Gavin Newsom.

A fourth-generation San Franciscan, Gavin Newsom became mayor of that California city on January 9, 2004. At the age of thirty-seven, Newsom was the city’s youngest mayor in more than a century. His controversial decision to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples in February 2004 led San Francisco to be the first city to acknowledge gay marriages. However, California courts soon declared his action unconstitutional. Newsom was elected governor of California in 2019.

Background

Gavin Christopher Newsom was born on October 10, 1967, to William and Tessa Newsom. The pair divorced while Gavin and his sister, Hillary, were young, but the family remained close, and neither parent remarried. After the divorce, Gavin and Hillary lived with their mother, who supported them by working three jobs: waitress, secretary, and bookkeeper. William Newsom was a judge in the San Francisco courts.

Education and Early Aspirations

As a child, Newsom struggled with dyslexia. He attended Redwood High School in Marin County. He enjoyed sports and played both basketball and baseball. Newsom attended Santa Clara University and earned a bachelor of arts in political science in 1989.

The Newsom family were friends of the Getty family, known for their billion-dollar oil business. William Newsom had attended high school with Gordon Getty, the son of J. Paul Getty. William Newsom's father had often acted like a father figure to Gordon Getty, whose own father was often busy with work and traveling in Europe. J. Paul Getty's grandson, John Paul Getty III, was kidnapped for ransom in Italy in 1973. J. Paul Getty refused to pay ransom, and the kidnappers cut off the ear of their prisoner. William Newsom helped to negotiate the release of the teen, who was Gordon Getty's nephew.

Due to the close relationship of the two families, the Gettys acted as strong supporters of Gavin Newsom's business ventures and political aspirations. The families often went on vacations together, including African safaris and trips to Alaska. After graduating from college, Newsom opened a wine shop. He created PlumpJack Management Group, which ran his wine distribution business and restaurants. Newsom also invested in a ski resort in Squaw Valley and owns a 53-acre vineyard in Napa. The Getty family helped finance many of Newsom's businesses and later helped contribute to his political campaign for mayor.

Early Political Career

After succeeding in business, Newsom became interested in politics. His father was friends with John Burton, leader of the California State Senate. Burton recommended Gavin Newsom to San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. Brown first appointed Newsom to a city commission overseeing traffic and parking and then to an empty seat on the Board of Supervisors.

An Irish Catholic Democrat, Newsom was elected three times to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (1997-2004). He decided to run for mayor of San Francisco in 2003, after the end of Mayor Brown's term. Newsom ran against Matt Gonzalez, a Green Party candidate who was previously a member of the Democratic Party. During his campaign, Newsom emphasized the homelessness problem in the city. He also campaigned on the need to help schools and end corruption and special interests. With the help of the Getty family, Newsom raised $4 million for his campaign, almost ten times more than Gonzalez. Newsom was endorsed by former US president Bill Clinton and former vice president Al Gore. Some local politicians hurled accusations that he was a pawn for big business and a lightweight on issues.

Mayor of San Francisco

Newsom won the election with 53 percent of the vote on December 9, 2003. He was sworn in on January 9, 2004, by his father. Newsom surprised many within his first few days in office when he cut his own pay in light of a $330 million budget deficit. He also made headlines by appointing women to the positions of chief of police and chief of the fire department and hiring an openly gay chief of staff.

Upon hearing President George W. Bush's State of the Union address, which denounced gay marriages, Newsom decided to make another change in San Francisco. To treat all couples equally, Newsom made the controversial decision to allow gay marriage licenses to be distributed. More than four thousand gay and lesbian couples from California and around the country traveled to San Francisco to receive marriage licenses and get married. Newsom presided over the marriage of his chief of staff and his longtime partner.

The marriages in San Francisco received international attention for being both revolutionary and against the existing California law. Within several weeks, the California courts deemed the licenses to be illegally distributed and the marriages void, stating that Mayor Newsom did not have the authority to issue the licenses against existing California laws. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said that Newsom had ignored the law and acted above it, while President George W. Bush said that the marriages were troubling to America.

Many gay rights activists fear that the ban on marriages in San Francisco may eventually escalate to become a constitutional amendment. Others say that Newsom’s actions have created positive media attention about gay marriage. Newsom's decision made San Francisco the first city in the US to sanction gay and lesbian weddings. The state of Massachusetts soon followed suit, legalizing gay marriage in the summer of 2004. Yet, in a surprising turn of events, the state of California passed Proposition 8 in 2009. The measure limits marriage to only male and female couples. Proposition 8 was challenged at the US Supreme Court and found to be unconstitutional in 2010. However, the proposition remained in the state constitution; a motion to rescind it was on the 2024 general election ballot and was expected to pass.

In addition to his controversial rulings on gay marriage, Gavin Newsom has also proposed a universal health plan for all San Francisco residents. Political analysts speculate that Newsom’s groundbreaking proposals may pave a way to higher office in the future.

