pressure.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Based on available campaign finance records, we couldn’t verify if Pelosi took money from Chevron for her campaign. But members of the influential Getty family, her family friends who made their fortune in oil, did donate $5,000 to her congressional campaign. But Pelosi pointed her finger and returned fire.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Harry, have you taken any PAC money? Have you taken a PAC money. I have not taken any money. Any PAC money, have any you taken PAC money \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt’s campaign was mostly grassroots funded, but Pelosi? Her campaign spent around a million dollars, more than the other 13 candidates combined. Pelosi also self-funded, giving more than $200,000 to her own campaign.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: How can she relate to people like me, a single parent, working mother, or somebody else?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Another candidate, San Francisco City Supervisor Carol Rue Silver, jumped in. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Problems are different. She’s never met a payroll. She has never had to worry about child care. She has not had a kid in a public school. She never worried about the things that worry most of the people in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Let’s let Nancy answer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: First of all, my ability to fund my own campaign to the extent that I can and to raise money over 1,500 contributors to my campaign gives me an independence that none of my candidates, I believe, share, especially the four supervisors who were reported this week to have received $1,000 each from the Embarcadero Center and then voted to give them a street this week. So if you want to talk about independence, let’s talk about Independence.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi knew that she needed to do something to neutralize the idea that she was beholden to wealthy interests. So she counterpunched by saying to her opponents, well, you’re not exactly pure either. According to federal campaign fundraising data, each of the four city supervisors did receive a thousand dollar contribution from the CEO of the Embarcadero Center. That’s a set of high-rise office buildings downtown. We couldn’t verify the claim that he got a favor in return. But she’s doing something here by implying that. She’s undercutting them. It’s a classic campaign tactic, pointing out the hypocrisy in your opponent’s charge. After the primary, that same CEO gave $1,000 to Pelosi’s campaign for Congress. That’s politics. Pelosi has always argued that the PAC money she took was from Democratic allies who cared about regular people. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: Labor unions, from the Nurses Association, from organizations dedicated to the election of women to Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: To her, raising money was just a means to an end. This was the late 80s. Money was changing politics as we knew it, and Pelosi was going to do everything she needed to do to win. You didn’t take any of that personally.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: No, I mean it’s a campaign. What do you expect?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival: There was a special election here in San Francisco today to fill a congressional seat left empty by the death of congresswoman Sala Burton.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: As the election got close, Pelosi had dropped in the polls, so election day was a nail-biter. Britt needed a big turnout in the predominantly gay Castro neighborhood, and he got that. But in the end, he could not overcome Pelosi’s ground game.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival: And here in San Francisco, the Democrat Nancy Pelosi defeated Harry Britt, a city supervisor who is gay.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Under rules for special elections like this one, the top contender from each party would move on to a runoff in June. Britt was out. Gwen Craig and Tom Amiano again. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Gwenn Craig: People took it pretty hard. They were really disappointed, because I think a lot of people thought, we’re gonna actually get an openly gay person going to Congress. That’s going to be such a huge step forward.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: We’re all in a little bit of despair. You know, who is this woman? What does she know?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: After she won the primary, Pelosi called a meeting with AIDS activists. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Tom Ammiano: It wasn’t milquetoast ones, you know, it was angry ones. And they met with her. And I’m not saying that the reaction was 100% positive. I know that she shed some tears and I’m sure that they were sincere. But to the hard-bitten, we didn’t want tears.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Britt wasn’t the only person who understood the magnitude of the crisis. Pelosi also knew people who died of the disease, family friends, political staffers, people in her community.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: People were dying and I was visiting people in the hospital that we were close to and they were robust young men out there and then they were like a bag of bones in the hospitals, a bag a bones.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: During the election, Pelosi had also promised action on AIDS.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival: We want to stop spending money on a big defense budget and instead address it to the most important crisis of our time, the AIDS crisis.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: In the runoff, Pelosi easily defeated the Republican. She was on her way to Congress.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: Without objection, the gentlewoman from California is reckoned.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: Thank you very much for your kind remarks and to all of you. It’s a very sentimental day for me as you can see.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: When a new member of Congress is first sworn in, it’s kind of rare for them to say anything of note, let alone something controversial. But on that day, in June of 1987, Pelosi, sounding a little nervous, surprised everyone.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival of Pelosi’s Swearing In: And now we must take the leadership, of course, in the crisis of AIDS, and I look forward to working with you on that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Now Brit’s supporters would have to put their faith in the person who defeated him. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: On a foggy morning in 1989, protesters unfurled a banner across the Golden Gate Bridge reading AIDS equals genocide, silence equals death, calling out the newly elected president and former Vice President George H.W. Bush.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: They blocked traffic for more than an hour. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I was one of the persons that sat on the bridge on January 31st, 1989. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: It was so cold.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Since 1988 Mike Shriver had been organizing with act up a direct action group focused on AIDS.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: During Pelosi’s first full term in Congress, the deaths continued unabated. There was no vaccine, no cure, limited treatment. So people took to the bridge.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: It’s one of the proudest moments of my life, actually. And as we were being pulled one person at a time to being arrested, my mentor, he said to me, if I could feel the way that I feel right now, I will live forever. I will survive the epidemic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: By 1988, Shriver and his peers had started focusing on how to change policy. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: This whole cadre of ACT UP individuals taught themselves how to become experts in research, experts in policy, experts in drug development. I happened to go down the track of the public health policy stuff.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: He remembers a meeting with Nancy Pelosi. He was there with someone who needed access to an experimental AIDS treatment.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I got to sit there in the room and he talked to Mrs. Pelosi and he said, I didn’t vote for you, but you’re my representative and I expect that you’ll take care of me. And she looked him deadpan and said, absolutely, that is my job.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It was our purpose. That’s just the way it was. It wasn’t like, I really hope you will do this. This is absolutely urgent that you do this.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: When I asked Pelosi about her support for AIDS funding, she was very matter of fact about it. To her, it seemed like a no-brainer.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Was not prepared for discrimination. Now these people were not anti-gay, they just thought the rest of the room was.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: For sure, Pelosi had solid allies, like California Congressmembers Barbara Boxer and Henry Waxman from Los Angeles. But they faced opposition because of the stigma of AIDS. And then activists had an idea.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Cleve Jones came to my house with Art Agnos when I’m a newly elected member of Congress and says he has this idea that people will make a quilt for their loved ones. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Cleve Jones was a young activist who had worked for Harvey Milk. He later went on to mobilize the community to respond to HIV AIDS and co-created what became known as the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Tens of thousands of panels, handcrafted with care, by mothers and fathers, brothers, co-workers, friends, lovers and spouses, sewn into three by six foot panels. Panels for everyone, from musicians like Freddie Mercury of Queen and Sylvester. To political activists and artists like Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe, to others who lived quieter lives but whose death crushed those who loved them. Jones had a vision. He wanted to spread huge sections of the quilt out on the National Mall in Washington.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Enormous quilts, enormous, big as the mall. Pelosi was on board to help bring the quilt to DC, but there was a hitch.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>KQED 1987 Debate Package: The National Park Service says, we’ll give you a corner where you can have a few patches. Can you imagine? So I said, well, they’re certainly not gonna do that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She asked the National Park Service, why can’t we display the full quilt? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It’s gonna kill the grass, but why? Because if you have something on the grass for more than 20 minutes, it kills the grass.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi had an idea.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: We have hundreds of people, we can pick it up every 20 minutes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The National Park Service caved, and on October 11, 1987, the AIDS quilt was first displayed in Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: It was so beautiful.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival – AIDS memorial quilt: Bill Cathcart. Bob Greenwood.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Across the National Mall, the names of the fallen echoed as Cleve Jones read some of them. I was there then.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Archival – AIDS memorial quilt: Douglas Lowery.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Pelosi was one of the few members of Congress there. Even then, she was laser-focused. She told a reporter for GayUSA…\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Now, the first day I… \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: Became a member, I became a co-sponsor of the Gay Civil Rights Bill, Ted Weiss’ bill, and we have a few pieces of legislation regarding AIDS, more money for AIDS, confidentiality, non-discrimination.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: At a time when HIV AIDS still felt like a death sentence, Nancy Pelosi helped change the prognosis. Pelosi co-authored the Ryan White Care Act. Ryan White was a teenager from Indiana who had hemophilia. He got AIDS from a medical treatment. After his diagnosis, his school banned him from attending class. To some lawmakers, White was someone they could help without worrying about attacks by religious zealots who thought AIDS was God’s punishment of gay men and IV drug users. Pelosi understood this. Former San Francisco Mayor Art Agnos again.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Art Agnos: She looked like the all-American woman. She was, she is beautiful. She had lovely kids, she had a handsome husband. What the hell is she doing with these weird people? When she showed up, she looks like us. How come she’s talking like that? And I think that gave her a entree to discussing AIDS, gay people, all the kinds of issues that are important to us in San Francisco. They listened because she looked like them.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The Ryan White Care Act passed in 1990. It created a financial safety net for people with HIV who were underinsured. She also helped push through a bill that allocated funds that people with HIV could use for housing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I got to go with her, and I’m sitting there watching her work.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That’s the conference between the House and Senate that divides up government funding. Mike Shriver remembers one instance.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: The very first year that she got the most significant increase for HIV prevention was a year that a senator from Pennsylvania looked for some money for substance abuse treatment that he needed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: That Senator, Arlen Specter, promised Nancy Pelosi he would restore her funding for HIV programs the next year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: He made the commitment to her and he did it. For her, you know, you live up to your word. And if you don’t remember your word, I’ll tell you what you told me. And I thought, that’s magic.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: Mike Shriver lives with HIV.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I relied on Ryan White funding for my care and for my dental care and had I not had that, I would not have had access to the drugs that eventually had become what continue to keep me alive and keep me in remission with my HIV disease.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: So you’re saying she’s the reason you’re still here?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I absolutely believe that.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: There’s this one thing Mike told me that really stuck with me. He was telling me about a text exchange he had with Nancy after a health emergency in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Mike Shriver: I had just emailed her the day before talking about finishing my IVIG infusion, which took five consecutive days, which just flattened me out. And she wrote back, Michael, loved getting your promising report. Love you, Nancy. A couple of emojis and then thank you. I’m so lucky, I am so privileged. I do not ever underestimate, like I don’t take this for granted. Nancy is not really good about receiving compliments. It’s not her favorite thing to experience and I’ve had to do it a couple of times and realize I know this is gonna piss you off or it’s gonna make you a little bit mad but I need you to hear how important it is of what you’ve done for us. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: When Pelosi ran in 1987, her slogan was a voice that will be heard. And when Nancy Pelosi became the first woman Speaker of the House\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: San Francisco for giving me the privilege.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: She brought it back home.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: When I ran, my slogan was, a voice that will be heard. I think they’ve heard us. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: It took nearly 20 years, but Pelosi was on a path to becoming the first woman ever elected House Speaker. Next time on the speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Nancy Pelosi: I don’t see a plan here to win.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Rahm Emanuel: If you win, you get to set the table. Nancy Pelosi’s path to the top. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barbara Boxer: One of those days on the plane, we were talking about, what is your dream in politics? And she said, I want to be Speaker of the House.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: You had to have some chutzpah at that point in her career to say I want to be speaker.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Barbara Boxer: Chutzpah doesn’t begin to describe it. It was impossible.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Scott Shafer: The Speaker is a production of KQED in San Francisco and distributed by NPR. It’s hosted and reported by me, Scott Shafer. Co-reported and produced by Ariella Markowitz. It’s edited by Padmini Raghunath. Final mix and sound design by Christopher Beale. Additional mixing by Brendan Willard. Fact checking by Mark Betancourt. Additional editing from Anna Sussman and Jen Chien, KQED’s director of podcasts. Original theme song composed by Cedric Wilson. Additional music from APM. Maha Sanad is KQED’s podcast engagement producer. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is KQED’s editor-in-chief. Special thanks to our partners from the Oral History Center at the University of California, Berkeley. Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by the Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television, and radio artists, San Francisco, Northern California Local. \u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12006391/barbara-boxer-is-retired-but-still-deeply-engaged-in-politics\">U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer\u003c/a> is endorsing Connie Chan in the race to represent San Francisco in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The endorsement adds another legendary female politician to Chan’s list of supporters, which also includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084132/nancy-pelosi-endorses-san-francisco-supervisor-connie-chan-for-congress\">House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi\u003c/a>, whose upcoming \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retirement\u003c/a> has opened one of the most competitive elections for San Francisco’s seat in Congress in decades. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If ever we needed a fighter and coalition builder who puts working families first, it is now. Connie is that fighter,” Boxer said in a statement. Now retired, Boxer has remained active in politics, including supporting Democratic candidates like Will Rollins, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2024, and former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s brief bid for state treasurer the same year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11855572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1832x1374.jpg 1832w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-632x474.jpg 632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, speaks during a press conference calling for the creation of an independent military justice system to deal with sexual harassment and assault in the military, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 6, 2014. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Democrat served as a county supervisor in Marin before going on to represent parts of the San Francisco Bay Area in Congress from 1983 to 1993 — one of only 23 women at the time in the House of Representatives. She then served in the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2017.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Although we have made great progress with now 125 women representatives out of 435, there’s still a lot of work to do. Connie will ensure that gap doesn’t grow,” Boxer said. “She will make us proud.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan, a progressive Democrat with wide support from labor organizations, is running against state Sen. Scott Wiener, a former San Francisco supervisor known for his work around housing legislation and LGBTQ rights at the local and state level. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener, a more moderate Democrat, has nabbed support from labor leader Dolores Huerta, the majority of the city’s current Board of Supervisors and other Democratic elected officials, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, State Treasurer Fiona Ma and Rep. Sam Liccardo, the former San José mayor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chan meanwhile has found a powerful ally in Pelosi, who has thrown her fundraising muscle and political expertise behind her campaign. Recently, Pelosi \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/teampelosi/status/2085488807152136474?s=46\">sharply criticized\u003c/a> one of Wiener’s campaign moves to create an AI-powered chatbot mimicking Chan. