California Underground is the podcast for the tens of millions of Californians who are fed up — and done being ignored. Started in 2018 with a simple idea: i…
1:07:003.6K views · 2d ago · 1:07:00
ne week before the election, here is where California actually stands on the governor's race, the LA mayor's race, Prop 39 (voter ID) and Prop 40 (the one-time billionaire tax), with the numbers, the filings, and the fine print each side leaves out.
19:357.1K views · 3w ago · 19:35
Guest: California's Housing Crisis
Becerra said his parents came to America with $12. His father was born in Sacramento. Plus: the Becerra–Hilton debate on taxes and housing. This is chapter one of my play-by-play of the CNN California governor debate between Xavier Becerra and Steve Hilton: the first eight minutes, on taxes and housing, with my commentary and the documents. This is my opinion.
1:17:4310K views · 3w ago · 1:17:43
We watched the Becerra–Hilton California governor debate, exchange by exchange, with the documents. This is my opinion. California Underground airs every Tuesday at 8PM PT. This week is a play-by-play of the CNN debate. I track three things: whether an answer included something you can check, whether it ended at Trump, and whether the question got answered. Steve Hilton's numbers get checked in every chapter, and a few of them don't hold up.
11:511.4K views · 3w ago · 11:51
A new Politico/UC Berkeley Citrin Center poll shows excitement for a Newsom presidential run falling from 48% to 37% since March, and Harris from 41% to 28%. Newsom still leads Harris among California Democrats, but his own PAC spent about $1.5 million buying roughly 67,000 copies of his memoir, about two-thirds of its sales. We break down the poll, why enthusiasm is cooling, and what money can't buy ahead of 2028.
19:411.5K views · 4w ago · 19:41
A new UC Berkeley/LA Times poll shows LA mayoral candidate Nithya Raman up 11 points on incumbent Karen Bass — 39% to 28% — a complete reversal from a primary where Raman trailed Bass in every public survey. The twist: outside groups have backed Bass over Raman by roughly 36-to-1 in independent expenditures, and she's still losing. We break down the poll, the money, and the LAPD vehicle-funding vote that complicates Raman's "pro-police" rebrand.
1:10:195.5K views · 1mo ago · 1:10:19
California's attorney general sued to block a $111 billion media merger — then approved it after his own governor picked up the phone. The settlement is being sold as a win for California jobs. It doesn't actually require a single one of those jobs to be in California. This week on California Underground: the real story behind the Paramount-Warner Bros.
18:241.6K views · 1mo ago · 18:24
company formed in March 2026 with zero construction history is pitching 100-year land leases on California fairgrounds to build AI data centers. Its subsidiaries weren't registered anywhere as of last month. Its pitch was brokered by a state official whose daughter works for the company — and fairground boards were never told about the relationship. One of the company's own pitchmen sits on the OC Fair Board. Newsom's office says it's investigating.
24:303.7K views · 1mo ago · 24:30
California High-Speed Rail consultants expensed thousands in luxury travel on your dime. We break down the receipts behind the project. Consultants billed taxpayers for Uber Black rides to nightclubs at 2 AM, international travel, and repeated gym trips while the project faces a massive budget deficit.
1:21:564.1K views · 1mo ago · 1:21:56
Guest: California's Ghost Homeless
California gave one nonprofit $118 million to house the homeless. Prosecutors say $12 million of it built a nightclub — and some of the people reported as "housed" didn't exist. Tonight: three stories, one pattern. Also on the show: the high-speed rail agency expensed a nightclub and cigar lounge through the firm that employs the CEO's fiancée — and you're paying for the whole project at the gas pump. And 73% of Californians oppose AI data centers in their communities.
13:181K views · 1mo ago · 13:18
osh Newman wrote the bill that would eliminate the replacement election in California recalls — and yes, that's the same Josh Newman who used to run for office in a full bear costume.
7:37819 views · 1mo ago · 7:37
Gavin Newsom just told CNN's Jake Tapper — while fly fishing, of course — that he won't challenge Kamala Harris for the 2028 Democratic nomination if she runs. It's a strange thing to volunteer just days after his own presidential odds on Polymarket collapsed to an all-time low of 7%.
1:00:217.2K views · 1mo ago · 1:00:21
California just qualified a voter ID measure funded largely by an out-of-state billionaire — and a recall reform written by the one legislator who's actually lived through a successful recall.
13:362K views · 1mo ago · 13:36
San Francisco's Democratic Party just voted 17-4 to oppose Prop 40, California's billionaire tax — breaking from the state party, which endorsed it in early August. To do it, the local party changed its own bylaws two months earlier, giving itself permission to diverge from the state party on ballot measures for the first time.
8:333.7K views · 1mo ago · 8:33
More than 30 winery and vineyard owners are suing over the 2025 Pickett Fire, which burned 6,800 acres and destroyed harvests across Napa Valley. So far, exactly one has reached a settlement: PlumpJack Group, co-founded by Governor Gavin Newsom, whose Oso Vineyard lost 60 of its 129 acres.
20:28961 views · 1mo ago · 20:28
AB 1709 passed the California legislature unanimously — every Democrat, every Republican, both chambers, zero no votes. It's now headed to Governor Newsom's desk. Here's what almost nobody said on the floor: this bill is nearly identical to a 2024 law a federal appeals court already blocked.
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