The Gen X activists upending Democratic politics

The Conversation with Dasha Burns

POLITICO

News, Government, Politics

4.0 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 February 2022

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For months, the parental backlash against school closings has dominated headlines and driven speculation about a brewing electoral wave for Republicans. But what if the parents are part of the deep-blue core of one of the most heavily Democratic cities in the country? That's exactly what's happening in San Francisco, as the political collision between a liberal school board and a group of angry, just-as-liberal parents is earning national attention for what it tells us about the shifting and complicated politics of pandemic parenthood. Today, Playbook author Ryan Lizza sits down with Siva Raj and Autumn Looijen, co-founders of the Recall SF School Board campaign, about their journey from concerned parents to political activists. Plus, Jeremy B. White, the editor of Politico's California Playbook newsletter, joins to explain the political significance of the recall election. Ryan Lizza is a Playbook co-author for POLITICO.Siva Raj and Autumn Looijen are the co-founders of Recall SF School Board.Jeremy B. White is the editor of the California Playbook newsletter.Kara Tabor is a producer for POLITICO audio.Carlos Prieto is a producer for POLITICO audio.Jenny Ament is the senior producer for POLITICO audio. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	American parents are in the middle of a revolt. We're all familiar with the whole COVID
0:18.0	schools in person or remote learning debate. And over time it became clear that there was
0:23.2	a partisan break with Democrats more accepting of remote learning and Republicans advocating
0:29.6	a little harder to get kids back in school. But today I'm in San Francisco where this fight
0:36.5	to reopen schools has not been spearheaded by lifelong Republicans. In fact it's the brainchild
0:43.2	of two Gen X progressive techies and Republicans are watching their strategy very closely.
0:49.6	And so when you say that you had this connection of like oh this is someone I want to do something
0:53.8	with so we're not even talking about just the romantic interests you're talking about like
0:58.0	I want to like you mean it sounds like it sounds like you meant like a project.
1:05.1	Shiva Raj and Autumn Luyan met on Tinder a couple of years ago. They have five kids between them
1:12.1	they're friendly, worldly, highly educated and a year ago as the pandemic dragged on they really wanted
1:20.1	their kids back in school. You know sometimes politicians go deaf and you have to like
1:23.6	stand up on the rooftop and scream right and so this is kind of the stand up on the rooftop and scream
1:28.1	situation. In one of the most progressive cities in the country over the last couple of years of
1:32.5	the pandemic parents like these are finding themselves aligned with some of the goals and ideas
1:37.7	that are animating conservatives these days.
1:40.6	I'm Ryan Liza and this is Playbook Deep Dive and just a few blocks from the iconic painted ladies
1:52.0	I'm having dinner with Shiva and Autumn leaders in the fight to reopen. This fight is progressives
1:59.2	against progressives and it's forcing Democrats to reevaluate some of the big ideas that have
2:04.7	energized the party since 2020. But before I dig into the chicken biryani and wine here's our
2:10.9	man in California Jeremy B. White. He lives in the Bay Area and he's the author of California Playbook.
2:17.7	The situation on the streets has just become intolerable and it's not it's not acceptable
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from POLITICO, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of POLITICO and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.