Sacramento Bee adds political reporting firepower at California Capitol
A reporter who spent the bulk of his career covering state government in Virginia before spending a year working for The New York Times has traded East Coast politics to shine a light inside the West Coast’s mightiest corridors of power.
Ben Paviour joined The Sacramento Bee as California Political Power Reporter, delivering exclusive storytelling on Statehouse politics, campaign finance and policy. He will be responsible for blanket coverage of some of the most consequential 2026 campaigns in our state, as well as coverage of the unique political climate in California — including the powerful political donors, labor unions and corporations who drive it.
Paviour comes to The Bee from Richmond, Virginia, where he spent seven years covering Virginia state politics and criminal justice. In 2024, he was selected as a local investigations fellow at The Times, where he spent a year digging into Virginia’s judiciary and rural economic development schemes.
As a public radio reporter, he uncovered an errant purge of nearly 3,400 Virginians from the state’s voter rolls, chronicled Republican Glenn Youngkin’s political rise, and tracked state and Congressional elections for local and national audiences on NPR.
He got his start in journalism at The Cambodia Daily in Phnom Penh, where he covered an autocratic government crackdown resulting in the forced closure of the newspaper.
“The Bee is known for its agenda-setting coverage of California politics,” Paviour said. “It’s an honor to join a team doing such strong work.”
Most recently, The Bee’s Capitol Team has led the way on coverage of the indictment of a political consultant who once served as chief of staff to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Two team members also pored over campaign-finance and lobbying records to reveal how two types of accounts in particular – ballot measure committees and campaign accounts held by ex-lawmakers – are commonly used to shore up political connections and help elected officials live large, while spending little on campaigns those accounts were ostensibly designed to support.
Paviour joined The Bee on Feb. 23. He reports to Jenavieve Hatch, The Bee’s deputy politics editor.
This story was originally published January 28, 2026 at 10:53 AM.
