Gavin Newsom

Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman serving since 2019 as the 40th governor of California.

Newsom was born on October 10, 1967, the son of 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.

Newsom's aunt was married to Ron Pelosi, the brother-in-law of then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.

Newsom's parents divorced in 1971 when he was three years old.

Newsom has said he did not have an easy childhood, partly due to dyslexia.

He attended kindergarten and first grade at École Notre Dame Des Victoires, a French-American bilingual Catholic school in San Francisco, but eventually transferred out, due to the severe dyslexia that still affects him.

It has challenged his abilities to write, spell, read, and work with numbers.

Throughout his schooling, Newsom had to rely on a combination of audiobooks, digests, and informal verbal instruction.

To this day, he prefers to interpret documents and reports through audio.

Newsom attended third through fifth grades at Notre Dame des Victoires, where he was placed in remedial reading classes.

In high school, he 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.

Tessa Newsom worked three jobs to support Gavin and his sister Hilary Newsom Callan.

In an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle, his sister recalled Christmases when their mother told them they would not receive any gifts.

Tessa opened their home to foster children, instilling in Newsom the importance of public service.

His father's finances were strapped in part because of his tendency to give away his earnings.

Newsom worked several jobs in high school to help support his family.

Newsom graduated from Santa Clara University in 1989.

Afterward, he founded the boutique winery PlumpJack Group with billionaire heir and family friend Gordon Getty as an investor.

The company grew to manage 23 businesses, including wineries, restaurants, and hotels.

Newsom attended Santa Clara University on a partial baseball scholarship, graduating in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science with a major in political science.

He was a left-handed pitcher for Santa Clara, but he threw his arm out after two years and has not thrown a baseball since.

He has reflected on his education fondly, crediting Santa Clara's Jesuit approach with helping him become an independent thinker who questions orthodoxy.

While in school, Newsom spent a semester studying abroad in Rome, Italy.

Newsom and his investors created the company PlumpJack Associates L.P. on May 14, 1991.

Newsom began his political career in 1996, when San Francisco mayor Willie Brown appointed him to the city's Parking and Traffic Commission.

Brown then appointed Newsom to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors the next year and Newsom was first elected to the board in 1998.

Newsom was elected mayor of San Francisco in 2003 and reelected in 2007.

He was elected lieutenant governor of California in 2010.

A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 49th lieutenant governor of California from 2011 to 2019 and the 42nd mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011.

As lieutenant governor, Newsom hosted The Gavin Newsom Show from 2012 to 2013.

He also wrote the 2013 book Citizenville, which focused on using digital tools for democratic change.

He was reelected in 2014.

Newsom was elected governor of California in 2018.

During his governorship, Newsom faced criticism for his personal behavior and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He faced an unsuccessful attempt to recall him from office in 2021; he was reelected the next year.