Alexei Koseff

Alexei Koseff covers Gov. Gavin Newsom, the Legislature and California government from Sacramento.

He joined CalMatters in January 2022 after previously reporting on the Capitol for The Sacramento Bee and the San Francisco Chronicle, where he broke the story of Newsom’s infamous dinner at The French Laundry restaurant. He has written about California politics and government for more than a decade, twice winning the Sacramento Press Club award for best daily Capitol beat reporting.

Alexei aims to help readers better understand how their government is serving them. For CalMatters, he has traveled to all corners of California to dig into stories that explore how state policy is truly working — covering a backlash against progressive politics in Huntington Beach, the controversy over a homeless city councilmember in Ojai, a law enforcement team pioneering gun violence restraining orders in San Diego and efforts to rethink the 911 response to mental health calls in rural Nevada County. His coverage of how the collapse of California’s legal cannabis market has devastated the Emerald Triangle won a 2024 Best of the West award for business and financial reporting.

A native of the Bay Area, Alexei is the proud product of bilingual education. He attended Stanford University, where he graduated with degrees in American Studies and journalism.

Other languages spoken: Spanish (fluent)