Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits

August 1, 2018 - Max & Murphy Podcast: The Epicenter of the Fight Over the IDC, with guests State Senator Marisol Alcántara and challenger Robert Jackson

Marisol Alcántara won a close, competitive four-way Democratic primary in 2016 to take her seat in the state Senate, and promptly joined the controversial Independent Democratic Conference (the rogue Democrats who formed a coalition with the majority Senate Republicans), which had supported her in her narrow primary victory, including with hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding. Alcántara says she did not keep Democrats from the Senate majority and that she has accomplished a great deal in her first term.

But Robert Jackson, who narrowly lost to Alcántara in 2016, is challenging her, and this time it's head to head and amid a major backlash against the IDC members, who returned to the mainline Democratic conference in April, in an apparent effort to quell primary challenges that have continued.

Alcántara then Jackson joined Max & Murphy for this week's podcast, originally aired on WBAI radio, where each also took listener calls. The podcast includes the full Max & Murphy hour on WBAI, including the two interviews, listener calls, and other discussion. Alcántara is on starting about five minutes in and Jackson is on starting at about 30 minutes into the hour.

Listen to the full conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, under "Max & Murphy," and listen to the show on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org