Politics and views in the United States.

Californians will vote on a constitutional amendment for mid-decade redistricting. The Trump Administration will partially fund SNAP and advocates worry about racial profiling amid intensified immigration raids.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

We have made a decision.

We're going to win and we're going to win big.

Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is rallying for California's Proposition 50, also called the Election Rigging Response Act.

The state constitutional amendment, backed by Democrats, would allow mid-decade congressional redistricting after Texas redrew district maps at the request of President Donald Trump.

Polls suggest it'll pass, but good government groups are frustrated to see a nationwide during arms race.

The campaign for mayor of New York could define the future of the Democratic Party.

Party nominee and Democratic Socialist Zohram Mamdani is leading in spite of ads attacking his inexperienced and progressive positions.

His primary opponent, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, is running as a third party candidate.

Cuomo calls himself a safer choice, saying Trump will send in the National Guard if Mamdani wins.

We need to clean up the city.

We need a better public school system.

We need more police to keep us safe on the streets.

And we need to be a better city.

I'm gonna stand up to Donald Trump and fight for New York.

But the president just endorsed Cuomo in a 60 Minutes interview saying he prefers a, quote, "bad Democrat" to a communist.

Mamdani congratulated Cuomo for getting Trump's endorsement.

In that interview, Trump insisted he didn't know a crypto billionaire he recently pardoned.

Critics charge the president's family has had extensive dealings with a Chinese-born founder of Binance who was found guilty of money laundering and financial crimes.

Polls show that Democratic candidates for governor in New Jersey and Virginia are leading, though the New Jersey race could be close.

Jumpy senators have just blocked a bill to fully fund SNAP food benefits.

The White House says it will partially fund the program this month after two judges ordered it to use a contingency fund for that purpose.

But the administration says dispersing the money could take weeks and funds ran out on the first, leaving states and food banks scrambling.

Brandon McKinley with Denver food pantry Metro Caring says SNAP is crucial for the working poor.

We are talking people that are working really hard, sometimes one or two jobs, and still are making such a small amount of money that paying for food is out of the question also looking at paying for rent that keeps raising year over year.

The Department of Homeland Security is touting Operation Midway Blitz.

Since it began in September, more than 3,000 people have been swept up in the Midwest.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem says they're not arresting citizens.

There's no American citizens have been arrested or detained.

We focus on those that are here illegally.

And anything that you would hear or report different than that is simply not true and false reporting.

But that directly contradicts a ProPublica investigation which found ICE arrested or detained than 170 U.S. citizens in the last year, some during raids in Chicago.

Edward Vargas with the Brookings Institution is one of those who say Latinos are being profiled by racially charged enforcement not limited to undocumented immigrants, and he says he and his family know from personal history to be afraid.

When I was a child, I had a cousin who died in police custody.

My worry about being around a cop, I don't feel safe.

This kind of exacerbates this feelings of you're not here to protect me, you're here to do something bad to me.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Pacific Network and Public News Service.

Find our trust indicators at publicnewsservice.org.