GAVIN NEWSOM
Newsom’s political career began in 1996 when then-Mayor Willie Brown appointed him to San Francisco’s Parking and Traffic Commission and the following year to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He became San Francisco’s youngest mayor in 2004, went on to serve as lieutenant governor and captured the governor’s office in 2018 with the largest margin of victory in more than a century.
Throughout his time in public office, Newsom has earned a reputation for championing progressive causes. He stood up for LGBTQ rights and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples as mayor. Months into his governorship, he imposed a moratorium on the death penalty in California. In August, the Legislature met his call to impose stronger restrictions on the oil and gas industry, including buffer zones between new wells and neighborhoods and schools, to the delight of environmental justice advocates.
But his actions don’t always support his liberal image.
On the scale of San Francisco politics, Newsom was often seen as a business-friendly moderate. His Care Not Cash program, which sought to reduce welfare for single homeless adults and instead spend the funds on shelters, housing and services, was widely criticized by activists who called it heartless.
This year, he took on the American Civil Liberties Union, Disability Rights California and the Western Center on Law and Poverty, which opposed his law establishing a Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court system. CARE Court aims to provide court-ordered treatment for thousands of Californians suffering from a mix of severe mental illness, homelessness and addiction.
Democrats at the Capitol also heeded his call this year to extend operations at Diablo Canyon, reversing an agreement environmental groups drove six years ago to shut down California’s last remaining nuclear plant out of safety concerns.
The 55-year-old governor has focused his reelection campaign largely outside…