While virtually all of the political oxygen is being consumed by the impeachment hearings in Washington, Democrats are looking to remove another Republican executive as well.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy won the Alaska governor's race in 2018, promising to restore fiscal order in the state. Upon entering office in December of last year, he immediately began cutting spending. The cuts included reductions to the University of Alaska system and Medicaid payments among many other areas. By the end of February, a recall effort was already underway.

"We put in some pretty stiff reductions. And, really, there were reductions across the board and they hit a lot of programs.

"They hit programs that touched upon debt reimbursement for municipalities, university, and hit some of our vulnerable populations - homelessness and some of our seniors," said Dunleavy.

But he says aggressive action had to be taken. Without it, Alaska would be in difficult financial straits.

"We would have gone through our savings this year. We'd have no savings left and we'd be staring at some pretty stiff, draconian taxes," said Dunleavy.

Recall supporters gathered more than 49,000 signatures but state officials rejected the premise for it. That ruling is now being challenged in court.

Listen to the full podcast to hear Gov. Dunleavy's reaction to the recall and his analysis of why cutting spending draws such fierce opposition in both parties - whether in Alaska or in Washington.