The 2018 elections, including the battle for control of the House of Representatives, has focused attention on the role of California in national politics as well as national security policy, particularly related to Russia.

As the Golden State heads towards the high-stakes November election, there is perhaps no one better to discuss these issues as the Honorable Ellen O. Tauscher, a former seven-term member of Congress and under secretary of state for arms control and international security in the Obama administration. Tauscher represented California’s 10th congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1997 until 2009.

Please join us for the fall kickoff of our Marin Conversation series as Tauscher discusses the November elections, her national efforts around redistricting and a range of other topics with one of California’s top political reporters, Carla Marinucci. Marinucci has covered state and national politics for more than two decades and is senior writer for Politico’s California Playbook. She produces Politico’s daily must-read briefing on the Golden State. Prior to Politico, Marinucci was the senior political writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Marinucci has covered Tauscher since the very beginning of Tauscher’s political career.

If you want to understand the domestic and foreign issues at play in the November election and how local California races will influence the national political environment, this is an intimate political conversation you won’t want to miss.

The Honorable Ellen O. Tauscher is a former seven-term member of Congress and under secretary of state for arms control and international security in the Obama administration. Tauscher represented California’s 10th congressional district in the House of Representatives from 1997 until 2009. In the House, Tauscher chaired the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Armed Services Committee, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile, missile defense program and the national labs. She also served as special envoy for strategic stability and missile defense at the State Department until 2012. As under secretary, Tauscher negotiated the New START treaty with the Russian Federation in 2010 to further reduce the threat of nuclear conflict, and she oversaw other critical nuclear nonproliferation priorities around the world.

While in Congress, Tauscher was a leading centrist Democrat and the chairperson of the New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of 65 moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives. Her fiscally responsible, bipartisan, unique brand of leadership in Congress was coined "Tauscherism" by Time magazine. Prior to serving in Congress, Tauscher worked on Wall Street for 14 years and was one of the first women to hold a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. She currently serves on the University of California Board of Regents and as chairperson of the Board of Governors for Los Alamos National Security and Lawrence Livermore National Security, a consortium led by the UC Regents. She serves as vice chair of the Atlantic Council's Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security.

Carla Marinucci, Politico’s California Playbook reporter, has been consistently named one of California’s leading political writers and top political bloggers. Prior to joining Politico last year, Marinucci was senior political writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, and before that she wrote for the San Francisco Examiner. She has covered presidential elections since 1996 and six California gubernatorial elections, including the historic recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Internationally, she has covered major developments including the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the opening of Chinese business markets to the United States in the 1980s. She has been involved in border politics, including the visits of U.S. presidents and California governors to Mexico. In 2013, she was honored by the Society of Professional Journalists with a lifetime achievement award for her coverage of California politics.