Gavin Newsom Net Worth, Family, Wife, Education, Children, Age, Biography, Political Career

Gavin Newsom Biography

Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician and businessman who has served as California's 40th governor since January 2019. He previously served as the 49th elected official of California from 2011 to 2019 and as the 42nd mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Newsom graduated from Santa Clara University after attending Redwood High School. Following graduation, he established the PlumpJack wine store with the help of family friend Gordon Getty as an investor. The PlumpJack Group expanded to manage 23 companies, including wineries, restaurants, and hotels. Newsom began his political career in 1996, when he was appointed to the Parking and Traffic Commission by San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown. The following year, Brown appointed Newsom to fill a vacancy on the Board of Supervisors, and Newsom was later elected to the board in 1998, 2000, and 2002.

At the age of 36, Newsom was elected as San Francisco's 42nd mayor in 2003, making him the city's youngest mayor in a century. Newsom was re-elected with 72% of the vote in 2007. Newsom was elected as a California official in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. In the 2018 election, he was elected governor. Newsom was chastised for his personal behavior and leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic in California, prompting a recall effort and the fourth gubernatorial recall election in US history. Newsom won the 2021 recall election, becoming the second incumbent U.S. governor to do so, following Scott Walker in 2012.

From 2012 to 2013, Newsom hosted The Gavin Newsom Show on Current TV and published Citizenville, a book about using digital tools for democratic change, in 2013. Newsom has been viewed as a progressive politician, taking early stances on issues such as couple and, by extension, cannabis legalization.

Gavin Christopher Newsom is the son of Tessa Thomas and William Alfred Newsom III, a state appellate court judge and Getty Oil attorney. He comes from a fourth-generation San Franciscan family. Scotsman Thomas Addis, one of Newsom's maternal great-grandfathers, was a pioneer scientist in the field of nephrology and a professor of medicine at Stanford University. Newsom is a second cousin twice removed of musician Joanna Newsom. 

Because his father was an otter advocate, the family kept one as a pet. Gavin Newsom's parents divorced in 1972, when he was five years old. 

Newsom later stated that he did not have a simple childhood, due in part to dyslexia. He attended kindergarten and first grade at Ecole Notre Dame Des Victoires, a French-American bilingual school in San Francisco, but eventually transferred out due to his severe dyslexia. It tested his ability to write, spell, read, and work with numbers. Newsom had to rely on a combination of audiobooks, digests, and informal verbal instruction throughout his education. He still prefers to interpret documents and reports through audio.

He attended Notre Dame des Victoires from third to fifth grade, where he was placed in remedial reading classes. Newsom played basketball and baseball in high school and graduated from Redwood High School in 1985. Newsom played basketball as a shooting guard and baseball as an outfielder. His abilities earned him a spot on the cover of the Marin Independent Journal.

Tessa Newsom worked three jobs to support Gavin and his sister Hilary Newsom Callan, the president of the PlumpJack Group, named after family friend Gordon Getty's opera Plump Jack. His sister recalled the Christmas holidays when their mother told them they might not get any gifts in an interview with The San Francisco Chronicle. Tessa welcomed foster children into their home, instilling in Newsom the value of public service. His father's finances were strained in part because of his proclivity to give away his earnings. In high school, Newsom worked several jobs to help support his family.

Newsom attended Santa Clara University on a baseball scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Science in politics in 1989. Newsom pitched left-handed for Santa Clara for two years before throwing his arm out and not throwing a baseball since. He lived in the Alameda Apartments, which he later likened to living in a hotel. He later reflected fondly on his education, crediting Santa Clara's Jesuit approach with helping him become an independent thinker who questions orthodoxy. Newsom studied abroad in Rome for a semester while still in school.

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

In 2012, Newsom and his family relocated from San Francisco to a home they purchased in Kentfield, Marin County.

Following his election as governor, Newsom and his family relocated to the California Governors Mansion in Downtown Sacramento before settling in Fair Oaks. The Sacramento Bee reported in May 2019 that Newsom's recent $3.7 million purchase of a 12,000 square foot range in Fair Oaks was the most expensive private residence sold within the Sacramento region since the beginning of the year.

In August 2021, Newsom sold a Marin County home in an off-market transaction for $5.9 million. He initially listed the property for $5.895 million in early 2019, but removed it from the market after a discount to $5.695 million. In August 2021, the property was sold off-market.

Gavin Newsom Net Worth

Gavin Newsom Net Worth is $ 20 Million in 2022.

Gavin Newsom Family, Parents

Gavin Christopher Newsom was born in San Francisco, California, to Tessa Thomas and William Alfred Newsom III, a state appellate court judge and Getty Oil attorney. He comes from a fourth-generation San Franciscan family. Scotsman Thomas Addis, one of Newsom's maternal great-grandfathers, was a pioneer scientist in the field of nephrology and a professor of medicine at Stanford University.

Gavin Newsom Wife, Children

Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former San Francisco prosecutor and legal commentator for Court TV, CNN, and MSNBC who later became a prominent Fox News personality, married Newsom in December 2001. The wedding took place at Ignatius Catholic Church on the campus of the University of San Francisco, where Guilfoyle had attended law school. The couple was featured in the September 2004 issue of Harpers Bazaar, where they were photographed at the Getty Villa and dubbed the "New Kennedys." They divorced in January 2005, citing "difficulties due to their careers on opposite coasts." On February 28, 2006, their divorce was finalized.

It was revealed in January 2007 that Newsom had an affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of his then-campaign manager and former deputy chief of staff, Alex Tourk, in mid-2005. Shortly after the revelation, Tourk filed for divorce and left Newsom's campaign and administration.

