Dan Morain joined CalMatters in March 2018. He is the former editorial page editor of The Sacramento Bee. Morain also spent 27 years at The Los Angeles Times, and has covered the Capitol since 1992.
California's savings on smoking bans, Gavin Newsom's audacious goals, a new PPIC poll, Wicks vs. Beckles in the East Bay, how gerrymandering could return.
Agricultural interests have poured $420,000 in recent days into a push to unseat Bakersfield Democrat Rudy Salas Jr., over his vote in 2016 for a landmark bill that grants farm workers overtime.
No Californian wins the lottery jackpot. For-profit colleges play the odds. Agriculture comes for a lawmaker who voted with farm workers. NorCal vs. SoCal.
Proposition 13 turns 40, labor shuns a Democrat over the gas tax, mental illness and ER visits, a lieutenant governor face-off and children's hospitals.
The California Labor Federation dropped its support for Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar running against Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter over his statement on the gasoline tax. Labor embraced Jessica Morse in her race against Republican Tom McClintock after she took a somewhat different stand on funding for road repair.
California healthcare workers union leader Dave Regan has used initiatives and threats of initiatives in the past in negotiations on behalf of his 100,000-member union. That Proposition 8 opponents are spending $105 million-plus to defeat the initiative is sure to send a message to Regan’s future foes that ballot measure fights come at a steep cost.
Where to shelter California's homeless, Trump's rotting trees, 2018 fire statistics, syphilis, Tuck and Thurmond, the Benicia-Martinez Bridge and a quiz.
Campaign donations are going more to Democrats than Republicans in California's hot congressional races; Feinstein and de León debate; and Gavin Newsom gives because that's how far ahead of John Cox he is.
Democratic congressional candidates in California's most competitive races are significantly outraising Republicans in small-dollar donations. It’s a display of voter enthusiasm that can pay long-term dividends for beneficiaries. The phenomenon extends to districts where no Democratic expert thinks Democratic challengers have any prayer of winning.