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Women have spent generations fighting to have our own voices heard in the halls of power,” Pelosi said about the chatbot. “We should not have to now fight against artificial intelligence putting words in our mouths.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener’s team later took down the AI chatbot, acknowledging that it “clearly missed the mark.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My campaign created ConnieChan.ai as a parody to draw attention to my opponent’s record of delay and obstruction around housing, public transit and other critical needs,” Wiener said in a statement following criticism that the tool also mocked Chan’s accent. “Innovation means trying new things, and it also means being honest when something doesn’t land the way you intended.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Saturday, the state senator held a “Women for Scott” rally with elected officials including East Bay Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, San Francisco Assemblymember Catherine Stefani and SF Democratic Party Chair Nancy Tung, who have all endorsed Wiener. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener may have more name recognition, from his pro-housing supporters to national Republicans who have attacked his LGBTQ legislation, but recent polling suggests the race is competitive.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chan said in a statement that she was “deeply grateful” for Boxer’s support. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her career has shown what it means to fight for working families and bring local government experience directly to Washington,” Chan said. “I’m honored to follow in Senator Boxer’s footsteps and look forward to carrying that fight to Congress.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Chan, a progressive Democrat with wide support from labor organizations, is running against state Sen. Scott Wiener, a former San Francisco supervisor known for his work around housing legislation and LGBTQ rights at the local and state level. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“My campaign created ConnieChan.ai as a parody to draw attention to my opponent’s record of delay and obstruction around housing, public transit and other critical needs,” Wiener said in a statement following criticism that the tool also mocked Chan’s accent. “Innovation means trying new things, and it also means being honest when something doesn’t land the way you intended.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Saturday, the state senator held a “Women for Scott” rally with elected officials including East Bay Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, San Francisco Assemblymember Catherine Stefani and SF Democratic Party Chair Nancy Tung, who have all endorsed Wiener. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Her career has shown what it means to fight for working families and bring local government experience directly to Washington,” Chan said. “I’m honored to follow in Senator Boxer’s footsteps and look forward to carrying that fight to Congress.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Chan has also found a powerful ally in Nancy Pelosi, whose retirement has opened up the first competitive race for the city’s House seat in decades.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Former \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12006391/barbara-boxer-is-retired-but-still-deeply-engaged-in-politics\">U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer\u003c/a> is endorsing Connie Chan in the race to represent San Francisco in Congress. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The endorsement adds another legendary female politician to Chan’s list of supporters, which also includes \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084132/nancy-pelosi-endorses-san-francisco-supervisor-connie-chan-for-congress\">House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi\u003c/a>, whose upcoming \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retirement\u003c/a> has opened one of the most competitive elections for San Francisco’s seat in Congress in decades. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“If ever we needed a fighter and coalition builder who puts working families first, it is now. Connie is that fighter,” Boxer said in a statement. Now retired, Boxer has remained active in politics, including supporting Democratic candidates like Will Rollins, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2024, and former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf’s brief bid for state treasurer the same year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11855572\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1832x1374.jpg 1832w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1376x1032.jpg 1376w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-1044x783.jpg 1044w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-632x474.jpg 632w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2021/01/8749_transform-536x402.jpg 536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California, speaks during a press conference calling for the creation of an independent military justice system to deal with sexual harassment and assault in the military, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 6, 2014. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Democrat served as a county supervisor in Marin before going on to represent parts of the San Francisco Bay Area in Congress from 1983 to 1993 — one of only 23 women at the time in the House of Representatives. She then served in the U.S. Senate from 1993 to 2017.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Although we have made great progress with now 125 women representatives out of 435, there’s still a lot of work to do. Connie will ensure that gap doesn’t grow,” Boxer said. “She will make us proud.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan, a progressive Democrat with wide support from labor organizations, is running against state Sen. Scott Wiener, a former San Francisco supervisor known for his work around housing legislation and LGBTQ rights at the local and state level. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener, a more moderate Democrat, has nabbed support from labor leader Dolores Huerta, the majority of the city’s current Board of Supervisors and other Democratic elected officials, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, State Treasurer Fiona Ma and Rep. Sam Liccardo, the former San José mayor. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chan meanwhile has found a powerful ally in Pelosi, who has thrown her fundraising muscle and political expertise behind her campaign. Recently, Pelosi \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/teampelosi/status/2085488807152136474?s=46\">sharply criticized\u003c/a> one of Wiener’s campaign moves to create an AI-powered chatbot mimicking Chan. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“Women have spent generations fighting to have our own voices heard in the halls of power,” Pelosi said about the chatbot. “We should not have to now fight against artificial intelligence putting words in our mouths.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener’s team later took down the AI chatbot, acknowledging that it “clearly missed the mark.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“My campaign created ConnieChan.ai as a parody to draw attention to my opponent’s record of delay and obstruction around housing, public transit and other critical needs,” Wiener said in a statement following criticism that the tool also mocked Chan’s accent. “Innovation means trying new things, and it also means being honest when something doesn’t land the way you intended.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>On Saturday, the state senator held a “Women for Scott” rally with elected officials including East Bay Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, San Francisco Assemblymember Catherine Stefani and SF Democratic Party Chair Nancy Tung, who have all endorsed Wiener. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Wiener may have more name recognition, from his pro-housing supporters to national Republicans who have attacked his LGBTQ legislation, but recent polling suggests the race is competitive.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Chan said in a statement that she was “deeply grateful” for Boxer’s support. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Her career has shown what it means to fight for working families and bring local government experience directly to Washington,” Chan said. “I’m honored to follow in Senator Boxer’s footsteps and look forward to carrying that fight to Congress.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are still many ballots left to count, but from the governor’s race to local tax measures and the race to replace Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives, we sit down with KQED’s politics and government correspondent \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"mailto:gmarzorati@kqed.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\" data-rich-links='{\"per_n\":\"Guy Marzorati\",\"per_e\":\"gmarzorati@kqed.org\",\"type\":\"person\"}'>Guy Marzorati\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">about the results of the primary so far.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/elections/results/california\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED: California Primary Election Results \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC8080199858&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Episode transcript\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:36] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donna Hemmila \u003c/strong>[00:00:47] This election was agonizing for me. I held my ballot back until like the very last minute, expecting something weird gonna happen at the last minute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chirag Hebbar \u003c/strong>[00:00:59] I think with both Gavin Newsom and Pelosi leaving, I think it’s a critical election, which is why I wanted to show up to the polls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leslie Serrano \u003c/strong>[00:01:08] All the different lieutenant governor and, you know, superintendent and everything that we need to vote on, it’s all important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:18] And now we wait for all the ballots to be counted after Tuesday’s primary election. California voters were asked to choose from a long list of candidates for governor and other statewide offices. And here in the Bay, we also voted on everything from congressional races to local ballot measures. Today, we’re gonna talk about what we know about the results of this primary so far. And what it tells us about what to expect in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:58] Well, Guy, another day, another primary. I’m actually kind of curious if you have a sort of like election day or election week routine that you abide by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:02:13] Have to do something outdoors during the day before the votes come in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:17] Nice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:19] Guy Marzorati is a politics and government correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:02:24] This year, I knew it was gonna be a long night, so I switched up a little bit and did a Vietnamese coffee late in the afternoon. Both days, both election day and the day after, I almost just took off and flew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:35] Right. I was going to say that’s like jet fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:02:38] Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:44] Well, how did this election night compare to previous election nights and primaries, I guess, specifically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:02:51] Right now I think we’re trending towards somewhere in the ballpark of 40% turnout, which doesn’t sound great, but actually for a governor primary in California is pretty good. You look back at the last few primaries we’ve had for governor, and the turnout has trended in the mid-30s to the low-30, sometimes even in the high 20% turnout. So getting to around 40% is really encouraging. Some of that probably has to do with the national environment. Democrats are the more motivated party across the country. California is a heavily democratic state, but you may have to attribute some of this. To the fact that there was a really competitive governor’s race that voters felt like they could make a real difference in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:38] Well, let’s get into the governor’s race, probably the biggest race in this primary for California voters. Lots of twists and turns in this race and an insane number of names on the ballot, but only the top two are advancing to November. So what do we know so far? Anything surprising in that race?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:03:58] Yeah, I think, you know, on this election night, uniquely in the governor’s race, we went in really not knowing like what combination of results would end up in the top two. We had three candidates most likely competing for two spots in the Governor’s election, Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton. But we went into Tuesday night not knowing, OK, which two of those three is going to make it into the top to any scenario seemed on the table. Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton right now are leading as the two candidates with Democrat Tom Steyer trailing. The question is, as more votes continue to be counted, can Tom Styer move into the top two?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:43] Are the results so far, surprising?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:04:45] Maybe not surprising from like a June 1st perspective, shocking from a April 1st, perspective. Like if you were to, you know, rip Van Winkle from April to election day to see Xavier Becerra who had been really far down in the polls for much of this campaign, have this whole resurgence after former Congress member Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race, would be surprising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Xavier Becerra \u003c/strong>[00:05:10] Like my family, LA is the starting line for millions of success stories across this state. And here in Hollywood’s hometown, we love a good underdog story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:05:26] When Eric Swalwell dropped out, Becerra didn’t have any big California players behind him from an elected official standpoint. He didn’t any of the big unions endorsing him at that point. He didn’t have a ton of money at that time. It all really came together just in those few weeks after Swalwell got out of the race and kind of completely reshuffled the dynamics of this election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:50] And Republican Steve Hilton has been polling at the top for most of his campaign. What do you make of the race that he’s run and also how he would do in a November election?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:06:02] Yeah, Hilton was really able to consolidate support from California Republicans after he won the endorsement of President Donald Trump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Hilton \u003c/strong>[00:06:11] Obviously we’re very encouraged by these results, nothing is final yet, but it does look as if change is coming to California and that is good news for everyone, every small business, every working family, everyone who wants to see our state set back on track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:06:27] Now, if he is able to make it into the top two in November, it’s a really difficult race for him. And that same endorsement of Trump’s that helped him win over Republicans is going to be a huge liability for him in a state where Trump is still very unpopular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:49] And I mean, in a race full of surprises, are we out of the woods yet with this one? Or is it still possible that, I don’t know, some other crazy thing happens in this race?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:07:02] Yeah, no, I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet as far as twists and turns. There is a possibility, I’m not sure how to put odds on this possibility, but there is a possibility that Tom Steyer gains vote share as ballots continue to be counted and creates a Democrat on Democrat general election. We’ll know a lot more on Friday night when many more counties are going to be reporting their results. Look, we’ve never had two Democrats in a general election for governor of California. That would be a race that is even hard to imagine how it would even play out between Becerra and Steyer, but it’s something that is still potentially on the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:50] Well, let’s zoom into some of the more local races, Guy, starting with the race to replace Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives. It looks like State Senator Scott Weiner and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan are advancing to the general election. Any surprises there?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:08:09] Yeah, so in that race, we did see Scott Wiener, San Francisco State Senator, finish first in the primary as expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener \u003c/strong>[00:08:17] And we’re going to continue to build a massive coalition in every neighborhood of this city, every generation, every background, every community in the greatest city on planet Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:08:36] The real surprise, and I think we are all watching, what would be the outcome between second and third? We saw Connie Chan, a supervisor in San Francisco, finish second with, as of now, basically double the support of Shoikot Chakrabarti, who is a former advisor to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who’s sitting in third place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan \u003c/strong>[00:08:55] This tonight is a start for many many people to see the billionaires all not just in San Francisco but across the nation we’re coming for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:09:10] And I think you really have to go back to the endorsement from former speaker, Nancy Pelosi of Connie Chan late in this race back in May, at least according to the public poll we had from the San Francisco Chronicle, Scott Wiener was leading this primary by good margin. And then Connie Chan, the San Francisco supervisor and Chakrabarti were pretty neck and neck. At that point, Chakrabarti, you know, he was spending 8 million, 9 million dollars. And Connie Chan had this endorsement from Pelosi. And I compared to, remember like a few years ago, people were saying, would you rather have dinner with Jay-Z or $500,000? I think this was like the political version. Would you rather have $9 million to spend or an endorsement from Nancy Pelosi? And I think we found out the answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:08] Coming up, how some local ballot measures are doing. By the way, if you appreciate these deep dives into Bay Area news, consider becoming a KQED member. We can’t do this work without your support, so join your Bay Area neighbors and become a member today. KQED.org/donate. We’ll be right back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:37] I want to talk, Guy, about local tax measures. There seem to be several of these kinds of local tax measures around the Bay Area in cities that, as we know, have been really struggling with their budgets. So it looks like some of them are likely to pass and others seem to in trouble. I know you are following the hotel tax in San Jose, which seems likely to past. Can you remind us what that is meant to help fund?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:12:04] So measure A in San Jose, an increase in the hotel tax from 10% to 12%, that’s going to fund the city general fund. San Jose goes into a final vote on the city budget next week with a $50 million shortfall projected for the upcoming fiscal year. The budget balancing plan that the mayor Matt Mahan and city leaders have put together relies on measure a passing. They basically warned if this measure doesn’t pass, you’re going to see Sunday library hours cut. You’re going to see the downtown police foot patrol be eliminated. So really what measure a is, is doing is kind of helping the city stay afloat in a year where there is a budget shortfall and it looks like measure a will pass. And I think the fact that it’s a hotel tax paid by people who are coming to stay in San Jose, not maybe necessarily living in San Jose helped this measure politically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:58] Yeah, very interesting because on the other hand, I know you were also following a parcel tax in Oakland that seems like it might not pass. Can you tell us about that one?