In September 2006, Newsom began dating director Jennifer Siebel. In February 2007, he announced that he would seek treatment for alcoholism. The couple announced their engagement in December 2007, and they married in July 2008 in Stevensville, Montana. They require four children: Montana Tessa Newsom, Hunter Siebel Newsom, Brooklynn, and Dutch.

Gavin Newsom Career and Achievement

Business Career

On May 14, 1991, Newsom and his investors formed the corporation PlumpJack Associates L.P. The PlumpJack Winery was founded in 1992 with the financial assistance of his family friend Gordon Getty. Getty wrote the opera PlumpJack and invested in ten of Newsom's eleven businesses. According to Getty, he treated Newsom like a son and invested in his first business venture as a result of their relationship. According to Getty, later business investments were made as a result of "the primary's success."

One of Newsom's first interactions with the government occurred when he refused to comply with a San Francisco Health Department requirement to install a sink at his PlumpJack wine shop. The Health Department argued that wine was a food and ordered the shop to install a $27,000 sink within the carpeted wine shop, claiming that the sink was needed for a mop. After being appointed supervisor, Newsom told the San Francisco Examiner, "That's the type of bureaucratic malaise I'm getting to work through." 

The company grew to a size of over 700 employees. In 1993, the PlumpJack Cafe Partners L.P. opened the PlumpJack Café on Fillmore Street. Between 1993 and 2000, Newsom and his investors opened the PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn with a PlumpJack Café (1994), a winery in Napa Valley (1995), the Balboa Café Bar and Grill (1995), the PlumpJack Development Fund L.P. (1996), the MatrixFillmore Bar (1998), the PlumpJack Wines shop Noe Valley branch (1999), PlumpJackSport retail clothing (2000), and a second Balbo (2000). Five restaurants and two retail clothing stores were among Newsom's investments. From 1996 to 2001, Newsom's annual income was more than $429,000 dollars. His business holdings were valued at $6.9 million in 2002. Newsom gave a $50 gift certificate to PlumpJack employees whose business ideas failed on a monthly basis because, in his opinion, "there is often no success without failure."

When Newsom was elected mayor of San Francisco in 2004, he sold his stake in his businesses. He kept his ownership in the PlumpJack companies outside of San Francisco, such as the PlumpJack Winery in Oakville, California, the new PlumpJack-owned Cade Winery in Angwin, California, and thus the PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn. He is the president of Airelle Wines Inc., which is affiliated with the PlumpJack Winery in Napa County. In 2007, Newsom earned between $141,000 and $251,000 from his business ventures. He paid $2,350,000 for his home in the Russian Hill neighborhood in February 2006, and he sold it in April 2009 for $3,000,000.

Early Political Career

Newsom gained his first political experience in 1995, when he volunteered for Willie Brown's successful mayoral campaign. At his PlumpJack Café, Newsom held a personal fundraiser. Brown appointed Newsom to a vacant seat on the Parking and Traffic Commission in 1996, and he later became the commission's president. Brown appointed him to the seat vacated by Kevin Shelley on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1997. He was the youngest member of San Francisco's board of supervisors at the time.

Newsom was sworn in by his father and promised to bring to the board his business experience. Brown described Newsom as "part of the city's longer-term generation of leaders." Newsom identified as a "social liberal and fiscal watchdog." In 1998, he was elected to a full four-year term on the board. In 1999, San Francisco voters rejected at-large elections to the board for the previous district system. Newsom was re-elected in 2000 and 2002 to represent the second district, which included Pacific Heights, the Marina, Cow Hollow, Sea Cliff, and Laurel Heights, and had the highest Republican registration in San Francisco. In 2000, Newsom paid the San Francisco Republican Party $500 to appear on the party's endorsement slate. In his re-election bid in 2002, he faced no opposition.

As a San Francisco Supervisor, Newsom gained public attention for his role in advocating for municipal railway reform in the city (Muni). In his 1998 re-election, he was one of two supervisors endorsed by Rescue Muni, a transit riders group. He backed Proposition B, which would require Muni and other city departments to create detailed customer service plans. With 56.6% of the vote, the measure was approved. Newsom sponsored a ballot measure from Rescue Muni, and voters approved a version of the measure in November 1999.

He also supported allowing restaurants to serve alcohol at outdoor tables, prohibiting tobacco advertisements from being visible from the street, harsher penalties for landlords who violate rent-control laws, and a resolution, which was defeated, commending Powell for raising funds for youth programs. Newsom's support for business interests strained his relationship with labor leaders at times. 

During his tenure as mayor, Newsom supported housing projects through public-private partnerships in order to increase homeownership and affordable housing in San Francisco. He backed HOPE, a failed local ballot measure that would have allowed for a higher condo conversion rate if a certain percentage of tenants in a building bought their units. As a mayoral candidate, he advocated for the construction of 10,000 new housing units, which would create 15,000 new construction jobs. As governor, he also signed SB-7 into law, which expedites the environmental review process for new multifamily developments worth at least $15,000,000. Developers must apply directly to the governor's office to participate. 

Newsom's signature accomplishment as a supervisor was the Care Not Cash (Measure N) voter initiative, which provided care, supportive housing, drug treatment, and assistance from behavioral health specialists to the homeless in lieu of direct cash assistance from the state's general assistance program. Many homeless rights activists protested the initiative. According to Newsom, "progressives and Democrats, nuns and priests, homeless advocates and homeless people were outraged." The successful ballot measure raised his political profile and provided the volunteers, donors, and campaign staff that helped propel him to the top of the mayoral race in 2003. The program was deemed largely successful during a city audit conducted four years after its inception and released in 2008.

Read Also : About Eric Adams