Announcement from Editor-in-Chief Matt Kaminski, Executive Editor, Platforms and Operations, Joe Schatz, Editorial Director States Ryan Hutchins, California Editor Katy Murphy and California Bureau Chief Chris Cadelago:

Team –

As you may have read in California Playbook this morning: We’re expanding our impact and influence by the day in the most populous state, and we’re excited to announce a new wave of hires and moves focused on key pillars of POLITICO’s California strategy: Strengthening our flagship Playbook franchise for a new era of growth, turbo-charging our political and policy reporting in Sacramento and launching distinctive new coverage in Los Angeles.

California Playbook was our first entry point into the state in 2015, and we’re now looking to bolster it for our next chapter with a sharpened mandate and fresh ideas. To do that, we’re very pleased to welcome Dustin Gardiner of the San Francisco Chronicle as the new co-author of our flagship newsletter on Golden State politics. A Utah native, Dustin has covered the state capitol and California politics for the Chronicle for more than four years, including the housing crisis, climate change and social inequities; he also did a stint in Washington for the paper, covering California's congressional delegation during President Trump's first impeachment. Prior to moving to California, he spent a decade with The Arizona Republic, where he covered state and city politics. Dustin will work closely with Lara Korte to keep Sacramento wired and make Playbook even more vital for our influential audience across the state. Outside of work, Dustin enjoys running, camping, reading fiction and exploring Northern California, and is a member of NLGJA, the association of LGBTQ journalists. He’ll start in early July.

Los Angeles – and southern California more broadly – are key to our long-term ambitions in California, and we’re wasting no time in planting a flag in the nation’s vast and diverse second-largest city. We are thrilled to share that Melanie Mason of the Los Angeles Times will be our new Senior Political Reporter covering politics, power and influence in Los Angeles. From the moment we started talking to Melanie, it was clear that her experience, talents and ambitions were a great match for this moment at POLITICO. Before her current job reporting on state and national politics for the Times, Melanie spent nearly six years covering the state capital in Sacramento (and two years in the DC bureau) – giving her the kind of sophisticated understanding of state political dynamics that our readers crave. (A good example is this profile of Kevin de Leon, which was part of the Los Angeles Times’ Pulitzer Prize-winning package – which faced some fierce competition, you may recall – this past spring.) Melanie’s mission will be bringing the power players and political characters of Los Angeles – and often Orange County and San Diego – to life for our state and national readers, from City Hall to the Board of Supervisors to Los Angeles’ powerful donor class. A Georgetown graduate who did J-school at Berkeley, Melanie also has POLITICO roots – she was a member of the first class of POLITICO interns back in 2009. Melanie was born and raised in Los Angeles and has the LA sports allegiances to prove it. She’ll start on July 5.

And last but far from least: As we create an even higher-octane political reporting operation in Sacramento, Jeremy B. White is taking on a new role as a Senior Reporter covering the intersection of politics and policy in the California legislature, including the influence of organized labor and ballot initiatives. One of POLITICO’s most versatile reporters, Jeremy has co-authored California Playbook for the past five years – he’s a household name among our readers – even while being our go-to California writer on a wide array of political and policy coverage, from the bitter speakership fight in the state Assembly to the failed recall of Gavin Newsom. Now, we’re asking Jeremy to help us produce even deeper and more distinctive journalism that peels back the curtain on the dynamics at play and the central characters in the Sacramento policy and political drama. It’s a space where Jeremy thrives, and we’re excited to have him in this role, where he’ll work closely with all of our reporters, editors Katy Murphy and Ben Fox and Chris Cadelago, who officially started as our California Bureau Chief a few weeks ago.

Stay tuned for more on our California plans in the coming weeks.