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:13:10] Yeah, so this is Measure E, $192 a year parcel property tax that would raise about, you know, 35-ish million dollars a year. This was a billed really by Barbara Lee, City Unions, again, as a way to bring in money when the city is on kind of uncertain fiscal footing. Unlike Measure A in San Jose, there was like a campaign against Measure E in Oakland. You had realtors spend money. More moderate political groups spend money in order to defeat Measure E. And right now the initial results have the measure failing. Still a lot of votes to be counted. Traditionally, what we’ve seen in Alameda County is they count votes through Wednesday, through Thursday, through Friday. Then they post that result late Friday and it’s a lot votes. And you saw that in the mayor’s race when Barbara Lee won. She was trailing on election day all of a sudden a huge dump of votes on Friday, she wins the race, she’ll be hoping for something similar to happen with Measure E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:15] So TBD there, but I mean, it’s interesting that there were a few other tax measures on the ballot across the Bay, Prop D, the overpaid CEO tax in San Francisco, Measure B in Contra Costa County, to help fund health care there in the wake of federal funding cuts to MediCal and Medicaid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:14:40] That one surprised me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:40] Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:14:41] That one really, that one in Contra Costa really surprised me because basically that was a copy and paste campaign from what we saw in Santa Clara in 2025, which was Trump and House Republicans passed these big cuts to Medicaid, what we call Medi-Cal in California. County health systems are going to be really hit by that. And so in Santa Clare County, they said, look, we need to punch back against Trump. We need to increase local sales tax in order to help hospitals. And you saw both in Contra Costa County and in LA County as well, basically the same campaigns. Let’s frame this as we took this big hit from Trump, let’s find a way to restore funding locally. And in both Contra Costa and LA, those measures are not doing well. What does that speak to? Is that diminishing appetite for those kinds of taxes, diminishing returns on that specific kind of message? There are clearly like intricacies in each of campaigns and how they were run. But that definitely surprised me. I thought that was a winning formula in Santa Clara that could be replicated and doesn’t seem to be the case in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:46] There’s also Prop D in San Francisco, the overpaid CEO tax, and it looks like that one is likely to fail as of right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:15:54] That’s right. And really what this would have done, San Francisco currently assesses a tax on companies where the difference in pay between the CEO and the median SF employee is a certain amount. This would have changed it to the median nationwide employee. And so that would have potentially increased the taxes on these companies. Again, back to this you know, playbook of, you know Trump enacted these harsh health care cuts, let’s find a way to raise tax revenue locally. That was the argument put forward by a lot of Business groups and particularly the mayor Daniel Lurie argued that this is not the time to be increasing taxes on businesses and voters, you know, clearly went with the argument that this was not the to pursue that kind of tax on SF businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:38] Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, is there anything you think we can say here about the general appetite from voters for more taxes? I mean I know this election in many ways was also about affordability in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:16:54] Say you could take away maybe some of awareness around increased taxes. We’ll have to, I think, take some time to see these results come in and kind of read through the tea leaves on tax measures. Clearly there will be a lot of eyes on this because statewide there are many proposals moving towards the November ballot that would ask voters to increase taxes. There’s the wealth tax on billionaires. It’s gotten a lot attention. There is an extension of California’s income tax that’s being pursued by teachers unions. So they’re all certainly paying attention to what’s happening in these local races to try to get a beat on whether this signals any kind of change in voter appetite around taxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:17:35] Yeah, that’s right. I mean, uh, to remind folks, this is just a primary. We still have another election later this year in November. I mean what are you going to be watching for going forward guy and do any of these results say anything about maybe what we can expect in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:17:53] Yeah, you know, I think it does depend kind of locality to locality. Certainly in San Francisco, these results pretend a lot of momentum behind Lurie and specifically his November campaign. He’s going to go to the ballot in November and ask voters, can you increase taxes to pay for Muni? Can you pass these reforms on putting on the ballot to change how ballot measure campaigns run in San Francisco? And you look at the results in SF on, on Tuesday. They’re all coming up roses for Lurie. He had these two supervisors that he was supporting that appeared to have won their special elections. Then you combine that with the results on the tax measures in SF. And I think you have to think to some extent voters are getting signals from Lurie and following that lead. So I think that portends well for him in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:18:49] Do we get a break now? Do you get a brake now that the primary is over? Is it just full speed ahead until November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:18:57] No, the primary is not over. The vote counting will continue. The reason the vote count takes longer is we are a heavily vote-by-mail state where all the checks and all the security that’s in place to prevent voter fraud happens on the back end. It happens after you return your ballot. So it just adds a lot of time. But there will be more scrutiny because at the end of the day these counties are doing this without a ton of new money Without a ton a new machines and new space to count the ballots. So I think you’re going to continue to see that kind of Arguments push and pull is something wrong with our system Is it fine the way it is and are there things that could be done to both? Ensure access and security and maybe also speed up the count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:19:44] I guess in the words of Lenny Kravitz, it ain’t over till it’s over. Guy, thank you so much as always. Appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:19:55] Thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are still many ballots left to count, but from the governor’s race to local tax measures and the race to replace Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives, we sit down with KQED’s politics and government correspondent \u003c/span>\u003ca href=\"mailto:gmarzorati@kqed.org\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\" data-rich-links='{\"per_n\":\"Guy Marzorati\",\"per_e\":\"gmarzorati@kqed.org\",\"type\":\"person\"}'>Guy Marzorati\u003c/span>\u003c/a> \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">about the results of the primary so far.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/elections/results/california\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">KQED: California Primary Election Results \u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC8080199858&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Episode transcript\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:36] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Donna Hemmila \u003c/strong>[00:00:47] This election was agonizing for me. I held my ballot back until like the very last minute, expecting something weird gonna happen at the last minute.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chirag Hebbar \u003c/strong>[00:00:59] I think with both Gavin Newsom and Pelosi leaving, I think it’s a critical election, which is why I wanted to show up to the polls.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Leslie Serrano \u003c/strong>[00:01:08] All the different lieutenant governor and, you know, superintendent and everything that we need to vote on, it’s all important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:18] And now we wait for all the ballots to be counted after Tuesday’s primary election. California voters were asked to choose from a long list of candidates for governor and other statewide offices. And here in the Bay, we also voted on everything from congressional races to local ballot measures. Today, we’re gonna talk about what we know about the results of this primary so far. And what it tells us about what to expect in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:58] Well, Guy, another day, another primary. I’m actually kind of curious if you have a sort of like election day or election week routine that you abide by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:02:13] Have to do something outdoors during the day before the votes come in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:17] Nice.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:19] Guy Marzorati is a politics and government correspondent for KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:02:24] This year, I knew it was gonna be a long night, so I switched up a little bit and did a Vietnamese coffee late in the afternoon. Both days, both election day and the day after, I almost just took off and flew.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:35] Right. I was going to say that’s like jet fuel.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:02:38] Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:02:44] Well, how did this election night compare to previous election nights and primaries, I guess, specifically?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:02:51] Right now I think we’re trending towards somewhere in the ballpark of 40% turnout, which doesn’t sound great, but actually for a governor primary in California is pretty good. You look back at the last few primaries we’ve had for governor, and the turnout has trended in the mid-30s to the low-30, sometimes even in the high 20% turnout. So getting to around 40% is really encouraging. Some of that probably has to do with the national environment. Democrats are the more motivated party across the country. California is a heavily democratic state, but you may have to attribute some of this. To the fact that there was a really competitive governor’s race that voters felt like they could make a real difference in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:38] Well, let’s get into the governor’s race, probably the biggest race in this primary for California voters. Lots of twists and turns in this race and an insane number of names on the ballot, but only the top two are advancing to November. So what do we know so far? Anything surprising in that race?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:03:58] Yeah, I think, you know, on this election night, uniquely in the governor’s race, we went in really not knowing like what combination of results would end up in the top two. We had three candidates most likely competing for two spots in the Governor’s election, Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton. But we went into Tuesday night not knowing, OK, which two of those three is going to make it into the top to any scenario seemed on the table. Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton right now are leading as the two candidates with Democrat Tom Steyer trailing. The question is, as more votes continue to be counted, can Tom Styer move into the top two?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:43] Are the results so far, surprising?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:04:45] Maybe not surprising from like a June 1st perspective, shocking from a April 1st, perspective. Like if you were to, you know, rip Van Winkle from April to election day to see Xavier Becerra who had been really far down in the polls for much of this campaign, have this whole resurgence after former Congress member Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race, would be surprising.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Xavier Becerra \u003c/strong>[00:05:10] Like my family, LA is the starting line for millions of success stories across this state. And here in Hollywood’s hometown, we love a good underdog story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:05:26] When Eric Swalwell dropped out, Becerra didn’t have any big California players behind him from an elected official standpoint. He didn’t any of the big unions endorsing him at that point. He didn’t have a ton of money at that time. It all really came together just in those few weeks after Swalwell got out of the race and kind of completely reshuffled the dynamics of this election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:50] And Republican Steve Hilton has been polling at the top for most of his campaign. What do you make of the race that he’s run and also how he would do in a November election?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:06:02] Yeah, Hilton was really able to consolidate support from California Republicans after he won the endorsement of President Donald Trump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Steve Hilton \u003c/strong>[00:06:11] Obviously we’re very encouraged by these results, nothing is final yet, but it does look as if change is coming to California and that is good news for everyone, every small business, every working family, everyone who wants to see our state set back on track.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:06:27] Now, if he is able to make it into the top two in November, it’s a really difficult race for him. And that same endorsement of Trump’s that helped him win over Republicans is going to be a huge liability for him in a state where Trump is still very unpopular.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:49] And I mean, in a race full of surprises, are we out of the woods yet with this one? Or is it still possible that, I don’t know, some other crazy thing happens in this race?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:07:02] Yeah, no, I don’t think we’re out of the woods yet as far as twists and turns. There is a possibility, I’m not sure how to put odds on this possibility, but there is a possibility that Tom Steyer gains vote share as ballots continue to be counted and creates a Democrat on Democrat general election. We’ll know a lot more on Friday night when many more counties are going to be reporting their results. Look, we’ve never had two Democrats in a general election for governor of California. That would be a race that is even hard to imagine how it would even play out between Becerra and Steyer, but it’s something that is still potentially on the table.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:50] Well, let’s zoom into some of the more local races, Guy, starting with the race to replace Nancy Pelosi in the House of Representatives. It looks like State Senator Scott Weiner and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan are advancing to the general election. Any surprises there?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:08:09] Yeah, so in that race, we did see Scott Wiener, San Francisco State Senator, finish first in the primary as expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener \u003c/strong>[00:08:17] And we’re going to continue to build a massive coalition in every neighborhood of this city, every generation, every background, every community in the greatest city on planet Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:08:36] The real surprise, and I think we are all watching, what would be the outcome between second and third? We saw Connie Chan, a supervisor in San Francisco, finish second with, as of now, basically double the support of Shoikot Chakrabarti, who is a former advisor to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who’s sitting in third place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan \u003c/strong>[00:08:55] This tonight is a start for many many people to see the billionaires all not just in San Francisco but across the nation we’re coming for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:09:10] And I think you really have to go back to the endorsement from former speaker, Nancy Pelosi of Connie Chan late in this race back in May, at least according to the public poll we had from the San Francisco Chronicle, Scott Wiener was leading this primary by good margin. And then Connie Chan, the San Francisco supervisor and Chakrabarti were pretty neck and neck. At that point, Chakrabarti, you know, he was spending 8 million, 9 million dollars. And Connie Chan had this endorsement from Pelosi. And I compared to, remember like a few years ago, people were saying, would you rather have dinner with Jay-Z or $500,000? I think this was like the political version. Would you rather have $9 million to spend or an endorsement from Nancy Pelosi? And I think we found out the answer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:08] Coming up, how some local ballot measures are doing. By the way, if you appreciate these deep dives into Bay Area news, consider becoming a KQED member. We can’t do this work without your support, so join your Bay Area neighbors and become a member today. KQED.org/donate. We’ll be right back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:37] I want to talk, Guy, about local tax measures. There seem to be several of these kinds of local tax measures around the Bay Area in cities that, as we know, have been really struggling with their budgets. So it looks like some of them are likely to pass and others seem to in trouble. I know you are following the hotel tax in San Jose, which seems likely to past. Can you remind us what that is meant to help fund?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:12:04] So measure A in San Jose, an increase in the hotel tax from 10% to 12%, that’s going to fund the city general fund. San Jose goes into a final vote on the city budget next week with a $50 million shortfall projected for the upcoming fiscal year. The budget balancing plan that the mayor Matt Mahan and city leaders have put together relies on measure a passing. They basically warned if this measure doesn’t pass, you’re going to see Sunday library hours cut. You’re going to see the downtown police foot patrol be eliminated. So really what measure a is, is doing is kind of helping the city stay afloat in a year where there is a budget shortfall and it looks like measure a will pass. And I think the fact that it’s a hotel tax paid by people who are coming to stay in San Jose, not maybe necessarily living in San Jose helped this measure politically.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:58] Yeah, very interesting because on the other hand, I know you were also following a parcel tax in Oakland that seems like it might not pass. Can you tell us about that one?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:13:10] Yeah, so this is Measure E, $192 a year parcel property tax that would raise about, you know, 35-ish million dollars a year. This was a billed really by Barbara Lee, City Unions, again, as a way to bring in money when the city is on kind of uncertain fiscal footing. Unlike Measure A in San Jose, there was like a campaign against Measure E in Oakland. You had realtors spend money. More moderate political groups spend money in order to defeat Measure E. And right now the initial results have the measure failing. Still a lot of votes to be counted. Traditionally, what we’ve seen in Alameda County is they count votes through Wednesday, through Thursday, through Friday. Then they post that result late Friday and it’s a lot votes. And you saw that in the mayor’s race when Barbara Lee won. She was trailing on election day all of a sudden a huge dump of votes on Friday, she wins the race, she’ll be hoping for something similar to happen with Measure E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:15] So TBD there, but I mean, it’s interesting that there were a few other tax measures on the ballot across the Bay, Prop D, the overpaid CEO tax in San Francisco, Measure B in Contra Costa County, to help fund health care there in the wake of federal funding cuts to MediCal and Medicaid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:14:40] That one surprised me.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:40] Yeah.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:14:41] That one really, that one in Contra Costa really surprised me because basically that was a copy and paste campaign from what we saw in Santa Clara in 2025, which was Trump and House Republicans passed these big cuts to Medicaid, what we call Medi-Cal in California. County health systems are going to be really hit by that. And so in Santa Clare County, they said, look, we need to punch back against Trump. We need to increase local sales tax in order to help hospitals. And you saw both in Contra Costa County and in LA County as well, basically the same campaigns. Let’s frame this as we took this big hit from Trump, let’s find a way to restore funding locally. And in both Contra Costa and LA, those measures are not doing well. What does that speak to? Is that diminishing appetite for those kinds of taxes, diminishing returns on that specific kind of message? There are clearly like intricacies in each of campaigns and how they were run. But that definitely surprised me. I thought that was a winning formula in Santa Clara that could be replicated and doesn’t seem to be the case in the East Bay.