YouSaid · the spoken record

Alex Padilla

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2022-11-17

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2022-11-17

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1. “Thank you. Thank you. And if you'll indulge me, and I know you can appreciate this, on the record, you want to thank my wife Angela and our three boys, Roman, Alex and Diego, for their not just love, but sacrifice and letting me do what I do.”

   2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

2. “That's a very interesting newer dynamic. How much of that is a reflection of our politics? This is how much of that is a reflection of the state of the church, these things. So I think, yeah, there's been an opportunity created by some folks leaving the church for. A number of reasons. But the evangelical churches more broadly, as a political force in America, that's a whole other conversation.”

   2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

3. “But it's really hard to hear that from one political party. The first thing you hear is they want you out. And so, again, this is a question challenged back to my Republican colleagues. How receptive are they going to be on whether it's embracing fair, humane immigration reform, or just diversity in general? Because it's really hard to start talking to somebody about the education or the economic opportunity or anything else if the first thing they hear from a party or the leader of a party is to deport them because they're all drug dealers and gang members.”

   2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

4. “Talking about economic opportunity is absolutely important, right? What achieve far too often is, okay, if a few words in Spanish and talking about immigration as if that is the entirety of what Latinos care about, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to whether it's religion or conservatism, etc. I mean, the point is you talk to Latino residents in your district, in your state, in other cases may be, and find out what's on their minds and what's on their hearts for a long time people thought, well, Latino community is predominantly Catholic, and we know where the Catholic Church is on abortion. But that's not the data if you look at the electorate today. The vast majority of Latino support reproductive rights and choice. You talk about economic opportunity versus other issues. There's a lot of entrepreneurism in the Latino community, a big concern for educational opportunity for the next generation.”

   2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

5. “Around a table and those policy conversations will come and the engagement will come. The young people these days, the voting block from 18 to 25 is not just the most diverse set of voters in the history of our country. It's also the largest. America get ready.”

   2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

6. “Everywhere you go, 99% of the agenda is frankly the American dream. We talked about this earlier. When people want a good shot at a good job to be able to provide for their family and raise the family. They want good schools for their kids so that the next generation has it better. Access to healthcare, you know, safer communities, on and on. That's all Latinos, how we communicate that, how we deliver that, how we also utilize the assets of Latino families to make our communities more vibrant, not just in the kitchen, by the way, but especially when it comes to our food is a tremendous opportunity. And as the population grows and demographic shift across the country, I think more communities are experiencing that. And that is certainly the trend that's continuing into the future. So my fellow Democrats, learn a little bit of Spanish. Let's go knock out some doors. Let's have some meals.”

   2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

7. “But understanding a community that you can appreciate the differences between, like, it's diverse in New York, but let's just say the Puerto Rican community, the Dominican community there, is going to be a little bit different than the Mexican-American or the Central American community in Los Angeles versus the Hano on the southern border of Texas or the Cuban community in Miami, by the way. There's a lot of Venezuelan Colombians there. I mean, we are diverse.”

   2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

8. “That's a couple of old adages kind of converging. Number one, to the point you just made, Latino Kimeri is not a monolith. We're tremendously diverse. A couple of that with, you know, everybody attributes it to Tip O'Neill. All politics is local. So there might have been some slippage in Texas and in Florida, South Florida, but there wasn't that type of slippage in Nevada because there was a community that helped make sure that Captain Cortes' master, the first Latina elected to the United States Senate was re-elected to another term. My advice to the party is to not just come in every four years, two months before the election trying to rattle people up saying, this is the most important election of our lifetime to truly organize. We've got to be there year round. And it's when you're present and building that relationship, not just for the sake of building credibility.”

   2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

9. “I mean, it happened in the heat of a marriage race, and they're still counting pallots on that one. But I think as we come out of this chapter, a lot of the work that's been going on for years and years and years to build bridges between communities, not just the Latino community and the African-American community, but the Asian community, the LGBTQ community and geographic communities in Los Angeles. I know because that was part of a lot of the phone calls behind the scenes saying we can't let this set us back 20, 30, 40 years. This is the time that we got to hang together. And I think that's why you saw so many people from across the political spectrum come out denouncing the remarks and calling for the resignations. I mean, my God, all the way up to the president of the United States.”

