Make Me California’s Next Senator

The Senate Is an Absurd Institution, so Let’s Put an Even More Absurd Californian in the Office

Dear Governor Newsom,

You’ve complained publicly that you’re overwhelmed with texts and calls, and I understand why. With the election of Kamala Harris as vice president, you must appoint someone to fill the final two years of her United States Senate term. Everyone in politics wants this gig, and that’s a lot of pressure.

So let me take this burden off your hands. You don’t have to make the excruciating decision to elevate one of your politician buddies over all the others. The right candidate is no politician, and is hereby making …

by Joe Mathews | November 17, 2020

After a Historic Election, Asha Rangappa Looks Ahead

The Yale Legal Scholar Talks 11th-Hour Declassifications, Special Prosecutors, and the Damage Done to America’s National Security Institutions

by Jackie Mansky | November 13, 2020

The title question for Zócalo’s event—“What Do We Do Now?,” posed just days after the historic presidential election of 2020 was finally decided—is also the last line of a 1972 …

What America Can Learn From India’s Weeks-Long Elections

Keep the Faith, Even If Results Are Slow to Come In—‘Democracy Delayed Is Not Democracy Denied’

by Sandip Roy | November 3, 2020

Americans have long been accustomed to knowing the results of elections by the time they go to bed on Election Day. This year is forcing them to realize that’s not …

An Election Observer in El Salvador Looks Back

Fall 2020 Reminds Me of 1994, When I Watched for Fraud and Intimidation as a War-Torn Nation Voted

by Elaine Elinson | November 2, 2020

In downtown San Miguel, long lines of voters snaked around the block in the pre-dawn darkness. It was still an hour before the open-air election booths on the sidewalks lining …

Don’t Trust Kamala Harris; Trust the California That Made Her

Harris’s Path Through the Golden State Prepared the VP Nominee to Understand America as Few Can

by Joe Mathews | August 25, 2020

Kamala will be fine. She’s a Californian.

This column is not an endorsement of the vice presidential nominee. But you can ignore all the anxiety on the left about her shifting …

2020 Presidential Election

Make Me California’s Next Senator

The Senate Is an Absurd Institution, so Let’s Put an Even More Absurd Californian in the Office

After a Historic Election, Asha Rangappa Looks Ahead

The Yale Legal Scholar Talks 11th-Hour Declassifications, Special Prosecutors, and the Damage Done to America’s National Security Institutions

What America Can Learn From India’s Weeks-Long Elections

Keep the Faith, Even If Results Are Slow to Come In—‘Democracy Delayed Is Not Democracy Denied’

An Election Observer in El Salvador Looks Back

Fall 2020 Reminds Me of 1994, When I Watched for Fraud and Intimidation as a War-Torn Nation Voted

Don’t Trust Kamala Harris; Trust the California That Made Her

Harris’s Path Through the Golden State Prepared the VP Nominee to Understand America as Few Can

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The 1958 Governor’s Race That Launched a Dynasty

An Internecine Fight Between Two Republicans Opened the Door to Ambitious San Francisco Democrat Pat Brown

The Precarious Career of Hattie Caraway, America’s First Woman Senator

Elected to the ‘World’s Most Exclusive Club’ From Arkansas in 1932, Caraway Was Ignored by Her Peers But Hounded by the Press

Is California Too Exceptional to Be Part of the U.S.?

We're a Progressive Check on Red-State Power—but We Unbalance the Constitutional System

Your Recall Confusion Is Part of a Much Bigger Problem

California’s Elections ‘Don’t Match How Human Beings Think, Choose, and Vote’

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