Politicalish welcomes a great historian of California politics: Alex Vassar. He and Q have a fascinating discussion of California legislative history. But don’t think it’s dry and boring! Part one is filled with duels and violence, along with details of early CA politics. Redistricting is a contentious topic, but in the 1860s it led to a stabbing on the floor of the Assembly. We get stories from both Alex and Q about prolific CA historian Dr. Kevin Starr. Then they discuss how different politics was in the late 1800s, with massive turnover, non-professional politicians, completely different political power bases, and how one dude organized all CA law and had more impact than any other legislator in early CA. This episode finishes with the story of David Terry, an early Chief Justice of the CA Supreme Court who loved to stab people with his Bowie knife and how it finally went wrong for him.