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:15:46] There’s also Prop D in San Francisco, the overpaid CEO tax, and it looks like that one is likely to fail as of right now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:15:54] That’s right. And really what this would have done, San Francisco currently assesses a tax on companies where the difference in pay between the CEO and the median SF employee is a certain amount. This would have changed it to the median nationwide employee. And so that would have potentially increased the taxes on these companies. Again, back to this you know, playbook of, you know Trump enacted these harsh health care cuts, let’s find a way to raise tax revenue locally. That was the argument put forward by a lot of Business groups and particularly the mayor Daniel Lurie argued that this is not the time to be increasing taxes on businesses and voters, you know, clearly went with the argument that this was not the to pursue that kind of tax on SF businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:38] Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, is there anything you think we can say here about the general appetite from voters for more taxes? I mean I know this election in many ways was also about affordability in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:16:54] Say you could take away maybe some of awareness around increased taxes. We’ll have to, I think, take some time to see these results come in and kind of read through the tea leaves on tax measures. Clearly there will be a lot of eyes on this because statewide there are many proposals moving towards the November ballot that would ask voters to increase taxes. There’s the wealth tax on billionaires. It’s gotten a lot attention. There is an extension of California’s income tax that’s being pursued by teachers unions. So they’re all certainly paying attention to what’s happening in these local races to try to get a beat on whether this signals any kind of change in voter appetite around taxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:17:35] Yeah, that’s right. I mean, uh, to remind folks, this is just a primary. We still have another election later this year in November. I mean what are you going to be watching for going forward guy and do any of these results say anything about maybe what we can expect in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:17:53] Yeah, you know, I think it does depend kind of locality to locality. Certainly in San Francisco, these results pretend a lot of momentum behind Lurie and specifically his November campaign. He’s going to go to the ballot in November and ask voters, can you increase taxes to pay for Muni? Can you pass these reforms on putting on the ballot to change how ballot measure campaigns run in San Francisco? And you look at the results in SF on, on Tuesday. They’re all coming up roses for Lurie. He had these two supervisors that he was supporting that appeared to have won their special elections. Then you combine that with the results on the tax measures in SF. And I think you have to think to some extent voters are getting signals from Lurie and following that lead. So I think that portends well for him in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:18:49] Do we get a break now? Do you get a brake now that the primary is over? Is it just full speed ahead until November?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:18:57] No, the primary is not over. The vote counting will continue. The reason the vote count takes longer is we are a heavily vote-by-mail state where all the checks and all the security that’s in place to prevent voter fraud happens on the back end. It happens after you return your ballot. So it just adds a lot of time. But there will be more scrutiny because at the end of the day these counties are doing this without a ton of new money Without a ton a new machines and new space to count the ballots. So I think you’re going to continue to see that kind of Arguments push and pull is something wrong with our system Is it fine the way it is and are there things that could be done to both? Ensure access and security and maybe also speed up the count.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:19:44] I guess in the words of Lenny Kravitz, it ain’t over till it’s over. Guy, thank you so much as always. Appreciate it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Guy Marzorati \u003c/strong>[00:19:55] Thanks for having me.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "In Race to Replace Pelosi, Wiener, Chan Hold Early Lead",
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"content": "\u003cp>State Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Connie Chan will advance to the November general election to decide who will represent San Francisco in the House of Representatives, a seat held by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/nancy-pelosi\">Nancy Pelosi\u003c/a> for 39 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highly anticipated race has garnered national attention and created a rare opportunity for a new voice to represent the city by the bay in Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Franciscans are ready for bold, forward-looking leadership for real results, not just words,” Wiener, who had about 41% of the initial vote, told a crowd gathered at his watch party on Market Street Tuesday evening. “And a new generation of leaders, a new generation ready to take on the hardest issues facing our country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At this moment in history, with rising authoritarianism, we cannot afford politics that simply preserve the status quo. That does not work,” he said, adding that young people are “losing hope” when it comes to climate change, housing, gun violence and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporter Elizabeth Joyce said she was “really delighted” that the pro-housing lawmaker “may get to replace Nancy Pelosi.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi, she said, was “an incredibly powerful operator,” but “San Francisco deserves a much more progressive candidate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085913\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085913\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti addresses supporters during an election night event at The Chapel on June 3, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the party, supervisors Matt Dorsey and Myrna Melgar appeared, along with recalled former supervisor Joel Engardio, Assemblywoman Catherine Stephanie and Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wiener, a more moderate candidate than his two main challengers, held a commanding lead in the race as of Wednesday. Chan, a progressive Democrat who earned an endorsement from Pelosi, came in second with about 29% of the vote. Saikat Chakrabarti carried around 15% of the initial vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A wealthy former software engineer, Chakrabarti has a small political footprint in San Francisco compared to his opponents. Throughout his largely self-funded campaign, which Chakrabarti put nearly $10 million of his own money toward, the Houston-born candidate often referred to his political experience working as a co-founder of Justice Democrats and previous chief of staff to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.[aside label=\"Live 2026 Election Results\" link1='https://www.kqed.org/elections/results/sanfrancisco,San Francisco: Stay informed with the latest results for elected leaders and measures passed' hero=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2026/05/Aside-Results-2026-Local-Elections-San-Francisco-1200x1200@2x.png]Rod Laughridge, a Chakrabarti supporter from Cole Valley who attended his watch party, compared Chakrabarti to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Saikat is one of those people,” Laughride said. “This guy is transformative change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Chakrabarti’s efforts came up short, with Chan and Wiener carving out a decisive lead for the runoff in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This campaign has come to an end, but the challenges facing San Francisco and our country remain, and so does the work of building a future where everyone has access to healthcare, affordable housing and a government that puts people ahead of corporate interests,” Chakrabarti said in a concession statement on Wednesday. “While this wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, I’m incredibly proud of what we built together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wiener, a former San Francisco supervisor, touted his work at the state level to cut red tape and make building housing easier as well as mandatory for local jurisdictions like San Francisco, where housing development has lagged for decades. A gay man with deep ties to the city’s LGBTQ+ community, Wiener has also fought for legislation to protect trans youth, some of which he’s faced backlash for, particularly from MAGA Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan, a later entrant to the race, touted her community-based work in the city and promised to fight against corporate interests. Her campaign raised only a fraction of what her opponents pulled in, but she received the coveted Pelosi endorsement, which may have given her a primary boost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to show you what working people’s power looks like,” Chan said during an upbeat election watch party at El Rio in the Mission District. “The work is not done yet. It just got started.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, Chan — who told the crowd to laughter that she was set to chair a budget committee meeting on Wednesday — warned her supporters not to celebrate for too long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12086008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12086008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260602-DISTRICT11CONNIECHAN-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260602-DISTRICT11CONNIECHAN-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260602-DISTRICT11CONNIECHAN-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260602-DISTRICT11CONNIECHAN-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Connie Chan speaks to supporters during an election night party at El Rio in San Francisco on June 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Now they’re going to come for us,” she said. “You know that, right?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three top contenders shared many of the same stances on policies like passing Medicare for All, protecting immigrants and building more affordable housing. All three also ultimately said they believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, although Wiener clarified his position after a debate in January where he faced criticism for initially failing to answer the question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Republican-turned-moderate Democrat Marie Huriabell trailed the other candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The congressional district includes virtually all of San Francisco, except for a small southeastern section. It is the first time no incumbent has run since Pelosi was first elected in 1987.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tomorrow morning,” Wiener said, “we’re going to get right back up and go to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kdebenedetti\">\u003cem>Katie DeBenedetti\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The winner of the November general election will succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco for nearly four decades.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>State Sen. Scott Wiener and Supervisor Connie Chan will advance to the November general election to decide who will represent San Francisco in the House of Representatives, a seat held by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/nancy-pelosi\">Nancy Pelosi\u003c/a> for 39 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highly anticipated race has garnered national attention and created a rare opportunity for a new voice to represent the city by the bay in Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Franciscans are ready for bold, forward-looking leadership for real results, not just words,” Wiener, who had about 41% of the initial vote, told a crowd gathered at his watch party on Market Street Tuesday evening. “And a new generation of leaders, a new generation ready to take on the hardest issues facing our country.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At this moment in history, with rising authoritarianism, we cannot afford politics that simply preserve the status quo. That does not work,” he said, adding that young people are “losing hope” when it comes to climate change, housing, gun violence and more.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Supporter Elizabeth Joyce said she was “really delighted” that the pro-housing lawmaker “may get to replace Nancy Pelosi.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi, she said, was “an incredibly powerful operator,” but “San Francisco deserves a much more progressive candidate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085913\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085913\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti addresses supporters during an election night event at The Chapel on June 3, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>At the party, supervisors Matt Dorsey and Myrna Melgar appeared, along with recalled former supervisor Joel Engardio, Assemblywoman Catherine Stephanie and Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wiener, a more moderate candidate than his two main challengers, held a commanding lead in the race as of Wednesday. Chan, a progressive Democrat who earned an endorsement from Pelosi, came in second with about 29% of the vote. Saikat Chakrabarti carried around 15% of the initial vote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A wealthy former software engineer, Chakrabarti has a small political footprint in San Francisco compared to his opponents. Throughout his largely self-funded campaign, which Chakrabarti put nearly $10 million of his own money toward, the Houston-born candidate often referred to his political experience working as a co-founder of Justice Democrats and previous chief of staff to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Rod Laughridge, a Chakrabarti supporter from Cole Valley who attended his watch party, compared Chakrabarti to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Saikat is one of those people,” Laughride said. “This guy is transformative change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Chakrabarti’s efforts came up short, with Chan and Wiener carving out a decisive lead for the runoff in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This campaign has come to an end, but the challenges facing San Francisco and our country remain, and so does the work of building a future where everyone has access to healthcare, affordable housing and a government that puts people ahead of corporate interests,” Chakrabarti said in a concession statement on Wednesday. “While this wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, I’m incredibly proud of what we built together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wiener, a former San Francisco supervisor, touted his work at the state level to cut red tape and make building housing easier as well as mandatory for local jurisdictions like San Francisco, where housing development has lagged for decades. A gay man with deep ties to the city’s LGBTQ+ community, Wiener has also fought for legislation to protect trans youth, some of which he’s faced backlash for, particularly from MAGA Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan, a later entrant to the race, touted her community-based work in the city and promised to fight against corporate interests. Her campaign raised only a fraction of what her opponents pulled in, but she received the coveted Pelosi endorsement, which may have given her a primary boost.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to show you what working people’s power looks like,” Chan said during an upbeat election watch party at El Rio in the Mission District. “The work is not done yet. It just got started.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But, Chan — who told the crowd to laughter that she was set to chair a budget committee meeting on Wednesday — warned her supporters not to celebrate for too long.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12086008\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12086008\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260602-DISTRICT11CONNIECHAN-03-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260602-DISTRICT11CONNIECHAN-03-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260602-DISTRICT11CONNIECHAN-03-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/260602-DISTRICT11CONNIECHAN-03-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supervisor Connie Chan speaks to supporters during an election night party at El Rio in San Francisco on June 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Now they’re going to come for us,” she said. “You know that, right?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three top contenders shared many of the same stances on policies like passing Medicare for All, protecting immigrants and building more affordable housing. All three also ultimately said they believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, although Wiener clarified his position after a debate in January where he faced criticism for initially failing to answer the question.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former Republican-turned-moderate Democrat Marie Huriabell trailed the other candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The congressional district includes virtually all of San Francisco, except for a small southeastern section. It is the first time no incumbent has run since Pelosi was first elected in 1987.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Tomorrow morning,” Wiener said, “we’re going to get right back up and go to work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/kdebenedetti\">\u003cem>Katie DeBenedetti\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed reporting.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "election-day-is-here-from-governor-to-la-mayor-these-are-the-races-to-watch",
"title": "Polls Are Closed in California. From Governor to LA Mayor, These Are the Races to Watch",
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"headTitle": "Polls Are Closed in California. From Governor to LA Mayor, These Are the Races to Watch | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Polls are now closed in California’s primary election, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/elections/results\">the first tallies\u003c/a> are starting to trickle in from some counties. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/california/governor\">race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> has loomed large in media coverage and political advertisements, but there’s a lot more on the ballot. Here’s what we will be watching closely on election night and in the days to come as votes continue to be counted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, one reminder: California has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083839/what-is-californias-jungle-primary-and-why-does-it-matter-so-much-for-the-governors-race\">top-two primary system\u003c/a>, meaning the top two vote-getters in statewide races and congressional races move on to the November runoff — regardless of party affiliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A messy, confusing race for California governor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s first truly open governor’s race in more than two decades has remained unsettled to the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Polls now show three candidates likely competing for the two spots in the November general election: Democratic former Health and Human Services Secretary \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/xavier-becerra\">Xavier Becerra\u003c/a>, Republican businessman and former Fox News host \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/steve-hilton\">Steve Hilton\u003c/a> and billionaire Democratic activist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/tom-steyer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Becerra secures one of the top spots, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085276/becerra-hilton-lead-in-california-governors-race-poll-ahead-of-june-primary\">as the latest polling suggests\u003c/a>, it would cap one of the most surprising and dramatic comebacks in recent state political history. As recently as April, polls were showing Becerra — also a former member of Congress and California attorney general — languishing in single digits in a crowded field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082916\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082916\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2274719112-scaled-e1778887506369.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1316\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California gubernatorial candidates former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, businessman Tom Steyer, businessman Steve Hilton, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, San José Mayor Matt Mahan look on during a CNN California Governor Primary Debate at East Los Angeles College on May 5, 2026, in Monterey Park, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Becerra’s campaign was boosted after former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race and resigned from Congress following multiple accusations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079502/rep-eric-swalwell-candidate-for-california-governor-is-accused-of-sexual-assault\">sexual assault and harassment\u003c/a>. Shortly after Swalwell’s exit, Becerra began rising in the polls, outpacing most of his Democratic rivals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078793/trump-endorses-steve-hilton-for-california-governor-giving-gop-a-front-runner\">endorsed Hilton\u003c/a> in April, propelling him to the top of the field alongside Becerra. But neither has cracked more than 25% support in most public polls — and Steyer, who’s spent more than $213 million of his own fortune in the race, remains within striking distance of the top two in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085443/new-california-governor-poll-shows-a-slim-but-growing-chance-of-2-democrats-advancing\">recent surveys\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That state of play helped quell fears among Democrats that a crowded field without a superstar candidate could result in two Republicans moving on to the general election, locking out Democrats entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An open congressional seat in San Francisco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retirement\u003c/a> of Democratic powerhouse Nancy Pelosi, most San Francisco voters are facing an open congressional seat for the first time since 1987.