VOICES: River City, Episode 35: Katie Valenzuela on Sacramento

This week we have a very special guest in Katie Valenzuela, who is challenging incumbent Steve Hansen for the District 4 seat on Sacramento City Council (NOTE: Interview starts at 28:00).

Katie is the recommended vote in Sacramento Sister Circle and Black Women Organized for Political Action‘s voter guide for the March 3 elections. In BWOPA’s research for this election, they found lots of frustration from former supporters of Hansen in the district. Suddenly, what they once saw as an uphill battle for Valenzuela appears to be a winnable fight for the candidate dedicated to representing underprivileged populations. Hansen, meanwhile, is financing his campaign with loads of dollars from anti-renters’ rights interests.

At the beginning of the episode, we discuss the clusterfuck fracas that was the Iowa caucus. For two days, mass media reported that Mayor Pete Buttigieg won the caucus, when in fact Senator Bernie Sanders ended up with a wide margin of victory in the popular vote. The state remains up for grabs due to its archaic rules and counting process, but what we do know is that Joe Biden took a rake to the face in Iowa, finishing in fourth. Elizabeth Warren took a respectable third place finish, but no one in the media seemed to notice.

We move to Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary with a lot of questions in mind. But all signs seem to point to a Bernie Sanders victory. Keep an eye out for a possible election night hang-out with the VOICES: crew this Tuesday.

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VOICES: the podcast
Independent. Weird. Audio. The VOICES: River City podcast is here to talk all things Sacramento with the region's activists, artists and aardvarks.