   2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

10. “When I heard the content of those tapes, I was offended as well and beyond heartbroken because these are people that I know, or at least I thought I knew and to hear that language, those words coming out of their mouth was a travesty for so many. And so just as I will be the first one to call upon any of my Republican callings for whether it's racist remarks, derogatory remarks to any group, we have to be consistent and call other Democrats out on it if and when that comes to light as well. And by the way, to think that one of the children of one of the council members was a target as a father, you know, that's yet another chord with me. Maybe hard to believe, but you got to trust me on this. That does not reflect the state of race relations or coalition building in the city of Los Angeles.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

11. “Yeah, no, on immigration, I like to think something is doable to be completely realist as much as like a big comprehensive immigration reform built to pass in the next six weeks. That's sadly probably not going to happen. But can we do something that's very targeted? I think the front burner item is dreamers. There's tremendous public support for dreamers. I hear from my colleagues, not just on the democratic side, on the Republican side even. Sadly, only behind closed doors. So many members will say I'm supportive, I'm supportive in private. One thing I can say publicly and be willing to vote accordingly is because they're afraid of Trump. Is it because they're afraid of being primaried? What's going on here? I think the urgency that the current status of federal litigation poses to so many young people is a wake-up call. And if we're on the verge of the house swipping to Republicans, and this may be the last opportunity to do something meaningful for quite some time.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

12. “And she's great too. I have a tremendous history of working with her when I was council president. She was the DA in San Francisco. When I was in the state tenant, she was Attorney General of California during the foreclosure crisis, trying to hold banks and mortgage holders accountable, when she was in the Senate, she was my go-to. I think that was her go-to on election security legislation. So both Tredit talented, gifted individuals with a lot of political skills to share as long as both of them and a whole lot of other folks that we've worked with are in public service, our countries are better off for it.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

13. “Think there's a lot of appetite for not just sort of the vision and the issues, but the boldness and the courage. I give him a lot of credit. We're talking about how do Democrats fare better this cycle that people predicted. I think him taking a gamble on taking the fight to Texas and to Florida made a little bit of an impact maybe locally, but was definitely seen and respected in a lot of places.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

14. “Of the threat posed by this extreme Supreme Court. It seems like not that long ago to me that once upon a time. Was Mayor Gavin Newsom standing up for gay marriage in San Francisco. And people thought it was too far out there. People thought he shouldn't have timed it. What he did, he did the right thing and he was on the right side of history. And that's just a perfect example. I think of his boldness, his courage, and his work ethic, frankly. Every time I see him, he's always got a notepad next to him and he's furiously taking notes.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

15. “Had a balance, you know, being a public servant with family life while working together on issues, especially at the state level when I was in the legislature, he was lieutenant governor. He was the UC Board of Regents in the Council University Board of Trustees, whether it's my legislation making it easier for community college students to transfer to four-year universities or better protecting student athletes in California. I mean, just I can go on and on about examples of working together. So I like to think that when the opportunity to fill the vacancy created by Vice President Kamala Harris, it wasn't just a relationship, but the substance that we could lean on. So for him, he is tremendously bright. He is hardworking, driven by heart and values to think that hopefully we're on the verge of codifying into federal law marriage equality.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

16. “Hope there's an opportunity to serve that always is president in some sort of capacity. I'm sure you'll have options, Governor, when his time as governor is done. You know, we first met back when he was running for mayor of San Francisco. I was council president at the time. We were introduced by mutual friends. I took an immediate like to him, supported him in that race every race ever since just as even a supporter of mine. I think where we really bonded is both on policy work, right? Comparing notes on what are we doing to bounce budgets and tough economic times. What are we doing on affordable housing and homelessness going back decades? What are we doing on this and that? But also personally. We were both much younger at the time, and over the years have compared notes on car seats versus boosters.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

17. “It's all hands on deck time. There's definitely a role for local governments to play, whether it's a municipality that owns their own electrical utility or can leverage their power as a customer of a larger privately owned utility. State policymaking matters. And of course, federal government policymaking matters and the role that we choose to play on a global scale. As we're talking right now, President Biden is in Asia. And this is the topic of the convening with the G20 and others around the world. Climate change is an existential threat and it needs to be treated. We're going to take a short break and we'll be right back with more of the AX files. And now, back to the show.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

18. “Correct, leveraging the power of the marketplace that is California. And frankly, under former governor Brown continued by Governor Newsom, being able to enter into international accords without it being the United States and another country, but the state of California and either another nation, another province, that sort of thing. And so we get to have these climate change debates in Congress. And I can offer an idea that's not just, well, I think it's a good idea. Let's try and see if it works. I can point to measurable progress made by the state of California.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

