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Lynn La

Newsletter Writer

Lynn La is the newsletter writer for CalMatters, focusing on California’s top political, policy and Capitol stories every weekday. She produces and curates WhatMatters, CalMatters’ flagship daily newsletter with more than 150,000 subscribers.    

In the newsletter, Lynn analyzes the state’s policy issues for a broader audience, through original reporting and by summarizing and compiling stories from CalMatters and other news sources. Recently, she has reported on bills to address California’s worsening fentanyl epidemic, tackle retail theft and legislate happiness. She also reveals more about lawmakers by interviewing them for an occasional series on first-term legislators in 2023 and new committee chairpersons in 2024. 

Through WhatMatters, Lynn also plays a crucial role in CalMatters election coverage, helping to keep track of daily developments in key campaigns, including legislative and congressional races and ballot measures.  

Prior to joining CalMatters in March 2023, she wrote for the education technology startup Guild and was a senior editor at CNET. She also covered public health at The Sacramento Bee as a Kaiser media fellow and was an intern reporter at Capitol Weekly. 

Lynn is based in the Bay Area. She graduated from UC Davis and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

Other languages spoken: Vietnamese (basic)

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Latest Stories

Two lawmakers hug in the middle of the Assembly floor during session. An LGBTQ pride flag is visible in the corner of the frame.
Two hands with painted nails hold a heart-shaped photograph of a person smiling and wearing a baseball hat. The hands belong to a mother and a daughter, and the image has a feeling of "remembrance." The image is focused on the heart and the hands.
Two people stand over a container labeled "official ballot drop box." One individual writes on a clipboard with papers and the other organizes ballot envelopes.
Department of Elections employee Hong Pharmacy Ngo places scanned mail-in and drop-off ballots into bins during Super Tuesday at City Hall in San Francisco on March 5, 2024. Photo by Juliana Yamada for CalMatters
A close-up of a key with a California flag keychain on a voting panel with the "Aye" vote button lite up in green on a legislator's desk on the Assembly floor at the state Capitol in Sacramento on Aug. 17, 2023. Photo by Semantha Norris, CalMatters
Congressional candidate Rudy Salas speaks to a crowd of volunteers at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Bakersfield
A close-up of a person wearing a black suit and white shirt with a stoic expression on their face.
Ride-share driver and SEIU Gig Workers Union member John Mejia, center, speaks during a press conference outside of the Supreme Court of California in San Francisco on May 21, 2024. The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Prop. 22, a ballot initiative that allows ride-share companies, such as Uber and Lyft, to classify drivers as independent contractors. Photo by Juliana Yamada for CalMatters