Governor of California

After withdrawing from the 2009 gubernatorial race, Newsom became the forty-ninth lieutenant governor in 2011. After serving in this position through 2018, he again ran for governor on a progressive platform and a promise to be prudent with the state's budget surplus. He also consistently opposed President Donald Trump's policies and called upon California to set an example for the nation. Newsom won in a landslide, taking 61.9 percent of the vote to Republican John Cox's 38.1 percent, in the November election, and was sworn in on January 7, 2019.

During the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020, Newsom received praise and criticism for his initial efforts to lead California's response. He mandated the nation's first statewide stay-at-home order, which health experts said likely prevented a higher COVID-19 death toll in the state. However, in April 2020, advocates for seniors and people with disabilities accused Newsom and his administration of discrimination for suggesting that hospitals facing staffing and other medical shortages should prioritize care for younger patients and those with greater life expectancy during the pandemic. The administration responded by changing state guidelines to declare that California would prohibit discrimination.

In November 2020, just as Newsom announced that rising COVID-19 cases were forcing the state to delay easing COVID-related restrictions on restaurants and other businesses, Fox 11 in Los Angeles posted photos of him attending a political consultant and lobbyist's fiftieth birthday party at a high-end restaurant in Napa Valley. At the party, Newsom and other guests were sitting close together and not wearing face coverings. Critics accused him of hypocrisy for not following his own COVID-19 policies, for which Newsom subsequently apologized.

In September 2021, Newsom faced a recall election. Supporters of the recall criticized the governor's policies for the state's pandemic response, homelessness rate, sanctuary cities, and water rationing. Voters defeated the recall by a vote of 62.7 to 37.3 percent, making Newsom the second governor in US history to survive a recall election, and he was re-elected in 2022 with just over 59 percent of the vote.

The laws Newsom signed during his second term included one banning local governments from requiring identification from voters; a bill prohibiting book bans in California's public libraries; bills that allowed local governments to create entertainment zones where outdoor alcohol sales are allowed; several bills protecting consumer rights by limiting the effect of medical bills on credit and providing eviction protection; and a bill that approved tiny home shelters for the homeless. He also approved a bill that made a formal apology to Black residents for past enslavement, but vetoed a related bill that would have required the state to make financial reparations for enslavement.

With the re-election of Donald Trump to the presidency in November 2024, Newsom said he would work with the incoming administration, but called on California legislators to proactively protect progressive state policies on climate change, immigration, and reproductive rights from any federal attempts to weaken or reverse them.

In 2025, Newsom became an ardent critic of the Trump administration regarding its lack of federal recovery funding following the Southern California wildfires that January, harsh immigration policies and enforcement tactics, and mid-decade gerrymandering efforts in Republican states that June. Newsom countered Republican gerrymandering in Texas with a Democratic plan to gerrymander districts in California, the Election Rigging Response Act, which California voters passed that November. Newsom's press office mocked Trump's social media posts and other communications by imitating their bombastic style and spoofing their content. By the end of the year, political polls and betting odds showed that Newsom was an early frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination for 2028.

Personal Life

Newsom was married to the lawyer and television commentator Kimberly Guilfoyle from 2001 to 2006. In 2008, he married the actor and filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The couple has four children: Montana, Hunter, Brooklynn, and Dutch.

Bibliography

Ceballos, Ana, and Melody Gutierrez. "Newsom, Seeking Federal Funds for L.A. Wildfire Recovery, Is Denied Meeting with Key Trump Officials." Los Angeles Times, 5 Dec. 2025, www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-12-05/newsom-visits-washington-to-renew-calls-for-federal-la-fire-funding. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.

"Gavin Newsom." Ballotpedia, ballotpedia.org/Gavin_Newsom. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.

“Gavin Newsom.” State of California, www.gov.ca.gov/about/ Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.

“Governor Newsom Statement on Constitutional Amendment to Repeal Prop. 8.” State of California, 14 Feb. 2023, www.gov.ca.gov/2023/02/14/governor-newsom-statement-on-constitutional-amendment-to-repeal-prop-8/. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.

Klein, Ezra. "How Gavin Newsom Became the Democrats' 2028 Front Runner." The New York Times, 10 Dec. 2025, www.nytimes.com/2025/12/10/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-gavin-newsom.html. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.

“Meet Gavin.” Gavin for Governor, 2022, gavinnewsom.com/about/. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.

Nguyen, Tran. "California Governor Calls Special Session to Protect Liberal Policies from Trump Presidency." AP, 7 Nov. 2024, apnews.com/article/california-donald-trump-gavin-newsom-special-session-32511d5887409d68d692e094ed50a272. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.

“The 2024 California Bills Gavin Newsom Signed into Law, and the Ones He Vetoed.” LAist, 12 Oct. 2024, laist.com/news/politics/these-are-the-2024-california-bills-gavin-newsom-has-signed-into-law-and-the-ones-he-has-vetoed. Accessed 12 Dec. 2025.