Cayla Harris is a political journalist currently based in Austin, Texas, through Hearst's two-year fellowship program. She covers Texas politics for the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, with a particular focus on the Texas state House of Representatives and education. She writes Texas Take, a daily political newsletter, for both papers.

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Previously, Cayla covered the New York statehouse and Gov. Andrew Cuomo for the Albany Times Union. During her time in Albany, she carved a new beat out of New York's landmark Child Victims Act, writing dozens of stories about survivors of sexual abuse and the legal challenges they filed.

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Cayla is a 2019 alumna of The George Washington University, where she graduated in three years with a bachelor's degree in journalism. While in D.C., she interned for the Hearst Washington bureau, covering Congress for Hearst's properties in New York and Connecticut. She also spent a summer with the National Press Foundation, where she ran several social media pages, expanded her design portfolio and authored a biweekly newsletter on training opportunities for journalists.

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Her interests include state government, campaigns and elections, social issues and youth culture. When she's not reporting, she can be found trying new coffee spots, hiking or listening to a true crime podcast.

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Cayla grew up in central New Jersey and interned for the Asbury Park Press while in high school. She deeply misses the Jersey shore (though not the one you saw on TV from 2009 to 2012).

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Read her most recent work here.