Matt Mahan

We've gotten AI companies to come into our libraries and provide tools and training.

trying to figure out how we lower barriers to learning how to use these tools, apply them in people's lives, start those new businesses, create the new jobs of the future.

That's good.

It does, though, get back to this basic point that we need our public education system to teach people to think critically.

When half of our kids aren't on grade level for reading or math proficiency, it's going to be very hard for them to be lifelong learners.

I'm not a fan.

My concern with Donald Trump, even if he may get certain

issues right i think he's channeled the frustration of working americans who feel that they've been left behind is that i don't believe he really understands what makes our country great i think that he has created a lot of fear and division around immigration doesn't recognize how many people we have had in this country in part because both democrats and republicans wanted access to cheap labor in places like watsonville where i grew up

who have been here 20, 30 years, working hard, paying their taxes, otherwise playing by the rules, raising children who are US citizens who are now living in terror because they're worried their family's gonna get ripped apart.

I don't understand and don't support this war in Iran that I think is a huge blunder and it's gonna drive up energy costs.

And it's not clear to me why we're losing American lives over there.

um i just you know i think tariffs yes i do believe china this is something i think he's gotten right has been competing unfairly with the us i think a targeted approach to tariffs focusing on that issue would have made a lot more sense than the general inflation we've seen so i mean i could go issue by issue but i just

I worry mostly about the health of our democracy.

I think it requires a real honest dialogue, a respect for rule of law and the independent judiciary.

I just, yeah, I have deep concerns that this

not just populist, but reactionary, quasi-authoritarian rhetoric and mindset is the outcome of declining trust in government when we don't hold ourselves accountable for delivering for working people.

I think it's predictable, and I think you're seeing an equal and even...

I'd say equally risky rise in populism on the left and reaction, and these two are playing off one another.

And part of the reason I jumped into this race was to offer a third way, a pragmatic alternative

I'm a Democrat, but I also recognize that something's broken in California.