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi’s exit has spurred a tight and spirited contest among three leading Democrats to replace her: state Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/scott-wiener\">Scott Wiener\u003c/a>, San Francisco Supervisor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/connie-chan\">Connie Chan\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/saikat-chakrabarti\">Saikat Chakrabarti\u003c/a>, a former tech engineer who previously worked as chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078159\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12078159 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260107-SFCongressionalCandidateForum-19-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260107-SFCongressionalCandidateForum-19-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260107-SFCongressionalCandidateForum-19-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260107-SFCongressionalCandidateForum-19-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Candidates running for California’s 11th Congressional District (from left) Saikat Chakrabarti, state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan take part in a forum at UC Law San Francisco on Jan. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Polls show the race boiling down to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084959/after-pelosi-young-sf-voters-want-change-two-progressives-are-competing-to-offer-it\">a fight for the No. 2 spot\u003c/a>, with Wiener leading and expected to make the November runoff. He’s made a name for himself as a staunch champion of increasing housing development and funding public transit, and defending gay rights. Wiener is seen as the more business-friendly moderate in the race — though on the national stage, he’d be considered incredibly liberal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan has racked up the endorsements of labor groups and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084132/nancy-pelosi-endorses-san-francisco-supervisor-connie-chan-for-congress\">Pelosi\u003c/a>, as well as some other big-name Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. She’s running as a tried-and-true San Francisco progressive and has leaned on her personal story as an immigrant and mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti, who’s used his own personal wealth to help fund his upstart campaign, is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084959/after-pelosi-young-sf-voters-want-change-two-progressives-are-competing-to-offer-it\">running as an outsider\u003c/a> who will shake things up. He’s had to introduce himself to an electorate unfamiliar with him and is banking on frustration with the Democratic Party establishment to help fuel his run.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Other congressional races\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The real action in California’s congressional swing seats won’t start until the fall, when Democrats are hoping to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085418/two-democrats-are-fighting-for-the-chance-to-flip-californias-only-toss-up-house-race\">flip multiple Republican-held districts\u003c/a> in their push to retake the House of Representatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a pair of primaries Tuesday will set the stage for those battles. In the Bakersfield-area 22nd District, Democrats Jasmeet Bains, a moderate state Assembly member and Randy Villegas, a progressive school board member, are competing to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085466/two-democrats-battling-to-unseat-longtime-central-valley-congressman\">challenge incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071887\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071887\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. David Valadao of California speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And in the newly drawn 48th District, San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and Navy Reserve officer Ammar Campa-Najjar are among the Democrats vying to make the general election, where they will likely face Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In safe Democratic seats, a handful of primaries are dividing along generational lines. Longtime incumbents Mike Thompson, Doris Matsui and Brad Sherman are all facing youthful challengers arguing for a changing of the guard.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An important race for insurance commissioner\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/california/insurance-commissioner\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Compare insurance commissioner candidates in the KQED Voter Guide \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside of governor, the primary for California’s insurance commissioner is the statewide election with the highest stakes. The next commissioner will assume \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000611/california-insurance-commissioner-candidates-debate-solutions-to-wildfire-driven-crisis\">oversight of an insurance market in crisis\u003c/a> — with insurers issuing nonrenewals and limiting new policies in the face of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000990/california-must-move-faster-on-wildfire-risk-experts-warn\">massive wildfire threats and liabilities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The field of Democrats running includes state Sen. Ben Allen and former state Sen. Steven Bradford, along with former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim and financial analyst Patrick Wolff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five Republicans are also on the ballot, though unlikely to win statewide election. Insurance agent Stacy Korsgaden has won the party’s official endorsement.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Local taxes as cities face budget crunches\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Voters in the Bay Area’s three largest cities will decide whether to approve new taxes to help bolster struggling local budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco and Oakland, the tax votes could provide a key measure of the political clout of Mayors Daniel Lurie and Barbara Lee a year into their terms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078516\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078516\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-12-BL_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-12-BL_QED-KQED.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-12-BL_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-12-BL_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Barbara Lee speaks during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lee is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084482/oakland-mayor-barbara-lee-signals-shell-run-for-full-term-in-november\">pushing for the passage of Measure E\u003c/a>, a parcel tax of $192 a year for single-family properties that is expected to raise $34 million annually. Across the bay, Lurie is asking voters to reject \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/sanfrancisco/proposition-d\">Proposition D\u003c/a>, a union-backed measure that would increase business taxes on corporations whose CEOs make 100 times more than their median San Francisco employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San José, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/santaclara/measure-a\">Measure A\u003c/a> has been met with less debate: The city’s entire political establishment is behind the idea of increasing the hotel tax from 10% to 12% to bring in $10 million a year for the general fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Los Angeles mayor’s race takes statewide spotlight\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The L.A. mayor’s race has emerged after the governor’s race as one of the most surprising contests in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Karen Bass, a longtime fixture in L.A. Democratic politics, is facing challenges from both the left and the right: City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a former Bass ally, is running as a more progressive alternative; and former reality TV star and Republican Spencer Pratt is running on an anti-establishment platform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the race has been fueled by lingering anger over Bass’ response to the 2025 L.A. wildfires; Pratt lost his Pacific Palisades home in one of the blazes. Polls show a \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/28/la-mayor-poll-bass-vulnerable-close-race-raman-pratt-00941128\">close race among all three candidates\u003c/a>, a remarkable turn for Bass, who has represented L.A. in Congress and the state Legislature for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How much will we know on election night?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As always, Californians’ reliance on vote-by-mail will mean a longer wait for definitive results. That’s especially true if many voters wait until Tuesday to return their ballot.[aside label=\"2026 California Voter Guide\" link1='https://www.kqed.org/voterguide,Learn everything you need to cast an informed ballot for the 2026 primary election' hero=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2026/04/Aside-California-Voter-Guide-2026-Primary-Election-1200x1200@2x.png]If the leading candidates in the race for governor remain separated by just a handful of percentage points, the top two finishers may not become clear for days or even weeks as ballots are counted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the results could shift — data suggests the early vote has been more heavily Republican than in previous primaries, meaning the ballots that remain to be counted could be more heavily Democratic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, the second- and third-place finishers in the statewide race for insurance commissioner were separated by less than a percentage point. The race was not decided \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-07-06/marc-levine-concedes-in-primary-race-for-state-insurance-commissioner\">until a month\u003c/a> after Election Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For state and federal races, KQED relies on the Associated Press to “call” the winner, which is determined through an analysis of surveys, results and remaining ballots to declare when a trailing candidate or measure cannot catch the leader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California’s primary election includes a number of races worth following on election night and in the days to come as ballots continue to be counted.",
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"title": "Polls Are Closed in California. From Governor to LA Mayor, These Are the Races to Watch | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Polls are now closed in California’s primary election, and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/elections/results\">the first tallies\u003c/a> are starting to trickle in from some counties. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/california/governor\">race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> has loomed large in media coverage and political advertisements, but there’s a lot more on the ballot. Here’s what we will be watching closely on election night and in the days to come as votes continue to be counted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First, one reminder: California has a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083839/what-is-californias-jungle-primary-and-why-does-it-matter-so-much-for-the-governors-race\">top-two primary system\u003c/a>, meaning the top two vote-getters in statewide races and congressional races move on to the November runoff — regardless of party affiliation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A messy, confusing race for California governor\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s first truly open governor’s race in more than two decades has remained unsettled to the end.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Polls now show three candidates likely competing for the two spots in the November general election: Democratic former Health and Human Services Secretary \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/xavier-becerra\">Xavier Becerra\u003c/a>, Republican businessman and former Fox News host \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/steve-hilton\">Steve Hilton\u003c/a> and billionaire Democratic activist \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/tom-steyer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Becerra secures one of the top spots, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085276/becerra-hilton-lead-in-california-governors-race-poll-ahead-of-june-primary\">as the latest polling suggests\u003c/a>, it would cap one of the most surprising and dramatic comebacks in recent state political history. As recently as April, polls were showing Becerra — also a former member of Congress and California attorney general — languishing in single digits in a crowded field.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082916\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082916\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2274719112-scaled-e1778887506369.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1316\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California gubernatorial candidates former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, businessman Tom Steyer, businessman Steve Hilton, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, San José Mayor Matt Mahan look on during a CNN California Governor Primary Debate at East Los Angeles College on May 5, 2026, in Monterey Park, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Becerra’s campaign was boosted after former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race and resigned from Congress following multiple accusations of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079502/rep-eric-swalwell-candidate-for-california-governor-is-accused-of-sexual-assault\">sexual assault and harassment\u003c/a>. Shortly after Swalwell’s exit, Becerra began rising in the polls, outpacing most of his Democratic rivals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump also \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078793/trump-endorses-steve-hilton-for-california-governor-giving-gop-a-front-runner\">endorsed Hilton\u003c/a> in April, propelling him to the top of the field alongside Becerra. But neither has cracked more than 25% support in most public polls — and Steyer, who’s spent more than $213 million of his own fortune in the race, remains within striking distance of the top two in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085443/new-california-governor-poll-shows-a-slim-but-growing-chance-of-2-democrats-advancing\">recent surveys\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That state of play helped quell fears among Democrats that a crowded field without a superstar candidate could result in two Republicans moving on to the general election, locking out Democrats entirely.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An open congressional seat in San Francisco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retirement\u003c/a> of Democratic powerhouse Nancy Pelosi, most San Francisco voters are facing an open congressional seat for the first time since 1987.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi’s exit has spurred a tight and spirited contest among three leading Democrats to replace her: state Sen. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/scott-wiener\">Scott Wiener\u003c/a>, San Francisco Supervisor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/connie-chan\">Connie Chan\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/saikat-chakrabarti\">Saikat Chakrabarti\u003c/a>, a former tech engineer who previously worked as chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078159\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12078159 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260107-SFCongressionalCandidateForum-19-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260107-SFCongressionalCandidateForum-19-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260107-SFCongressionalCandidateForum-19-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260107-SFCongressionalCandidateForum-19-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Candidates running for California’s 11th Congressional District (from left) Saikat Chakrabarti, state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan take part in a forum at UC Law San Francisco on Jan. 7, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Polls show the race boiling down to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084959/after-pelosi-young-sf-voters-want-change-two-progressives-are-competing-to-offer-it\">a fight for the No. 2 spot\u003c/a>, with Wiener leading and expected to make the November runoff. He’s made a name for himself as a staunch champion of increasing housing development and funding public transit, and defending gay rights. Wiener is seen as the more business-friendly moderate in the race — though on the national stage, he’d be considered incredibly liberal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan has racked up the endorsements of labor groups and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084132/nancy-pelosi-endorses-san-francisco-supervisor-connie-chan-for-congress\">Pelosi\u003c/a>, as well as some other big-name Democrats, including U.S. Sen. Adam Schiff and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. She’s running as a tried-and-true San Francisco progressive and has leaned on her personal story as an immigrant and mother.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti, who’s used his own personal wealth to help fund his upstart campaign, is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084959/after-pelosi-young-sf-voters-want-change-two-progressives-are-competing-to-offer-it\">running as an outsider\u003c/a> who will shake things up. He’s had to introduce himself to an electorate unfamiliar with him and is banking on frustration with the Democratic Party establishment to help fuel his run.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Other congressional races\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The real action in California’s congressional swing seats won’t start until the fall, when Democrats are hoping to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085418/two-democrats-are-fighting-for-the-chance-to-flip-californias-only-toss-up-house-race\">flip multiple Republican-held districts\u003c/a> in their push to retake the House of Representatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But a pair of primaries Tuesday will set the stage for those battles. In the Bakersfield-area 22nd District, Democrats Jasmeet Bains, a moderate state Assembly member and Randy Villegas, a progressive school board member, are competing to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085466/two-democrats-battling-to-unseat-longtime-central-valley-congressman\">challenge incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071887\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071887\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. David Valadao of California speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>And in the newly drawn 48th District, San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert and Navy Reserve officer Ammar Campa-Najjar are among the Democrats vying to make the general election, where they will likely face Republican Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In safe Democratic seats, a handful of primaries are dividing along generational lines. Longtime incumbents Mike Thompson, Doris Matsui and Brad Sherman are all facing youthful challengers arguing for a changing of the guard.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>An important race for insurance commissioner\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/california/insurance-commissioner\">\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Compare insurance commissioner candidates in the KQED Voter Guide \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside of governor, the primary for California’s insurance commissioner is the statewide election with the highest stakes. The next commissioner will assume \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000611/california-insurance-commissioner-candidates-debate-solutions-to-wildfire-driven-crisis\">oversight of an insurance market in crisis\u003c/a> — with insurers issuing nonrenewals and limiting new policies in the face of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/2000990/california-must-move-faster-on-wildfire-risk-experts-warn\">massive wildfire threats and liabilities\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The field of Democrats running includes state Sen. Ben Allen and former state Sen. Steven Bradford, along with former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim and financial analyst Patrick Wolff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Five Republicans are also on the ballot, though unlikely to win statewide election. Insurance agent Stacy Korsgaden has won the party’s official endorsement.