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 the influx of higher-skilled, college-educated tech workers made social issues as important as fiscal conservatism was in Orange County.

Then, he talks about how the business community in the county changed with former Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez.

He also spoke with LA Times Columnist Gustavo Arellano about the importance of building multicultural coalitions based on ideology and not on ethnic identity.

(01:36) The impact of higher-skilled workers

(02:45) The diminishing synergy between the tech industry and Republicans

(16:31)The Republican party’s cultural orientation and focus on culture wars

(20:53) The rise of combative politics and the redefinition of minority voters

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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Episode 152: Early Success - an interview with Rachel Barnes