I am a California politics reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle based in Sacramento.

I’ve reported on Gavin Newsom since his election as California governor in 2018, through the COVID-19 pandemic, a recall election, multiple international trips and his rise to national prominence as a likely presidential candidate.

I’ve also written extensively about sexual abuse in schools, police misconduct and the state’s struggle to care for people with severe mental illness. In 2026, my colleague Alexei Koseff and I broke the story that a former staffer accused then-Rep. Eric Swalwell of sexually assaulting her. Swalwell, who had been a frontrunner in the governor’s race, ended his campaign and resigned from Congress days later.

You can reach me via email at sophia.bollag@sfchronicle.com and via Signal at sophiabollag.16. You can follow me on X at @sophiabollag and Bluesky at ‪@sophiabollag.bsky.social‬.