Two-term governor of California (58 years old as of early 2026) and leading contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. Polls have him as the favourite to become the Democratic nominee. Prediction markets in late 2025 rated his chances at better than one in three, far ahead of other contenders.
Newsom's father was the "best-best friend" of Gordon Getty, son of J. Paul Getty, the oil tycoon. The friendship afforded proximity to opulence—African safaris and a Spanish princess's coming-out party—but the Newsoms were around wealth, not of it. Newsom's life with his mother was middle-class: he bused tables at the restaurant where she worked, and the family rented out spare rooms. His father's connections helped kick-start his career. The Gettys were early investors in his wine and restaurant ventures. John Burton, an operator of California's political machine, was a family friend. In early 2026 Newsom published a memoir, "Young Man in a Hurry", ghost-written by Mark Arax.
Newsom was appointed to San Francisco's board of supervisors by Burton. Willie Brown, a former mayor of San Francisco (91 years old as of early 2026), mentored him. Brown initially "saw him more as a movie star" but, after Newsom accepted a seat on the city's parking and traffic commission without complaint and got right to work, concluded he had the discipline to go far. "What he believed in wasn't important," Brown says; he expected loyalty, and Newsom delivered. Newsom eventually succeeded Brown as mayor of San Francisco. He then won the offices of lieutenant-governor and governor.
As mayor in 2004 he began issuing marriage licences to same-sex couples, 11 years before the Supreme Court legalised gay marriage. As lieutenant-governor in 2016 he backed legalising marijuana.
Newsom suffers from severe dyslexia, which still affects how he talks and consumes information. He tends to use awkward turns of phrase ("in the context of", "through the prism of") and says he memorised the dictionary as a young man to mask his disability. He and his friends explain his theatrical streak as overcompensation for introversion stemming from the condition. It prompted him throughout his career to prepare intensely and may account for his comfort in extemporising.
Newsom is not ideological. Bobby Kennedy is his hero; photos of Kennedy's funeral hang in the hallway by his office in Sacramento. He made an enemy of Big Oil by restricting drilling in California, but when refinery closures threatened to raise prices he pushed for new drilling permits in oil-rich Kern County. He has described Americans seeing Democrats as weak and tailored his approach accordingly, including goading MAGA's keyboard warriors on social media with Trumpian parody posts.
He has consistently pushed to streamline permitting and build more homes. On October 10th 2025 he signed SB 79 into law, along with more than 40 other housing reforms—writing that "the cost of inaction is simply too high." He has invited Democratic "abundance bros"—thinkers who say the party needs to be more growth-friendly—on his own podcast. His record will be subject to intense scrutiny should he run for president in 2028.
In June 2025 Donald Trump federalised units of the California National Guard to protect federal agents conducting immigration raids in Los Angeles, over Newsom's objections.
In July 2025, after Trump pressured Texas Republicans to gerrymander five new congressional seats, Newsom launched a campaign for Proposition 50, a ballot measure allowing California's legislature to implement a new congressional map favouring Democrats through 2030. California has an independent redistricting commission, so the legislature needed voter approval. With two weeks before the November 4th vote, spending neared $150m and Democrats were outraising opponents two to one. Border Patrol agents showed up at the launch of the Prop 50 campaign; Newsom alleged the Trump administration sent them to intimidate Californians.
California voters backed Proposition 50 on November 4th 2025. Newsom outspent opponents two to one and added more than 100,000 donors to his list of potential backers for a 2028 bid, according to Politico. The measure could yield five seats for Democrats, partially neutralising Republican gerrymandering advantages in midterm House races.
Newsom is Trumpian in his zeal for media ubiquity. Early in 2025 he started his own podcast, "This is Gavin Newsom", interviewing politicians and media figures, including pointedly from the right. In his first interview he solicited advice from Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA, on salvaging "the Democratic brand". It was in that conversation that Newsom lamented the unfairness of transgender competitors in female sports, agreeing with Kirk on the politics: "We're getting crushed on it." More recently he has sidled towards the centre, urging cities and counties to ban homeless encampments and calling it "deeply unfair" for male transgender athletes to compete with women and girls.
Newsom is term-limited. Nearly every governor of California since 1942 had previously won a statewide campaign, with only Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger as exceptions. In 2026 the top two finishers in June's primary advance to the general election regardless of party, and the eight leading Democrats jockeying to replace him have splintered the vote. The three Democrats polling highest—Tom Steyer, Eric Swalwell and Katie Porter—are "fighters" with national profiles built around criticising Donald Trump, while candidates with experience running big cities or working in Sacramento, such as Matt Mahan and Antonio Villaraigosa, are languishing. Newsom's redistricting campaign in 2025 may have deprived the race of attention. About 30% of Democrats said they did not know who they were voting for.
Alas, I am dying beyond my means.