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Local taxes as cities face budget crunches\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Voters in the Bay Area’s three largest cities will decide whether to approve new taxes to help bolster struggling local budgets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco and Oakland, the tax votes could provide a key measure of the political clout of Mayors Daniel Lurie and Barbara Lee a year into their terms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078516\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078516\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-12-BL_QED-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-12-BL_QED-KQED.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-12-BL_QED-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-12-BL_QED-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mayor Barbara Lee speaks during a press conference announcing new affordable housing for Oakland Unified School District teachers and school employees at a recently purchased residential building in Oakland on April 2, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Lee is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084482/oakland-mayor-barbara-lee-signals-shell-run-for-full-term-in-november\">pushing for the passage of Measure E\u003c/a>, a parcel tax of $192 a year for single-family properties that is expected to raise $34 million annually. Across the bay, Lurie is asking voters to reject \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/sanfrancisco/proposition-d\">Proposition D\u003c/a>, a union-backed measure that would increase business taxes on corporations whose CEOs make 100 times more than their median San Francisco employee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San José, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/santaclara/measure-a\">Measure A\u003c/a> has been met with less debate: The city’s entire political establishment is behind the idea of increasing the hotel tax from 10% to 12% to bring in $10 million a year for the general fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Los Angeles mayor’s race takes statewide spotlight\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The L.A. mayor’s race has emerged after the governor’s race as one of the most surprising contests in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mayor Karen Bass, a longtime fixture in L.A. Democratic politics, is facing challenges from both the left and the right: City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a former Bass ally, is running as a more progressive alternative; and former reality TV star and Republican Spencer Pratt is running on an anti-establishment platform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Much of the race has been fueled by lingering anger over Bass’ response to the 2025 L.A. wildfires; Pratt lost his Pacific Palisades home in one of the blazes. Polls show a \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/28/la-mayor-poll-bass-vulnerable-close-race-raman-pratt-00941128\">close race among all three candidates\u003c/a>, a remarkable turn for Bass, who has represented L.A. in Congress and the state Legislature for decades.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How much will we know on election night?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>As always, Californians’ reliance on vote-by-mail will mean a longer wait for definitive results. That’s especially true if many voters wait until Tuesday to return their ballot.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>If the leading candidates in the race for governor remain separated by just a handful of percentage points, the top two finishers may not become clear for days or even weeks as ballots are counted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And the results could shift — data suggests the early vote has been more heavily Republican than in previous primaries, meaning the ballots that remain to be counted could be more heavily Democratic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2022, the second- and third-place finishers in the statewide race for insurance commissioner were separated by less than a percentage point. The race was not decided \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-07-06/marc-levine-concedes-in-primary-race-for-state-insurance-commissioner\">until a month\u003c/a> after Election Day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For state and federal races, KQED relies on the Associated Press to “call” the winner, which is determined through an analysis of surveys, results and remaining ballots to declare when a trailing candidate or measure cannot catch the leader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "california-primary-2026-key-congressional-races-to-watch-today",
"title": "California Primary 2026: Key Congressional Races to Watch on Election Day",
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"headTitle": "California Primary 2026: Key Congressional Races to Watch on Election Day | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>It’s Primary \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide\">Election Day\u003c/a> in California. Polls are open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., and hundreds of thousands of Californians are expected to cast — or mail in — their votes in a host of federal, state and local races.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike ordinary primaries, which Californians often approach with a shrug, this election has all the makings of a Trump-era dogfight. It’s the first election California has seen since approving \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062781/proposition-50-passes-in-california-boosting-democrats-in-fight-for-us-house-control\">Proposition 50\u003c/a> last year, which redrew U.S. congressional districts to favor Democrats and allow voters to flip up to five seats currently held by Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans currently control both chambers of Congress, but by small margins — if they lose two House seats, Democrats will reclaim power in at least one chamber of government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California uses a top-two primary system, in which the two candidates with the most votes — regardless of party preference — proceed to a runoff race in November’s general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NPR member stations across California have been tracking these changes to the state’s congressional map, the candidates and the issues in their communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 48\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Republican Rep. Darrell Issa has represented the San Diego area in Congress for about a quarter of a century. Democrats have long dreamed of ousting Issa, and Proposition 50 may have given Democrats the edge they’ve long needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the passage of the controversial measure, Issa’s reelection race flipped from a double-digit Republican advantage to a 10-point lead for Democrats. In March, Issa announced he wasn’t seeking reelection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056383\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12056383\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Newsom-Gerry_CalMatters.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Newsom-Gerry_CalMatters.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Newsom-Gerry_CalMatters-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Newsom-Gerry_CalMatters-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa speaks to media outside of a House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 14, 2023. \u003ccite>(Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite Proposition 50, the question remains: Can the Democrats flip the 48th Congressional District?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twelve candidates are in the race for Issa’s seat, including San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, who’s running as a Republican; San Diego City Councilmember Marni Von Wilpert, who is running as a Democrat; and former Obama official Ammar Campa-Najjar, also a Democrat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from KPBS:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2026/05/22/48th-congressional-district-campaigns-find-ways-around-campaign-finance-rules\">48th Congressional District campaigns find ways around campaign finance rules\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-midday-edition/californias-48th-congressional-district-race-ammar-campa-najjar\">California’s 48th Congressional District race: Ammar Campa-Najjar\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-midday-edition/californias-48th-congressional-district-race-marni-von-wilpert\">California’s 48th Congressional District race: Marni Von Wilpert\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-midday-edition/californias-48th-congressional-district-race-brandon-riker\">California’s 48th Congressional District race: Brandon Riker\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 22\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of the country’s most competitive primary races for Congress this year — and the only California race rated as a toss-up by the Cook Political Report — is a swing district in the Central Valley, where Democrats are hoping to flip a seat long held by Republican Rep. David Valadao.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While District 22 has been trending purple, Valadao has held his seat. But since the passage of Proposition 50, former dairy farmer Valadao faces another headwind: Californians voted to redraw his district narrowly in favor of Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071887\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071887\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. David Valadao of California speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While Valadao is the last remaining House Republican who voted to impeach President Donald Trump in 2021, he did vote in favor of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill slashed Medicaid funding, and Valadao’s congressional district has one of the highest Medicaid enrollment rates in the country. Democratic opponents are trying to rally voters to hold him accountable for his vote to cut healthcare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This congressional race is also one of many emerging around the country where progressive Democrats are challenging their party’s establishment.[aside label=\"2026 California Voter Guide\" link1='https://www.kqed.org/voterguide,Learn everything you need to cast an informed ballot for the 2026 primary election' hero=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2026/04/Aside-California-Voter-Guide-2026-Primary-Election-1200x1200@2x.png]Democrat Randy Villegas has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villegas is a political science professor at a local community college and an elected trustee of the Visalia Unified School District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also vying for the number 2 spot in California’s top-two primary is state Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains. She’s been endorsed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from KVPR:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/local-news/2026-05-27/a-tug-of-war-for-the-identity-of-the-party-why-a-valley-congressional-race-is-key-for-democrats\">‘A tug of war for the identity of the party’: Why a Valley congressional race is key for Democrats\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from CalMatters:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/central-valley-congress-dccc/\">National Democrats said they’d stay out of this California race. Then they picked a side\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/bains-villegas-democrats-central-valley/\">‘Valleycrat’ or Mamdani wannabe?: California Democrats are split on how to win swing votes\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 11\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has held her seat representing San Francisco for nearly 40 years. But with the former House speaker \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retiring\u003c/a>, all eyes are on the race to succeed her. The frontrunner is state Sen. Scott Wiener, a moderate Democrat by San Francisco standards. He’s polling at about 40% with likely voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The race to face off against Wiener includes two Democrats appealing to more progressive voters in the liberal city: San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and former tech engineer Saikat Chakrabarti.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067934\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067934\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251218-PELOSIS-SEAT-MD-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251218-PELOSIS-SEAT-MD-01.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251218-PELOSIS-SEAT-MD-01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251218-PELOSIS-SEAT-MD-01-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, Saikat Chakrabarti and State Senator Scott Wiener. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED; Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pelosi has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084132/nancy-pelosi-endorses-san-francisco-supervisor-connie-chan-for-congress\">endorsed\u003c/a> Chan. Chan was born in Hong Kong and moved to San Francisco’s Chinatown as a child. She has centered her campaign on her background as an immigrant, mother and longtime civil servant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan is running neck and neck with Chakrabarti, who has poured nearly $10 million of his own money into the race. Chakrabarti was the former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a key organizer of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from KQED:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084959/after-pelosi-young-sf-voters-want-change-two-progressives-are-competing-to-offer-it\">After Pelosi, young SF voters want change. 2 progressives are competing to offer it\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080294/big-money-pours-into-san-francisco-race-to-replace-rep-nancy-pelosi\">Big money pours into San Francisco race to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078152/in-bid-to-succeed-pelosi-san-francisco-house-candidates-set-to-debate\">SF House Candidates Clash on Taxes, Transit in Debate to Replace Pelosi\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 1\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When longtime Republican Rep. \u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-01-06/heres-what-to-know-about-congressman-doug-lamalfa-death-cause-special-election-trump\">Doug LaMalfa unexpectedly died\u003c/a> in emergency surgery earlier this year, he left his seat vacant. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a special election to replace LaMalfa, which also falls on the day of California’s primary election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because LaMalfa’s seat was set to expire in January 2027, the winner of the special election will serve only the remaining months of his term. Some voters in the district will see these candidates on their ballots twice: once for the special election to fill the vacancy, and again in the regular primary to determine who represents the redrawn district for the full term when Congress begins in January 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064004\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064004\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/082125_Redistricting-Newsom_MG_CM_20.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/082125_Redistricting-Newsom_MG_CM_20.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/082125_Redistricting-Newsom_MG_CM_20-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/082125_Redistricting-Newsom_MG_CM_20-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Mike McGuire speaks during a press conference, before Gov. Gavin Newsom signs the Election Rigging Response Act in Sacramento on Aug. 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This district — which covers much of rural, inland Northern California, including Chico and Redding — has historically voted red. But the redrawn lines bring in more liberal areas like Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One long-tenured Democrat has thrown his hat into the race: Mike McGuire, who currently represents a stretch of coast from the North Bay up to the Oregon border in California’s state Senate. He’s running against fellow state Assemblymember James Gallagher, a Republican who represents the northern Sacramento Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrat Audrey Denney, an educator from Chico, is also running in District 1 — for the third time. (She ran in 2018 and 2020.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from North State Public Radio:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-01-14/james-gallagher-runs-for-doug-lamalfa-congress-seat-special-election-newsom\">What to know about James Gallagher’s run for Congress\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-05-05/james-gallagher-interview-california-1st-congressional-district-2026-primary-election\">Gallagher targets rising cost of living in 1st Congressional District\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-05-05/mike-mcguire-interview-california-1st-congressional-district-2026\">McGuire says healthcare is at a ‘crisis point’ in 1st Congressional District\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-05-05/audrey-denney-interview-california-1st-congressional-district-2026\">Denney links affordability crisis to corporate influence in 1st Congressional District\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 7\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Democrat Doris Matsui has represented California’s 7th Congressional District for over two decades. She stepped into the role in 2005, winning a special election after her husband, Robert T. Matsui, died and left the seat vacant. Prior to his death, Robert Matsui represented the district — which covers the Sacramento County area — for over 25 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doris Matsui has easily won in past elections, but now faces her most serious challenge. Mai Vang, a Sacramento City Council member and more progressive Democrat, has pledged not to take donations from corporations or political action committees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085750\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2271050812.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2271050812.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2271050812-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2271050812-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. Doris Matsui listens during the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy hearing on Thursday, April 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Several other candidates hope to unseat Matsui, including faith-based housing nonprofit employee and Sacramento State student Zachariah Wooden, who is running as a Republican; small manufacturing business owner Robby Morin, who is running as a Democrat; and entrepreneur Enayat Nazhat, also running as a Democrat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 7th Congressional District has also shifted under Proposition 50 to include some rural areas in El Dorado and San Joaquin counties, which could shift the district more red.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from CapRadio:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2026/05/08/how-campaign-money-is-shaping-sacramentos-7th-congressional-district-race/\">How campaign money is shaping Sacramento’s 7th Congressional District race\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from CalMatters:\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/california-democrats-endorsements/https:/calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/california-democrats-endorsements/\">California Democrats back establishment candidates despite progressive pushback\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://california-newsroom.beehiiv.com/\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a> is a statewide public media collaboration that includes NPR, CalMatters, KQED in San Francisco, LAist and KCRW in Los Angeles, KPBS in San Diego and other partner stations across California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California’s 2026 primary is the first since voters passed Proposition 50, which redrew congressional maps to give Democrats a shot at flipping up to five Republican-held seats. From the Central Valley to San Diego, here’s what’s at stake.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s Primary \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide\">Election Day\u003c/a> in California. Polls are open between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m., and hundreds of thousands of Californians are expected to cast — or mail in — their votes in a host of federal, state and local races.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike ordinary primaries, which Californians often approach with a shrug, this election has all the makings of a Trump-era dogfight. It’s the first election California has seen since approving \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062781/proposition-50-passes-in-california-boosting-democrats-in-fight-for-us-house-control\">Proposition 50\u003c/a> last year, which redrew U.S. congressional districts to favor Democrats and allow voters to flip up to five seats currently held by Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Republicans currently control both chambers of Congress, but by small margins — if they lose two House seats, Democrats will reclaim power in at least one chamber of government.