“The Issue Is”: Gov. Newsom, Vice President Harris, and Second Gentleman Emhoff

LOS ANGELES - This week, a week like no other in California politics - and for "The Issue Is."

Tuesday, June 7, after months of campaigning, voters took to the polls to cast their ballots in the California primary.

Heading into the November general election, Governor Gavin Newsom will now face off against Republican State Senator Brian Dahle, Senator Alex Padilla will be challenged by Republican Mark Meuser, and progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin will be out of a job, recalled by a wide margin in San Francisco. In Los Angeles, frequent "The Issue Is" guests Rick Caruso and Rep. Karen Bass advanced to the November Mayoral general.

Fresh off his leading performance, Governor Newsom returned to "The Issue Is" for an expansive conversation with Elex Michaelson, to talk crime, climate change, gun control, the national Democratic party, and the importance of the Summit of the Americas taking place in Los Angeles.

That Summit kicked off Wednesday in Los Angeles, bringing with it a host of world leaders from the Western Hemisphere, including U.S. President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris.

Michaelson spent much of the week with the Vice President, from a meeting with local religious leaders to a visit to a children’s center which had benefited from federal small business loans.

Then, at the end of the jam-packed week, Michaelson spoke with Harris’s husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. This, after Emhoff toured the Shoah Foundation at USC - his law school alma mater - where he had the opportunity to interact with survivors of the Holocaust.

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THE ISSUE IS: WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NATIONWIDE?

GOV. NEWSOM’S CENTRAL TAKE: "I posed that question out of frustration, reflection, and some parts of the Democratic Party were critical of that, but overwhelming response to that statement - I don't have an answer for you. Joe Biden is not the head of the Democratic Party, I mean, he happens to be President of The United States, it's not his job to organize all levels of the Democratic Party, that's the Democratic Party's responsibility. And I don't want to take a cheap shot, it's not an individual gripe with anybody, it has nothing to do with Nancy Pelosi or Chuck Schumer, they are not the heads of the party as well - we have a Democratic Party and yeah, where the hell are we, as a party, to capture the narrative, to capture the imagination of American people?…"

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THE ISSUE IS: THE RECALL OF PROGRESSIVE D.A. CHESA BOUDIN

GOV. NEWSOM’S CENTRAL TAKE: "[That recall] was so predictable, particularly after the school board recall. Nothing about that was surprising and nothing about that was particularly warranted the attention nationally as some arbiter of something farther reaching, I thought it was a little, the punditry was a little overwhelming. I think, though, the issue in San Francisco in particular is people want the streets cleaned up, period, full stop, enough. They want the streets cleaned up. They want a sense of order from the disorder they're feeling on the streets, now, crime's a component of that, but there's a lot of conflation of those issues, the mental health issues out there, the open drug use, not just drug dealing, the dirtiness of parts of the city and tag, the D.A. was it, meaning there was some attachment of accountability, responsibility - it's felt by everybody up there, all the electeds, but in particular the district attorney…"

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THE ISSUE IS: INTRODUCING THE NEWSOM KIDS TO PRESIDENT BIDEN

GOV. NEWSOM’S CENTRAL TAKE: "I finally am a cool dad… [President Biden] was exactly what you'd expect him to be, which is beyond gracious. And I got to tell you, when I got in the car and was talking to my staff, I said, 'you know what? If I hear anyone attack the character of the President of the United States anymore, I just can't take it.' This is one of the most decent, honorable human beings. Again, forget politics, just as a human being, connecting with other people and knowing how important it is to connect to someone's kids, and he took all the extra time in the world, said all the right things, and the kids are in cloud nine - and and it's not just my kids, you see that with him, you've seen it over his entire career... That was a thrill…"

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The Issue Is: with Elex Michaelson is California's only statewide political show. For showtimes and more information, go to TheIssueIsShow.com.