Gavin Newsom could potentially succeed Democratic US President Joe Biden if Biden’s health deteriorates to the point where he cannot seek a second term in the White House.
Handsome, with a particularly charming wife and father of four, the 56-year-old California governor is seen as a prime contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. Newsom owes his well-shaped physique to his favorite sport, baseball, according to SkyNews.
Although he has declined to run for the US presidency in the upcoming November election and has supported President Biden’s re-election campaign, Newsom’s track record suggests he has all the qualifications to cross the threshold of the White House.
Despite his denials about wanting the role, speculation about Newsom’s potential candidacy has grown exponentially. The British Guardian reported that after Biden’s poor performance in the first presidential debate on CNN, Newsom’s name appeared on nearly every list of possible successors. “With just four months to go until the presidential election, the chances of the president resigning are extremely slim, but that hasn’t stopped the speculation. Online political betting odds for Newsom ending up at the top of the presidential ballot tripled to one in four last week.”
Gavin Newsom became the youngest member of the San Francisco City Council in 1997, appointed by then-Mayor Willie Brown. Even as his public career was just beginning, Newsom told a reporter in 1998 that he dreamed of becoming president of the United States.
When Democrats panicked last week over Biden’s candidacy following his poor debate performance against Republican Donald Trump, the California governor quickly reassumed his role as a staunch supporter of the president. “You don’t turn your back because of a show,” he declared on MSNBC.
Many Democrats believe Newsom could run for president in 2028, or perhaps sooner. As concerns about Biden’s age mounted last year, Republicans publicly accused Newsom of running a “shadow” campaign, allowing him to enter the race if the president dropped out. Some Democrats quietly agreed.
Advocate for gun control, LGBTQ+ rights, and abortion rights
The 56-year-old former San Francisco mayor is a vocal advocate for gun control, LGBTQ+ rights, and abortion rights.
During Trump’s presidency, Newsom declared California a leading state in the “resistance” against his administration. His public disagreements with Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, including a heated debate on Fox News last year, showcased his readiness for tough politics.
To his supporters, Newsom’s greatest weakness is not his progressive stance, but the challenges his state faces: California is grappling with a homelessness crisis, a multibillion-dollar budget deficit, and a high cost of living, for which voters partly blame him.
The political career of Gavin Newsom
Newsom served as San Francisco’s mayor from 2004 to 2011, campaigning on a pro-business centrist platform.
The self-described “social liberal” and “fiscal watchdog” received campaign support from prominent Democratic figures like Bill Clinton and Al Gore.
In recent years, according to Business Insider, Newsom has clashed with high-profile critics such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and positioned himself as a national voice on immigration and gun safety. Despite efforts by his opponents to remove him from the spotlight with censure proposals, his popularity continued to rise.
The photogenic California governor was present at the debate site last Thursday, dismissing rumors of a possible replacement for Joe Biden as “nonsense.”
Gavin Newsom was born in 1967. His father, William Newsom, was a California Supreme Court Justice, and his mother, Tessa Thomas, worked as a waitress and paralegal. Despite his dyslexia, he persevered, earning a BA in Political Science from Santa Clara University in 1989.
He later co-founded the PlumpJack Group winery with family friend Gordon Getty, a billionaire oil magnate, as an investor.
billionaire oil magnate who considered him his son, as he has stated.
The winery grew into a business with more than 700 employees. Newsom’s investments expanded to include five restaurants and two retail clothing stores, earning him an annual income of over $429,000 from 1996 to 2001.
By 2002, his business activities were valued at over $6.9 million. When he became mayor in 2004, he sold his stake in his San Francisco businesses but retained ownership of the PlumpJack operations outside of California’s fourth-largest city.
His Wife and the Mother of Their Four Children
Gavin’s second wife, with whom he has four children, is Jennifer Siebel Newsom.
The charming Jennifer is one of the many victims of the sexual assaults committed by the former “king of Hollywood,” Harvey Weinstein when she was a young actress in 2005.
Her public accusation was made in 2017 through an article in the Huffington Post.
In 2005, Siebel Newsom “was a powerless actress trying to make a career in Hollywood,” the prosecutor argued. She had met Weinstein at the Toronto Film Festival and was later invited to his suite in Beverly Hills to “discuss her career.” The young actress found it “strange” that he invited her to his suite but went anyway. She became alarmed when his assistants, who were in the room, left and he changed into a robe. Siebel Newsom did not know how to react without offending the powerful producer. Weinstein called her into the bathroom and told her to “touch him” while holding her tightly.