19. “We have no choice. We have to lay this race. Our children and other future generations are depending on us winning the race. Like I feel this is one of the great sweet spots that I'm able to leverage my state legislative experience now to these national policy discussions and debates. California has been a leader because we have been an exhibit on climate change. Wildfires are just one example.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

20. “But I do think they need to be balanced when churn limits are too short. It doesn't allow you the time to develop the experience and the skills as a policymaker, as a leader to make an impact before you're maybe jumping or running to the next position. I think I've tried to strike that balance myself seven and a half years on the city council, not to get ahead of any of your questions, but two full terms, eight years as a state senator. I was in my sixth, finished six years as Secretary of State in California before.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

21. “Well, I can't sit here and say I'm completely opposed to term limits because I don't think I'd be here if it wasn't for term limits creating the opportunity for me to run.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

22. “A little bit of both. You know, I had a great run at the city. I was in my final term. So I had a political mortality in front of me, but an opportunity to work on some bigger issues, as much as a city council member in Los Angeles can do, if you want to impact education or healthcare or some of the bigger issues, the state legislature is an opportunity to make that kind of an impact.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

23. “My light bulb goes off, and I'd say, wait a minute, where's our liaise onto the school district? What attendance today? Because if 80% of the kids are back in school, then the people hurt us. If it's 10%, they haven't heard us. What's bus ridership today, right? If it's a big percentage, they hurt us. If not, they didn't. Those communication lines are there for a reason.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

24. “Politics and government public service to lean on. None of us does this alone by one of the best lessons I learned pitcher growing up playing baseball was you got seven players behind you. Use them, right? You don't have to strike out every batter. You get them to ground ball ground out to the second baseman. That's sometimes more efficient. But you got to play as a team. And I think I approached 9-11 and a whole lot of issues over the years working as a team with several of my colleagues. I think the one point where I am kind of proud of in hindsight is so we have these press conferences a couple times a day telling people go back to normal and I ask from the police department the police chief to the sheriff to everybody else how do we know the city hurt us and every sort of scratching their head like well what do you mean and i said well based on intelligence there's no credible threats we're telling kids to go back to school people to go back to work how do we know people hurt us and there was this awkward silence and then”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

25. “Maybe my colleagues might have had a lawyer's. But, you know, you just, I guess you got to have faith that you're in this place at this time in life for a reason. Have a little bit of an education, if not a long history in city government, at least general.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

26. “And so immediately after the attacks and there was some quick assumptions as to who might have been behind it and who not, we had to rally the city around. Let's not prejudge our own neighbors. Let's wait to get official information to come at who might be behind these acts of violence and what the proudest moments. I remember being a part of a candlelight vigil on the steps of City Hall a couple of days later where it was a diverse fabric of not just Los Angeles but America people from all walks of life coming together as patrons, proud America to make sure that again we didn't immediately come to conclusions by our own neighbors that we stood up against xenophobia, not just against terrorism and everything else.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

27. “Exactly. So it took a minute to realize well, yeah, the reason they were planes going from Boston to Los Angeles was because they leave Boston with full tanks of fuel. Right. That would make for bigger more damage when they hit their intended targets. The other piece, and this is personally important, David, you know how diverse, beautifully diverse Los Angeles is.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

28. “As the face of the city at the time, how do we keep calm in this city, particularly when the intelligence at the time said no credible threats against Los Angeles? But Haddie tell people that when they're seeing the replays on the news over and over and over again.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

29. “Long days, starting with the morning of 9 11, getting a call from a friend of mine saying, hey, uh, There's something happened in New York. You're in politics. You may want to be aware of what's going on. The first tower was already smoking, something he was cut to the Pentagon. And then he was cut back to the second tower in New York, quickly realizing he had the mayor's out of state. And so I'm the acting mayor. If our nation is truly under attack, Washington, D.C., New York, who's the predictable third target, it'd be Los Angeles. And so, you know, the phone started lighting up from the chief of police and the emergency operations personnel. The fire chief and the airport director had to just grab whatever suit was ready to go and get myself downtown. That began several days of living in the bunker, a few floors underneath City Hall trying to gather intel and working with our county, state, and federal partners told by the emergency operations.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

30. “That was half the welcome to the councils included some form of, I've been on this council since you were in grade school or in the instance of a former council president, John Ferraro. I've been on this council longer than you've been alive. Two years, aside from trying to get to the work that I knew my district needed, addressing a lot of the core issues of potholes and graffiti removal and public safety and whatnot. I was also trying to develop the rapport with my colleagues because I knew that when they tell me, oh my God, you're my son's age or I needed to make sure that I overcame that to be able to take him seriously as a colleague. And I think the best example of being successful, and that was when I earned their trust to lead the body two years later.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

