David Lauter writes the Saturday Los Angeles Times Politics newsletter from Washington, D.C. He began writing news in Washington in 1981 and has covered Congress, the Supreme Court, the White House under Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and six U.S. presidential campaigns. He served as Washington bureau chief from 2011-20. Lauter lived in Los Angeles from 1995 to 2011, where he was The Times’ deputy Foreign editor, deputy Metro editor and then assistant managing editor responsible for California coverage.
Latest From This Author
Biden still leads among young voters, but there’s now a big gap between young men and young women, a Harvard polls found.
April 20, 2024
Even as the country has become more racially and ethnically diverse and religious attendance has declined, the relative size of the two big political-party coalitions has stayed almost identical.
April 13, 2024
Nelson Peltz apologized for supporting Trump after Jan. 6. Now he’s fundraising for the former president. The reason he and so many billionaires may have fallen back in line? Taxes.
April 6, 2024
The abortion pill case shows the gap between the Supreme Court’s far-right and merely conservative justices. A second Trump presidency could move the bench further right.
March 29, 2024
Even as public opinion on the economy is up and crime is down, President Biden’s approval ratings haven’t changed. Should Democrats panic? No.
March 22, 2024
Polls get things right most of the time, but problems crop up, generating headlines. How to tell the good from the bad, and how L.A. Times polls did this year.
March 15, 2024
State of the Union addresses seldom matter much. This one did: It was Biden’s first big opportunity to convince voters that he’s still up to the job.
March 8, 2024
In swing states, where Biden doesn’t have a big Democratic cushion to protect him, the impact of independent and third-party candidates could be enough to swing the outcome to Trump.
March 1, 2024
Those who remember the chaos of the Trump presidency may find it hard to believe, but a majority of voters see him as the candidate of stability. GOP moves on abortion could change that.
Feb. 23, 2024
A New York Democrat’s election victory will accelerate the party’s shift toward tougher border enforcement. That’s unsettling for many California Democrats.
Feb. 16, 2024