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California uses a top-two primary system, in which the two candidates with the most votes — regardless of party preference — proceed to a runoff race in November’s general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NPR member stations across California have been tracking these changes to the state’s congressional map, the candidates and the issues in their communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 48\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Republican Rep. Darrell Issa has represented the San Diego area in Congress for about a quarter of a century. Democrats have long dreamed of ousting Issa, and Proposition 50 may have given Democrats the edge they’ve long needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the passage of the controversial measure, Issa’s reelection race flipped from a double-digit Republican advantage to a 10-point lead for Democrats. In March, Issa announced he wasn’t seeking reelection.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056383\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12056383\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Newsom-Gerry_CalMatters.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Newsom-Gerry_CalMatters.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Newsom-Gerry_CalMatters-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/Newsom-Gerry_CalMatters-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa speaks to media outside of a House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 14, 2023. \u003ccite>(Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Despite Proposition 50, the question remains: Can the Democrats flip the 48th Congressional District?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Twelve candidates are in the race for Issa’s seat, including San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, who’s running as a Republican; San Diego City Councilmember Marni Von Wilpert, who is running as a Democrat; and former Obama official Ammar Campa-Najjar, also a Democrat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from KPBS:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2026/05/22/48th-congressional-district-campaigns-find-ways-around-campaign-finance-rules\">48th Congressional District campaigns find ways around campaign finance rules\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-midday-edition/californias-48th-congressional-district-race-ammar-campa-najjar\">California’s 48th Congressional District race: Ammar Campa-Najjar\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-midday-edition/californias-48th-congressional-district-race-marni-von-wilpert\">California’s 48th Congressional District race: Marni Von Wilpert\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/kpbs-midday-edition/californias-48th-congressional-district-race-brandon-riker\">California’s 48th Congressional District race: Brandon Riker\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 22\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>One of the country’s most competitive primary races for Congress this year — and the only California race rated as a toss-up by the Cook Political Report — is a swing district in the Central Valley, where Democrats are hoping to flip a seat long held by Republican Rep. David Valadao.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While District 22 has been trending purple, Valadao has held his seat. But since the passage of Proposition 50, former dairy farmer Valadao faces another headwind: Californians voted to redraw his district narrowly in favor of Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071887\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071887\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/092222-DAVID-VALADAO-REUTERS-GS-CM-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. David Valadao of California speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 17, 2021. \u003ccite>(Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA via Reuters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>While Valadao is the last remaining House Republican who voted to impeach President Donald Trump in 2021, he did vote in favor of Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill slashed Medicaid funding, and Valadao’s congressional district has one of the highest Medicaid enrollment rates in the country. Democratic opponents are trying to rally voters to hold him accountable for his vote to cut healthcare.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This congressional race is also one of many emerging around the country where progressive Democrats are challenging their party’s establishment.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Democrat Randy Villegas has been endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villegas is a political science professor at a local community college and an elected trustee of the Visalia Unified School District.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also vying for the number 2 spot in California’s top-two primary is state Assemblymember Dr. Jasmeet Bains. She’s been endorsed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from KVPR:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kvpr.org/local-news/2026-05-27/a-tug-of-war-for-the-identity-of-the-party-why-a-valley-congressional-race-is-key-for-democrats\">‘A tug of war for the identity of the party’: Why a Valley congressional race is key for Democrats\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from CalMatters:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/central-valley-congress-dccc/\">National Democrats said they’d stay out of this California race. Then they picked a side\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/bains-villegas-democrats-central-valley/\">‘Valleycrat’ or Mamdani wannabe?: California Democrats are split on how to win swing votes\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 11\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi has held her seat representing San Francisco for nearly 40 years. But with the former House speaker \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retiring\u003c/a>, all eyes are on the race to succeed her. The frontrunner is state Sen. Scott Wiener, a moderate Democrat by San Francisco standards. He’s polling at about 40% with likely voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The race to face off against Wiener includes two Democrats appealing to more progressive voters in the liberal city: San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and former tech engineer Saikat Chakrabarti.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067934\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067934\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251218-PELOSIS-SEAT-MD-01.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251218-PELOSIS-SEAT-MD-01.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251218-PELOSIS-SEAT-MD-01-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251218-PELOSIS-SEAT-MD-01-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(From left) San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, Saikat Chakrabarti and State Senator Scott Wiener. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED; Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pelosi has \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084132/nancy-pelosi-endorses-san-francisco-supervisor-connie-chan-for-congress\">endorsed\u003c/a> Chan. Chan was born in Hong Kong and moved to San Francisco’s Chinatown as a child. She has centered her campaign on her background as an immigrant, mother and longtime civil servant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan is running neck and neck with Chakrabarti, who has poured nearly $10 million of his own money into the race. Chakrabarti was the former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a key organizer of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from KQED:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084959/after-pelosi-young-sf-voters-want-change-two-progressives-are-competing-to-offer-it\">After Pelosi, young SF voters want change. 2 progressives are competing to offer it\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080294/big-money-pours-into-san-francisco-race-to-replace-rep-nancy-pelosi\">Big money pours into San Francisco race to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078152/in-bid-to-succeed-pelosi-san-francisco-house-candidates-set-to-debate\">SF House Candidates Clash on Taxes, Transit in Debate to Replace Pelosi\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 1\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When longtime Republican Rep. \u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-01-06/heres-what-to-know-about-congressman-doug-lamalfa-death-cause-special-election-trump\">Doug LaMalfa unexpectedly died\u003c/a> in emergency surgery earlier this year, he left his seat vacant. Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a special election to replace LaMalfa, which also falls on the day of California’s primary election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Because LaMalfa’s seat was set to expire in January 2027, the winner of the special election will serve only the remaining months of his term. Some voters in the district will see these candidates on their ballots twice: once for the special election to fill the vacancy, and again in the regular primary to determine who represents the redrawn district for the full term when Congress begins in January 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064004\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12064004\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/082125_Redistricting-Newsom_MG_CM_20.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/082125_Redistricting-Newsom_MG_CM_20.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/082125_Redistricting-Newsom_MG_CM_20-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/082125_Redistricting-Newsom_MG_CM_20-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Mike McGuire speaks during a press conference, before Gov. Gavin Newsom signs the Election Rigging Response Act in Sacramento on Aug. 21, 2025. \u003ccite>(Miguel Gutierrez Jr./CalMatters)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>This district — which covers much of rural, inland Northern California, including Chico and Redding — has historically voted red. But the redrawn lines bring in more liberal areas like Sonoma County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One long-tenured Democrat has thrown his hat into the race: Mike McGuire, who currently represents a stretch of coast from the North Bay up to the Oregon border in California’s state Senate. He’s running against fellow state Assemblymember James Gallagher, a Republican who represents the northern Sacramento Valley.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrat Audrey Denney, an educator from Chico, is also running in District 1 — for the third time. (She ran in 2018 and 2020.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from North State Public Radio:\u003c/strong>\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-01-14/james-gallagher-runs-for-doug-lamalfa-congress-seat-special-election-newsom\">What to know about James Gallagher’s run for Congress\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-05-05/james-gallagher-interview-california-1st-congressional-district-2026-primary-election\">Gallagher targets rising cost of living in 1st Congressional District\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-05-05/mike-mcguire-interview-california-1st-congressional-district-2026\">McGuire says healthcare is at a ‘crisis point’ in 1st Congressional District\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mynspr.org/news/2026-05-05/audrey-denney-interview-california-1st-congressional-district-2026\">Denney links affordability crisis to corporate influence in 1st Congressional District\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Congressional District 7\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Democrat Doris Matsui has represented California’s 7th Congressional District for over two decades. She stepped into the role in 2005, winning a special election after her husband, Robert T. Matsui, died and left the seat vacant. Prior to his death, Robert Matsui represented the district — which covers the Sacramento County area — for over 25 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doris Matsui has easily won in past elections, but now faces her most serious challenge. Mai Vang, a Sacramento City Council member and more progressive Democrat, has pledged not to take donations from corporations or political action committees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085750\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1980px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085750\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2271050812.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2271050812.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2271050812-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/GettyImages-2271050812-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. Doris Matsui listens during the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy hearing on Thursday, April 16, 2026. \u003ccite>(Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Several other candidates hope to unseat Matsui, including faith-based housing nonprofit employee and Sacramento State student Zachariah Wooden, who is running as a Republican; small manufacturing business owner Robby Morin, who is running as a Democrat; and entrepreneur Enayat Nazhat, also running as a Democrat.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 7th Congressional District has also shifted under Proposition 50 to include some rural areas in El Dorado and San Joaquin counties, which could shift the district more red.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from CapRadio:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.capradio.org/articles/2026/05/08/how-campaign-money-is-shaping-sacramentos-7th-congressional-district-race/\">How campaign money is shaping Sacramento’s 7th Congressional District race\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Read more from CalMatters:\u003cem> \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/california-democrats-endorsements/https:/calmatters.org/politics/2026/02/california-democrats-endorsements/\">California Democrats back establishment candidates despite progressive pushback\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://california-newsroom.beehiiv.com/\">The California Newsroom\u003c/a> is a statewide public media collaboration that includes NPR, CalMatters, KQED in San Francisco, LAist and KCRW in Los Angeles, KPBS in San Diego and other partner stations across California.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "after-pelosi-young-sf-voters-want-change-two-progressives-are-competing-to-offer-it",
"title": "After Pelosi, Young SF Voters Want Change. 2 Progressives Are Competing to Offer It",
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"headTitle": "After Pelosi, Young SF Voters Want Change. 2 Progressives Are Competing to Offer It | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In early May, nearly 1,400 people flocked to a nightclub in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood to hear \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/saikat-chakrabarti\">Saikat Chakrabarti\u003c/a>, a former tech engineer running to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t your typical SoMa rave. But Chakrabarti’s calls for a radically different Democratic Party were met with hands in the air, cheers and youthful optimism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Challenging the establishment, the Democratic candidate said, is what will allow the party to deliver on issues like Medicare for All, affordable housing and fighting back against the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti has little political footprint in the city. But his message, which has inundated social media feeds in recent months, is resonating with many young people eager to seize 2026 and Pelosi’s impending \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retirement\u003c/a> as an opportunity to challenge corporate-backed Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi has represented San Francisco for nearly 40 years, and the race to become the liberal city’s next Congress member has a likely frontrunner: state Sen. Scott Wiener, a moderate Democrat polling at roughly 40% of likely voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But below him, two progressive candidates are locked in a tight contest for the second spot in November: Chakrabarti and Supervisor Connie Chan, polling at 18% and 17% respectively, according to a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/wiener-chan-chakrabarti-congressional-election-22224962.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> poll\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085186\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085186\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-02114-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-02114-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-02114-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-02114-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saikat Chakrabarti speaks with Erich James outside his campaign headquarters in San Francisco on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pelosi, the former Democratic speaker of the House, widely regarded as one of the most powerful figures in Washington, has served longer than many of her younger constituents have been alive. While young voters said they believe she fought for important issues like during the HIV/AIDS crisis, they also told KQED that the current Democratic establishment is not moving the needle on issues such as wealth disparity, climate and student debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to completely change the direction and leadership of the Democratic Party,” Chakrabarti said to the cheering crowd. “We need a Democratic Party that will fight to create a society that works for all, not just the richest few.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That theme, that the Democratic establishment is out of touch with the everyday needs and issues of working-class people, has permeated San Francisco’s congressional race and elections beyond.[aside postID=news_12084482 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260402-OAKTEACHERHOUSING-12-BL_QED-KQED.jpg']In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who won a historic election last year, has become a darling of progressives with his populist platform and ability to connect with young voters. At Chakrabarti’s event, scattered with social media influencers like Hasan Piker, young voters said they want something similar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we look at what happened in New York with Mayor Mamdani, he spoke to actual real-life issues that people are really dealing with on a daily basis, and he used that as sort of his core,” said Shagun Aulakh, an undecided voter who went to Chakrabarti’s event. “I don’t think that’s what Pelosi and the establishment Democrats have historically done. They speak more to their corporate base, their donor base.