For California’s New Governor, Big Mistakes Will Lead to Greatness

Gavin Newsom Can’t Make Meaningful Progress on Health Care or Housing Without an Appetite for Risk

Gavin, screw up. Please.

Make mistakes. Big ones. Because the state you’re about to start running needs more screw-ups.

The transition now taking place in the California governor’s office feels both historic and incredibly dull—and the reason for both feelings is the same. For the first time since the 19th century, a Democrat is replacing a Democrat. Both are liberals, so what will be so different?

Here’s one potential answer: the gubernatorial appetite for risk.

Over the last eight years, Jerry Brown made a fetish out of his own caution. He focused relentlessly …

by Joe Mathews | January 7, 2019

California Promised ‘Preschool For All.’ What I Got Was $120,000 in Tuition Fees.

For a Generation, the Golden State Has Failed to Educate Its Youngest Citizens

By Joe Mathews | June 18, 2018

Since the 1990s, California’s leaders have promised to make preschool universal for every child.

Maybe they’ll do it by the time I have grandchildren.

It’s already too late for my own …

Fear and Loathing of L.A. and S.F. on the Campaign Trail

Our Gubernatorial Race Could Turn on Which City Californians Resent Most

By Joe Mathews | March 5, 2018

Which city—San Francisco or Los Angeles—do you love to hate more?

This is shaping up to be California’s question for 2018. Each of the two top contenders for governor is a …

Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom

A Man With Fewer Suit Choices Than Barack Obama

November 28, 2012

When he was elected mayor of San Francisco in 2003, Gavin Newsom, who was 36, was the youngest mayor the city had had in a century. By that time, he …

Gavin Newsom Is Getting Restive

California’s Lt. Governor Takes Himself and California To Task

October 8, 2012

Californians and their leaders need to move beyond longstanding battles over minor policy changes and begin new, broad debates about how to transform the state’s economy and educational system, argued …

If You Can’t Stand the Giants, Take a Walk

A Few Ways that L.A. Can Learn From San Francisco’s Example

October 4, 2012

San Francisco and Los Angeles are longtime rivals. They are very different places, but they also are both globally oriented cities in the very same state. And while the idea …

Aggressive State Meddling Could Fix California’s Housing Crisis

With Local Governments Crying "NIMBY," Sacramento Must Empower Developers and Home-Seekers

I Know Who Can Rescue California Democrats (and Maybe Gavin Newsom, Too)

The Answer to the Democrats’ Recall Predicament Is a Man Who Couldn’t Save His Own Seat

Will California’s Housing Shortage Epidemic Infect the Rest of the West?

A Visit to Utah Shows How the Crisis Has Spread, and Suggests Some Cures

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

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