Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 40th governor of California since January 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California from 2011 to 2019 and as the 42nd mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011.
Gavin Newsom
Newsom in 2019
40th Governor of California
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 7, 2019
Lieutenant Eleni Kounalakis
Preceded by Jerry Brown
49th Lieutenant Governor of California
In office
January 10, 2011 – January 7, 2019
Governor Jerry Brown
Preceded by Abel Maldonado
Succeeded by Eleni Kounalakis
42nd Mayor of San Francisco
In office
January 8, 2004 – January 10, 2011
Preceded by Willie Brown
Succeeded by Ed Lee
Member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
from the 2nd district
In office
January 8, 1997 – January 8, 2004
Preceded by Kevin Shelley
Succeeded by Michela Alioto-Pier
Personal details
Born
Gavin Christopher Newsom
October 10, 1967 (age 53)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Political party Democratic
January 8, 2004 – January 10, 2011
Preceded by Willie Brown
Succeeded by Ed Lee
Member of the
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
from the 2nd district
In office
January 8, 1997 – January 8, 2004
Preceded by Kevin Shelley
Succeeded by Michela Alioto-Pier
Personal details
Born
Gavin Christopher Newsom
October 10, 1967 (age 53)
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Political party Democratic
Children 4
Father William Newsom
Residence Fair Oaks, California, U.S.
Website Governor website
Newsom attended Redwood High School and graduated from Santa Clara University. After graduation, he founded the PlumpJack wine store with family friend Gordon Getty as an investor. The PlumpJack Group grew to manage 23 businesses, including wineries, restaurants, and hotels. Newsom began his political career in 1996 when San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown appointed him to serve on the city's Parking and Traffic Commission. Brown appointed Newsom to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors the following year, and Newsom was later elected to the board in 1998, 2000, and 2002.[1]
In 2003, at the age of 36, Newsom was elected the 42nd mayor of San Francisco, becoming the city's youngest mayor in a century.[2] Newsom was re-elected in 2007 with 72% of the vote.[3][4] Newsom was elected lieutenant governor of California in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014. He was elected governor in the 2018 election. Newsom faced criticism for his response to the COVID-19 pandemic in California, including the slow initial rollout of vaccines and for the timing and scope of state COVID-19 restrictions, and he is set to face an election for his recall in 2021.[5][6]
Newsom hosted The Gavin Newsom Show on Current TV and wrote the 2013 book Citizenville.[7]
Early life
Gavin Christopher Newsom was born in San Francisco, to Tessa Thomas (née Menzies) and William Alfred Newsom III, a state appeals court judge and attorney for Getty Oil. He is a fourth-generation San Franciscan. One of Newsom's maternal great-grandfathers, Scotsman Thomas Addis, was a pioneer scientist in the field of nephrology and a professor of medicine at Stanford University. Newsom is the second cousin, twice removed, of musician Joanna Newsom.[8]
His father was an advocate for otters and the family had one as a pet.[9]
While Newsom later reflected that he did not have an easy childhood,[10] he attended kindergarten and first grade at Ecole Notre Dame Des Victoires, a French American bilingual school in San Francisco. He eventually transferred because of severe dyslexia that still affects him. His dyslexia has made it difficult for him to write, spell, read and work with numbers.[10] Throughout his schooling, Newsom had to rely on a combination of audiobooks, digests and informal verbal instruction. To this day, Newsom prefers to interpret documents and reports through audio.[11]
He attended third through fifth grades at Notre Dame des Victoires, where he was placed in remedial reading classes. In high school, Newsom played basketball and baseball and graduated from Redwood High School in 1985. Newsom was a shooting guard in basketball and an outfielder in baseball. His skills placed him on the cover of the Marin Independent Journal.[12]
Tessa Newsom worked three jobs to support Gavin and his sister Hilary Newsom Callan, the PlumpJack Group president, named after the opera Plump Jack composed by family friend Gordon Getty. In an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, his sister recalled the Christmas holidays when their mother told them they would not receive any gifts.[12] Tessa opened their home to foster children, instilling in Newsom the importance of public service.[12][13] His father's finances were strapped in part because of his tendency to give away his earnings.[13] Newsom worked several jobs in high school to help support his family.[3]
Newsom attended Santa Clara University on a partial baseball scholarship, where he graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in political science. Newsom was a left-handed pitcher for Santa Clara, but he threw his arm out after two years and has not thrown a baseball since.[14] He lived in the Alameda Apartments, which he later compared to living in a hotel. He later reflected on his education fondly, crediting the Jesuit approach of Santa Clara with helping him become an independent thinker who questions orthodoxy. While in school, Newsom spent a semester studying abroad in Rome.[15]
Newsom's aunt was married to Ron Pelosi, the brother-in-law of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.[10]
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