{"podcast":{"title":"Americast","slug":"americast-89638","podcast_index_feed_id":89638,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p07h19zz.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07h19zz","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0k99j29.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":592,"summary":"Americast is the authoritative US news and politics podcast from the BBC. Each week we provide audiences with the best analysis from across the BBC, with on-the-ground observations and big picture insights about the stories which are defining America right now. The podcast is hosted by trusted BBC journalists including the BBC’s North America editor, Sarah Smith, BBC Radio 4 presenter, Justin Webb, the BBC’s disinformation and social media correspondent, Marianna Spring, and BBC North America correspondent, Anthony Zurcher. As well as political analysis, we also specialise in social media. Each week Marianna Spring brings listeners the latest updates from the BBC’s Undercover Voters, our award-winning investigation into the content that is recommended to US voters on social media. The team is also joined by special guests each week, like CNN anchor, Christiane Amanpour, Emmy Award-winning TV host, Rachel Maddow, and Succession actress, J Smith-Cameron. Podcasts are published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. As well as being a podcast, we are also available every Friday on the World Service. Oh, and by the way, you can now listen to Americast on a smart speaker. If you want to l…","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638"},"episode":{"title":"Why Democrats are panicking about losing California","slug":"why-democrats-are-panicking-about-losing-california","published_at":"2026-05-15T15:06:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/why-democrats-are-panicking-about-losing-california","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct8lz2","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss/proto/http/vpid/p0nlh9cp.mp3","summary":"It’s the world’s fourth largest economy, with over 40 million people and home to some of the world’s most powerful tech companies. So why aren’t the Democratic party’s biggest names queuing up for a chance to run California? Voting has started in a primary to decide who will run to replace Governor Gavin Newsom. Democrats have been scrambling after its frontrunner, Rep Eric Swalwell dropped out following allegations of sexual misconduct, and without a blockbuster candidate such as Kamala Harris, Democrat voters have been left navigating a crowded, unsettled field of candidates. In this episode, Sarah, Anthony and Justin discuss why California is problematic to govern and assess the risk for Democrats possibly losing the state. Also, who is the British-born Republican endorsed by Trump and does he have a real chance of making it to the November election? We also hear from Democrat Californian royalty, Christine Pelosi, long time Democrat strategist who is now running as a Californian State Senate candidate, and of course daughter to Nancy Pelosi, former speaker of the House of Representatives. Presenter: Sarah Smith, North America editor, Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter and Anthony Zurcher, North America correspondent Get in touch: • Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB • Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 • Email Americast@bbc.co.uk • Or use #Americast This episode was made by George Dabby with Tom Gillett, Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Jonny Hall. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham. If you want to be notified every time we publish a new episode, please subscribe to us on BBC Sounds by hitting the subscribe button on the app. You can now listen to America…","meta_description":"It’s the world’s fourth largest economy, with over 40 million people and home to some of the world’s most powerful tech companies. So why aren’t the Democ…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2420,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/americast-89638/episodes/why-democrats-are-panicking-about-losing-california/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/americast-89638/why-democrats-are-panicking-about-losing-california.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}