Editorial Intern

Description

POLITICO’s California team is seeking an editorial intern to work in its Sacramento bureau in the spring of 2026, reporting from the State Capitol. The intern(s) will play a critical role in our coverage of the state legislative session and the governor.

Internship date ranges and application deadlines:

Application Deadline: Application decisions will be rolling, and the last day to apply is October 15 at 2pm PST/5:00pm EST.

Internship Dates: January 2026 - May 2026

Hours: 40 Per Week

Compensation: $23/HR

What You’ll Do:

• Work with our California Playbook team to write and produce our daily newsletter on politics in the nation’s largest state
• Be involved in all aspects of content creation and production, including research, reporting, writing, editing and aggregating. Some of this work may occur during the early morning hours or late in the evening
• Contribute to the reporting of a dynamic team covering policy and politics of California for both in-state and national audiences
• Cover spot news in policy and politics in and around the State Capitol

What You’ll Need:

• A can-do attitude, initiative, good time management skills and the ability to work well under pressure
• The ability to write quickly and cleanly while on deadline
• A passion for politics and policy and a thirst to learn about California politics and government
• The ability to work early mornings or late in the evening to help with California Playbook
• A commitment to fair-minded, nonpartisan journalism

Application materials:

• Resume
• Cover Letter
• 3-5 original clips to showcase your experience

We welcome applicants who are recent graduates. Applicants who are still in school must, at least, be rising juniors. The ideal applicant will have experience at a school publication and/or previous experience at a professional news outlet.

We value our people. Click here for more on what we offer and what it’s like to work for POLITICO.

About Us.

POLITICO illuminates the forces shaping global power. Since 2007, we have delivered intelligence that anticipates tomorrow's headlines, not reports on yesterday's news. As politics has increasingly become the defining force of our era, our work has never been more vital.

Cabinet secretaries and Ministers start their mornings with our analysis. CEOs shape strategy around our reporting. Advocacy leaders rely on our insights to move policy. We deliver the straightforward facts and clear-eyed analysis they need to navigate the most complex political landscape of our lifetimes.

Our 1,100+ publishing professionals across the world's key democratic capitals—Washington, Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin, Sacramento, and New York—form the world's premier politics and policy newsroom. We tell the story of how power really works by explaining who wields it and how they plan to exercise it, connecting dots others miss and delivering scoops from sources others don't even know exist.

Innovation has always been a core tenet of our story. At launch, we bet that depth would trump scale, that talent would trump traffic, and that politics would become central to modern life. In 2011, we made another bet and launched POLITICO Pro to help decision-makers understand the business of government, transforming both how they shape government action and the business of journalism itself.

These bets have made POLITICO the most successful digital news startup of its generation and the indispensable resource for leaders who shape the future. Today, we are a rarity in media: a growing, profitable, and sustainable news organization.

POLITICO is a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE, a family-owned transatlantic media company headquartered in Berlin and New York. Axel Springer is dedicated to shaping the future of journalism in the free world, believing that a free and informed society is essential to democracy. Learn more about Axel Springer.

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