In this special six-part narrative series, Mike Madrid, in partnership with the UC Irvine School of Social Ecology, takes a deep dive into Orange County, California to explore the transformations that have redefined politics there, and what it means for the rest of the country.

In this episode, Mike talks to Jean Pasco who covered local politics in the ‘80s and ‘90s for the Orange County Register and the Los Angeles Times about how military base closures and enormous job losses at defense contractors upended the southern California economy. 

Then he talks to former Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez about her victory over Bob Dornan. 

He also talks to Dave Wasserman (Senior Editor & Elections Analyst for The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter)  about what Sanchez’s victory meant for Orange County politics

(01:05 ) The economic impact of the Cold War ending 

(04:21 ) The closure of El Toro Air Force Base 

(10:12 ) Loretta Sanchez’s victory and the rise of the Democratic party in Orange County

(15:19 ) Looking back at Bob Dornan

(17:36 ) What Dornan’s loss to Sanchez meant for Orange county politics 

Learn more about the UC Irvine School of Social Ecology: https://socialecology.uci.edu/

Visit the Red County, Blue County, Orange County website: https://sites.uci.edu/orangecounty/

Read Mike’s book, The Latino Century: https://bit.ly/4a7ZCqg

Follow Mike and the UCI School of Social Ecology  on X (formerly Twitter):

https://twitter.com/madrid_mike

https://twitter.com/Social_Ecology

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