31. “Absolute, absolutely, and law enforcement has to make sure we're keeping up with the patent training, that they're getting the type of culture that we're creating within those departments. So it is a relationship that is respectful of the community that they're charged to protect.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

32. “Every jurisdiction is a little bit different. I think in some jurisdictions, if they're spending part of their budget and trying to acquire unnecessary surplus military equipment from the federal government, yeah, maybe you can redirect some of those funds. But if you're talking about another jurisdiction that's already understaffed and pressed for resources, then, yeah, maybe it's not about cutting their budget, but elevating the budget for other initiatives in the community.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

33. “Whether it's through after school programs, or they're going to find a way, and we're taking a gamble. So investing more in prevention.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

34. “Yeah, it's a catchy phrase, but I think when it comes to governance and policymaking and leadership and organizing, right? There's more than just how many characters in a tweet. The work is really in informing educating. When I get the questions about defund the police, whether it's in the judiciary committee here in the Senate or at events back home, you kind of just, well, let's take our breath here. What is it that we're talking about? Ask any law enforcement expert. And they will tell you the best way to reduce crime is to prevent it. So how do we do that? Imagine that. You know, the audacity to invest more in education, invest more in positive alternatives for young people to expend their energy, right? Kids, again, as a father of three, kids have energy and they need to get it out. And we're going to give them healthy ways to get that energy out, whether it's use words.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

35. “Police relations even when the police officials aren't as sometimes a very receptive when they're not as much. Their first excuses we don't even know who to talk to. Well, let's take that excuse off the table and you bring them to the meeting and you organize the neighbors and you start creating that dialogue for relationship. And then you kind of expand from there.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

36. “Exactly. So I think it does come back down to this level of involvement and organizing and participatory society at the very grassroots level. Show me a community where the neighbors are active, whether it's through the PTA at school, whether it's through the neighborhood watch or homeowners group or any other way than a community is involved with each other. And neighbors tend to know each other. And I'll tell you, that is not where a lot of the bigger problems when it comes to crime and safety exist. It's where the communities aren't as engaged or aren't as involved where when the neighbors don't know each other, aren't looking out for each other as much, that creates the opening. And so when I'm going back to my days on city council, one of the things I'm proud of is we identified where those neighborhood watches or omener groups were, where they weren't, and let's go organize because that was such a key to doing that. Plus, you want to talk about community.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

37. “Creation, etc. Can people afford a place to live, right? What are we doing on a housing development or affordable housing just through the lens of people? And of course, nothing more fundamental than do you even feel safe where you live?”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

38. “Yeah. So it was an honor to represent Hull. Really? I mean, I ran for office. It was the very neighborhoods where, you know, not just I grew up in, I went to local schools, played in the local parks. My sister was still in the classroom as a teacher at the time. And so there was a lot of local connections with a lot of me. We saw a city government in general that wasn't as responsive. And I would tell the staff that I assembled all filled with folks who were from the district as well that we're not just going to take this responsibility, but let's look into the lens of a working person's daily life. When you get up in the morning, what are you thinking about? Do I have a good enough job to be able to provide for my family? What are we doing in economic development? If I'm trying to send off my kids to school, do I have confidence in the quality of those schools or the support for those schools? So what are we doing to influence education and after school programs?”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

39. “Because we were identified as an active family. And so we were active politically in that sense, but not around Democrats, Republicans, or candidates for office necessarily. It wasn't until after I connected with Dots in my mind that the issues we care about at a neighborhood level, you know, who your representatives are or aren't makes a big difference and we should be equally involved in the campaign side of things. That's how it started.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

40. “So here's the thing growing up where we are politically involved family, not when it came to electoral politics. It may not shock you, you know, some of the lower income communities in Los Angeles during the 80s, we recall with the times we're in the 80s with the crack epidemic and gang activity and whatnot. It was a rough neighborhood where my parents involved, yeah, to the extent it meant having to organize neighbors and pressure our elected officials to be responsive to the dangers and the threats literally on the street where I grew up and working together, watching my parents organize and be activists to clean up the community, put us on a lot of lists. So from then on, when it was time to shut down to the landfill, we were called to go, you know, be part of those protests and demonstrations. When it came time to maybe something at the school, we were called to the community meeting.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

41. “The boat and pushing people to the polls, and less than five years later, I was running for office myself or at for city council at a pretty young age to represent home. And it's been a good journey.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

