Mackenzie Mays is the California education editor for Political. She previously worked as the education reporter at The Fresno Bee and before that covered education at The Charleston Gazette-Mail in West Virginia, focusing on rural communities. She is the recipient of a 2015 John Swett Award for Media Excellence from the California Teachers Association. She was a 2017 California Fellow, and her fellowship project focused on the Central Valley's high teen pregnancy rates and the impact of sex education.