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti, 40, isn’t the only young (ish) progressive in the race. He faces Chan, who came up in San Francisco politics and has amassed labor support and the attention of young working people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan and Chakrabarti have similarly progressive platforms, but what sets them apart most distinctly is their different backgrounds and, critically, in the final weeks leading up to the June 2 primary election, how they are trying to win over progressive voters. Chan is also hoping \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084132/nancy-pelosi-endorses-san-francisco-supervisor-connie-chan-for-congress\">a recent endorsement from Pelosi\u003c/a> herself will draw more supporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085172\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085172\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chang Ming Chen (center-right) and other supporters of San Francisco City Supervisor and congressional candidate Connie Chan rally at City Hall in San Francisco on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Born in Hong Kong, Chan, 47, moved to San Francisco’s Chinatown in her youth and has leaned into her experience as an immigrant, mother and longtime civil servant. That background, along with her platform focused on producing affordable housing for middle and low-income residents and lowering healthcare costs, has appealed to young voters like Celeste Martinez-Hernandez, who recently graduated from San Francisco State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do want someone who’s different. I want a policymaker who actually does implement real change,” she said. “Connie is a working mom; she’s a regular person. I don’t think that I can relate to a bunch of millionaires who haven’t struggled with buying groceries or paying their bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti is a centimillionaire and has poured nearly $10 million from his own wealth, built during his career as an engineer at the digital payment processing company Stripe, into his campaign. It’s allowed him to roll out an aggressive advertising strategy and quickly become known in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Really, the strategy is to get in front of as many screens as possible,” said Mustafa Ali Khan, 24, who is leading Chakrabarti’s digital campaign strategy. “Beyond the screens, get in front of as many doors as possible, too, because we know when people hear the message that we’re running on, they go our way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085169\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085169\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco City Supervisor and congressional candidate Connie Chan pins a button on a supporter at a get out the vote rally at City Hall in San Francisco on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti previously worked as chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. Neither has endorsed Chakrabarti for Congress. But he’s nabbed support from other national progressive figures like Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan has meanwhile run a more modest social media campaign, largely due to the fact that she has raised a fraction of what her top competitors have raked in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think what really resonates about Connie is that she’s been working for over 20 years in public services, and it’s that work that put her here, not just the flashy substance,” said Vivian Redmond, 24, who is leading Chan’s social media strategy. “She’s going to bring the entire San Francisco progressive movement to Washington, D.C., and a lot of young progressives and young people in general are really, really excited about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wiener has garnered support from big tech donors, real estate and the city’s more moderate politicians, and that’s steered some of the city’s most progressive young voters away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Scott Wiener, he’s built housing, but it hasn’t really been for the working people, and he’s backed by all these multimillionaires,” said Kai Leynes, a 21-year-old voter who grew up in the Excelsior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085181\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085181\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SFYOUNGVOTERS00819_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SFYOUNGVOTERS00819_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SFYOUNGVOTERS00819_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SFYOUNGVOTERS00819_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scott Wiener takes a selfie with an attendee at his campaign headquarters opening event in San Francisco on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, Wiener is leaning into many of the same change-themed narratives as his opponents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do need to change the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party needs to be focused like a laser on policies around housing, healthcare, supporting families that make people’s lives better and more affordable,” he said at a recent campaign party that doubled as a 56th birthday party. “We need the intensity to go up, like, 15 levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young Democrats in San Francisco, like Dane Willette, 29, said they’re impressed with Wiener’s personal track record on housing legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that really draws me toward Wiener is that he’s still progressive, still standing up and doing the right thing, but he’s incredibly pragmatic,” said Willette, who is part of San Francisco’s chapter of Yes In My Backyard or YIMBY, a pro-housing development group. “He’s managed to do all these big, impactful bills. I’m just hoping he’s going to do the same thing at the national level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each of the candidates has been using digital advertising to promote messages appealing to young voters around housing affordability, immigration and climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085184\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085184\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-01715-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-01715-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-01715-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-01715-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Campaign team members work at Saikat Chakrabarti’s campaign headquarters in San Francisco on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Chakrabarti’s social ads, viewers get flashy, fast-paced videos with the candidate speaking directly to the camera about how he wants to change Democratic leadership to fight on those issues. Chan’s more often shows the supervisor out in the community, interacting with residents and shopkeepers and promoting her work on the local level. Wiener’s ads emphasize his housing legislation bona fides, with some lightheartedly poking fun at the candidate’s towering 6-foot-7-inch stature with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXHyq1_DyqY/?hl=en\">giraffe\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From a strategy angle, political analysts say it makes sense if you’re trying to reach young people where they get their information. Adults under 30 are more likely than any other age group to get their news on social media, according to a 2025 Pew Research poll, with Instagram and TikTok being the most popular sites for people ages 18 to 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You see all the candidates trying to make themselves friendly in an Instagrammable way and trying to create content that will attract eyeballs. This is politics right now,” said Eric Jaye, a veteran political consultant in San Francisco. “There tends to be a greater focus on their own lives and experiences, sometimes to the detriment of regular voters who are not on Instagram or are less impressed by candidates turning themselves into reality stars online.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s an important caveat that may show up clearly on Election Day: young voters make up a relatively small portion of the electorate in San Francisco. There are approximately two voters over the age of 65 in San Francisco for every voter under 34, according to Jaye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085173\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085173\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Teamsters Local 7 brought an 18-wheeler to a rally in support of San Francisco City Supervisor and congressional candidate Connie Chan at City Hall in San Francisco on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, the candidates all said they don’t take young voters for granted in this election, and noted that older voters are online plenty these days, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The election will be a marker of generational change, no matter the outcome. Whoever replaces Pelosi will provide a new voice for San Francisco in Congress in nearly four decades. And they’ll have big shoes to fill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nancy Pelosi has always been my representative, since I was born,” Redmond said. “So it’s a very exciting time to shape what’s next.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "After Pelosi, Young SF Voters Want Change. 2 Progressives Are Competing to Offer It | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In early May, nearly 1,400 people flocked to a nightclub in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood to hear \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/saikat-chakrabarti\">Saikat Chakrabarti\u003c/a>, a former tech engineer running to succeed Rep. Nancy Pelosi in Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t your typical SoMa rave. But Chakrabarti’s calls for a radically different Democratic Party were met with hands in the air, cheers and youthful optimism.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Challenging the establishment, the Democratic candidate said, is what will allow the party to deliver on issues like Medicare for All, affordable housing and fighting back against the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti has little political footprint in the city. But his message, which has inundated social media feeds in recent months, is resonating with many young people eager to seize 2026 and Pelosi’s impending \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062796/nancy-pelosi-leaves-congress-after-38-years-defining-generations-of-democratic-power\">retirement\u003c/a> as an opportunity to challenge corporate-backed Democrats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pelosi has represented San Francisco for nearly 40 years, and the race to become the liberal city’s next Congress member has a likely frontrunner: state Sen. Scott Wiener, a moderate Democrat polling at roughly 40% of likely voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But below him, two progressive candidates are locked in a tight contest for the second spot in November: Chakrabarti and Supervisor Connie Chan, polling at 18% and 17% respectively, according to a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/wiener-chan-chakrabarti-congressional-election-22224962.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> poll\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085186\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085186\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-02114-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-02114-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-02114-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-02114-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saikat Chakrabarti speaks with Erich James outside his campaign headquarters in San Francisco on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Pelosi, the former Democratic speaker of the House, widely regarded as one of the most powerful figures in Washington, has served longer than many of her younger constituents have been alive. While young voters said they believe she fought for important issues like during the HIV/AIDS crisis, they also told KQED that the current Democratic establishment is not moving the needle on issues such as wealth disparity, climate and student debt.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have to completely change the direction and leadership of the Democratic Party,” Chakrabarti said to the cheering crowd. “We need a Democratic Party that will fight to create a society that works for all, not just the richest few.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That theme, that the Democratic establishment is out of touch with the everyday needs and issues of working-class people, has permeated San Francisco’s congressional race and elections beyond.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who won a historic election last year, has become a darling of progressives with his populist platform and ability to connect with young voters. At Chakrabarti’s event, scattered with social media influencers like Hasan Piker, young voters said they want something similar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If we look at what happened in New York with Mayor Mamdani, he spoke to actual real-life issues that people are really dealing with on a daily basis, and he used that as sort of his core,” said Shagun Aulakh, an undecided voter who went to Chakrabarti’s event. “I don’t think that’s what Pelosi and the establishment Democrats have historically done. They speak more to their corporate base, their donor base.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti, 40, isn’t the only young (ish) progressive in the race. He faces Chan, who came up in San Francisco politics and has amassed labor support and the attention of young working people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan and Chakrabarti have similarly progressive platforms, but what sets them apart most distinctly is their different backgrounds and, critically, in the final weeks leading up to the June 2 primary election, how they are trying to win over progressive voters. Chan is also hoping \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084132/nancy-pelosi-endorses-san-francisco-supervisor-connie-chan-for-congress\">a recent endorsement from Pelosi\u003c/a> herself will draw more supporters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085172\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085172\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-04-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-04-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-04-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-04-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chang Ming Chen (center-right) and other supporters of San Francisco City Supervisor and congressional candidate Connie Chan rally at City Hall in San Francisco on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Born in Hong Kong, Chan, 47, moved to San Francisco’s Chinatown in her youth and has leaned into her experience as an immigrant, mother and longtime civil servant. That background, along with her platform focused on producing affordable housing for middle and low-income residents and lowering healthcare costs, has appealed to young voters like Celeste Martinez-Hernandez, who recently graduated from San Francisco State University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I do want someone who’s different. I want a policymaker who actually does implement real change,” she said. “Connie is a working mom; she’s a regular person. I don’t think that I can relate to a bunch of millionaires who haven’t struggled with buying groceries or paying their bills.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti is a centimillionaire and has poured nearly $10 million from his own wealth, built during his career as an engineer at the digital payment processing company Stripe, into his campaign. It’s allowed him to roll out an aggressive advertising strategy and quickly become known in the city.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Really, the strategy is to get in front of as many screens as possible,” said Mustafa Ali Khan, 24, who is leading Chakrabarti’s digital campaign strategy. “Beyond the screens, get in front of as many doors as possible, too, because we know when people hear the message that we’re running on, they go our way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085169\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085169\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-01-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-01-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-01-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-01-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco City Supervisor and congressional candidate Connie Chan pins a button on a supporter at a get out the vote rally at City Hall in San Francisco on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Chakrabarti previously worked as chief of staff for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and on Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. Neither has endorsed Chakrabarti for Congress. But he’s nabbed support from other national progressive figures like Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chan has meanwhile run a more modest social media campaign, largely due to the fact that she has raised a fraction of what her top competitors have raked in.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think what really resonates about Connie is that she’s been working for over 20 years in public services, and it’s that work that put her here, not just the flashy substance,” said Vivian Redmond, 24, who is leading Chan’s social media strategy. “She’s going to bring the entire San Francisco progressive movement to Washington, D.C., and a lot of young progressives and young people in general are really, really excited about that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wiener has garnered support from big tech donors, real estate and the city’s more moderate politicians, and that’s steered some of the city’s most progressive young voters away.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Scott Wiener, he’s built housing, but it hasn’t really been for the working people, and he’s backed by all these multimillionaires,” said Kai Leynes, a 21-year-old voter who grew up in the Excelsior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085181\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085181\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SFYOUNGVOTERS00819_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SFYOUNGVOTERS00819_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SFYOUNGVOTERS00819_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SFYOUNGVOTERS00819_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Scott Wiener takes a selfie with an attendee at his campaign headquarters opening event in San Francisco on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, Wiener is leaning into many of the same change-themed narratives as his opponents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do need to change the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party needs to be focused like a laser on policies around housing, healthcare, supporting families that make people’s lives better and more affordable,” he said at a recent campaign party that doubled as a 56th birthday party. “We need the intensity to go up, like, 15 levels.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Young Democrats in San Francisco, like Dane Willette, 29, said they’re impressed with Wiener’s personal track record on housing legislation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that really draws me toward Wiener is that he’s still progressive, still standing up and doing the right thing, but he’s incredibly pragmatic,” said Willette, who is part of San Francisco’s chapter of Yes In My Backyard or YIMBY, a pro-housing development group. “He’s managed to do all these big, impactful bills. I’m just hoping he’s going to do the same thing at the national level.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Each of the candidates has been using digital advertising to promote messages appealing to young voters around housing affordability, immigration and climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085184\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085184\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-01715-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-01715-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-01715-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260519-SFYOUNGVOTERS-TV-01715-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Campaign team members work at Saikat Chakrabarti’s campaign headquarters in San Francisco on May 19, 2026. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Chakrabarti’s social ads, viewers get flashy, fast-paced videos with the candidate speaking directly to the camera about how he wants to change Democratic leadership to fight on those issues. Chan’s more often shows the supervisor out in the community, interacting with residents and shopkeepers and promoting her work on the local level. Wiener’s ads emphasize his housing legislation bona fides, with some lightheartedly poking fun at the candidate’s towering 6-foot-7-inch stature with a \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/reel/DXHyq1_DyqY/?hl=en\">giraffe\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From a strategy angle, political analysts say it makes sense if you’re trying to reach young people where they get their information. Adults under 30 are more likely than any other age group to get their news on social media, according to a 2025 Pew Research poll, with Instagram and TikTok being the most popular sites for people ages 18 to 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You see all the candidates trying to make themselves friendly in an Instagrammable way and trying to create content that will attract eyeballs. This is politics right now,” said Eric Jaye, a veteran political consultant in San Francisco. “There tends to be a greater focus on their own lives and experiences, sometimes to the detriment of regular voters who are not on Instagram or are less impressed by candidates turning themselves into reality stars online.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there’s an important caveat that may show up clearly on Election Day: young voters make up a relatively small portion of the electorate in San Francisco. There are approximately two voters over the age of 65 in San Francisco for every voter under 34, according to Jaye.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12085173\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12085173\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/260515-SF-YOUNG-PROGRESSIVES-MD-05-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Teamsters Local 7 brought an 18-wheeler to a rally in support of San Francisco City Supervisor and congressional candidate Connie Chan at City Hall in San Francisco on May 15, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Still, the candidates all said they don’t take young voters for granted in this election, and noted that older voters are online plenty these days, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The election will be a marker of generational change, no matter the outcome. Whoever replaces Pelosi will provide a new voice for San Francisco in Congress in nearly four decades. And they’ll have big shoes to fill.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Nancy Pelosi has always been my representative, since I was born,” Redmond said. “So it’s a very exciting time to shape what’s next.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
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"possible": {
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"pri-the-world": {
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"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
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"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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"reveal": {
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"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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