42. “My two was tough. Four years later, coming home with that mechanical engineering degree, we're going to start my career. Here is the political climate I came home to. The year was 1994. Governor Peaton Wilson at the time was up for re-election, tough reelection. And he was supporting a measure we referred to as Proposition 187. I saw the governor on television basically saying the economy is going downhill. The state of California is going downhill and it's the fault of people like your parents and families like yours. That's what I took away campaign. So you're damn right. I was pissed. I was insulted and I realized that it might have been a little cynical as a lot of young people are about politics, but I had no choice but to get involved. And so I started, I think, organizing before I knew what organizing was, reaching out to friends and neighbors and encouraging people to register.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

43. “I think important context here is the earlier part of what you said proud sent of immigrants. I saw my dad work sometimes multiple jobs at a time. I keep roof overhead and food on the table, working as a short order cook. My mom cleaning houses, right? Hard work, honest work, and their dream in life was that my brother and my sister and I could get a good education because they didn't have that opportunity. That was abundantly clear. And in high school, thinking, well, I like math, believe it or not, and somehow did well in science. Engineering is what counselors and teachers push me towards and what better schools in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. So even when I went there and it was a chance of a lifetime for me, but the fulfillment of my parents' dreams after all their struggle and sacrifice.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

44. “Well, they couldn't do it expeditiously, but it doesn't mean that everybody who's eligible has an easy time registering or easy time voting. So you got to really look at all these policies in totality and how they work together.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

45. “Back end. And that's what you see happening to different degrees in different states. The other thing about California, and this is a good problem to have, it's you're dealing with the dynamic of sheer volume. David, I am proud of this fun fact. There are more voters registered in the state of California than there are people in Florida. Think about that. That's a lot more bouts to count in the Golden State than most other states. So that's going to take a little bit longer. But ultimately it's better to get it right and to get it fast.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

46. “Well, I think it's two full. What can we do to expedite the process versus what can we do to better inform and educate the public as to what's going on? So you don't leave as much room for the conspiracy theories and the lies. I'll give you one beautiful example because every state's a little bit different, but in California we have a postmark bus law, which means if you're voting by mail, as long as your ballot is postmarked on or before election day, it can arrive afterwards and still should be counted because you sent it off on time. No, we can't control the postal service. So if it takes them three days to deliver the ballot to the county or a week to deliver the ballot to the county, that's why here we are. A week later still trying to determine how many ballots came in, but they should be counted because that's, you know, it's driven by voting right for states that have automatic registration. Well, the registration has to be processed first before the ballot is counted. So there's a little bit of legwork on the”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

47. “Well, let me set a little context here because I think it was important in 2020, hugely important business cycle, and will continue to be important in 2024 and beyond. But a lot of what has driven my work in the election space is a 1994 national voter registration act, which was approved on a bipartisan basis in Congress where it includes in the findings that government has a responsibility to facilitate voter participation. So to me, that's proactive. That's not a passive, well, let's just make sure there's no cheating involved. We have a role in facilitating participation. Imagine that. Every ballot cast should be counted, even if it takes it to you. Extra days to do that to determine who the winner is.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

48. “Have some soul searching to do on that and so many other issues. I think to me at the core that there's a couple of things. One, we've had for years now this debate between access to the ballot, election integrity, security versus voter suppression that we've seen. Should you need an IED to be able to exercise your right to vote? Should we restore federal voting rights protections that were undone by the Supreme Court look? I'm eager to debate and fight about that, but when clearly people are running for office denying the outcome of previously audited and certified elections, I think in the minds of voters, they think, well, it can be easier to vote or harder to vote. But if I vote and it doesn't matter because you have a conspiracy theorist that's going to overturn it anyway, that suppression at its very, very worst.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

49. “But it's up to the Republican conferences in both houses to make that termination, or will the faction that prevails be the extremists, the election deniers? There's a challenge to Congressman McCarthy trying to become the Speaker of the House. There's a challenge to Mitch McConnell to retain his leadership among Senate Republicans. So we'll see that just who prevails, but what agenda prevails within their conferences”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

50. “Yeah, honestly, I think it's a TBD. It depends on which faction of the Republican Party ends up running things. And the same goes for the Senate for that matter. Is it going to be a little bit of a return to relatively speaking, rational, reasonable Republicans willing to negotiate find common ground and bipartisanship? Well, I think there's a lot that we can continue to make progress on, like investing in infrastructure and things of that nature.”

    2022-11-17 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 512 — Sen. Alex Padilla · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source