Newsfeed host Paris Jackson spoke with Cascade PBS news reporter Mai Hoang for more insight on her piece, “Under God: How Christianity permeates Yakima politics.”
In this conversation, Hoang tells us about the major political shift Yakima’s city council underwent in the past year. For example, in 2023, the council voted to support a Pride Month proclamation. Now, less than a year later and under a new conservative majority, the new council has made an about-face to vote against a similar proclamation in 2024. We also discuss how the national conservative strategy played a role, including the influence of President Trump’s former administration official and surrogate Steve Bannon.
“I think when you look at the 2023 city council election, it’s very obvious that they took the pages of the playbook from Steve Bannon. And what the playbook says is ‘Hey, let’s kind of, from the top down, let’s go for the grassroots approach. Let’s aim to get conservatives in these local, historically nonpartisan seats, like school boards or city councils,’” said Hoang.
