Stories By Joe Garofoli

  • Barbara Lee has far less money than other California Senate candidates. Here’s why you shouldn’t count her out Lee’s supporters are counting on a network of donors that she helped build, as well as other progressives raising enough money to help her run a viable campaign.
  • East Bay Rep. Barbara Lee plans to join fight for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat Lee is putting together a fundraising network and is expected to formally launch her campaign soon, sources told The Chronicle.
  • California’s 2024 Senate race just started, and it’s going to be wild Progressive infighting. Gender politics. Republican spoilers. $20 million to get in. With one candidate officially in, the 2024 race has begun.
  • California Rep. Katie Porter, a rising progressive star, announces U.S. Senate bid The Orange County Democrat is running for U.S. Senate, she announced Tuesday. Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s term ends in 2024, but she has not definitively announced her intentions for the 2024 race.
  • If this was Gavin Newsom’s last inaugural speech, he showed a different side of himself Newsom opened perhaps his final chapter in executive office by defining not just what he envisions for California, but fleshing out his own often caricatured image.
  • Backers of new progressive Alameda County D.A. say they won’t let her be the next Chesa Boudin Pamela Price’s supporters say they are ready to rally behind her criminal justice reforms — and against any potential recall efforts.
  • Not long ago, she was living in her car. Now, Sheng Thao is about to be mayor of Oakland Thao’s challenge now will be translating her inspirational lived experience into becoming a mayor who gets things done in one of the toughest political jobs in the country.
  • 6 California political stories to watch in 2023 From jockeying for position in the presidential race to a potentially open U.S. Senate seat to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s battles with the oil industry, here are The Chronicle’s predictions for the political story lines to follow in the new year.
  • As Biden mulls his future, a progressive group is urging ‘Don’t Run Joe’ The effort is run by people who voted for Biden two years ago against Donald Trump after backing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary.
  • Elon Musk is leaning into transphobia Elon Musk’s amplification of anti-trans memes and criticism of inclusive policies and practices puts him squarely with the far right on issues involving the transgender community.
  • These 6 California Republicans opposed protecting same-sex and interracial marriage. What were they thinking? More than half of California’s Republican House delegation opposed codifying same-sex and interracial marriage into federal law.
  • Only Elon Musk can heal the hellhole of hate he’s created on Twitter Twitter threats and insults like the ones recently levied against Sen. Scott Wiener offer a preview of what life will increasingly be like for marginalized communities on the platform.
  • Will Dianne Feinstein follow Barbara Boxer’s road map and begin the long goodbye? After Nancy Pelosi’s transition out of House leadership this week, eyes have turned toward San Francisco’s other pioneering female leader: 89-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
  • What the transition from ‘Madam Speaker’ to ‘Rep. Pelosi’ might look like It it will be hard for someone who dominated House Democratic leadership for two decades to suddenly recede onto the back bench.
  • ‘A new day is dawning’: Nancy Pelosi to step down as Democratic leader but will stay in Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced Thursday she will not seek another term in Democratic leadership but will continue to represent San Francisco in Congress.
  • Trump’s return is ominous for California Republicans — and anyone touched by his racism Trump’s litany of racist, sexist and homophobic remarks has some Californians worried about what his return to center stage will mean for the communities he’s maligned.
  • California’s 11 undecided races could hold key to House control Democrats have taken the Senate. But control of the House remains undecided — and attention shifts to California.
  • California Republicans could get some very good news and some very bad news on the same day Kevin McCarthy is moving closer to becoming speaker of the House. But he’s inextricably tethered to Donald Trump, whom a growing number of Republicans are turning against.
  • Get ready for gridlock: Here’s how Republican control of the House would affect California Divided government means some of California’s top policy priorities that profited from the Biden administration — including environmental protection and clean energy — could stall in Washington.
  • After a brutal attack and a tough election, Nancy Pelosi faces a question: Does she stick around? The groundbreaking U.S. House speaker from San Francisco led the party when it was on the losing end of elections in 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016, and each time her fellow Democrats believed she was the best to continue leading them.