Meet Gavin Newsom, the multimillionaire governor who is the face of California’s response to the coronavirus pandemic

• Democrat Gavin Newsom is in his second year as California’s governor. He previously served two terms as San Francisco’s mayor and then two terms as California’s lieutenant governor.
• Newsom has been praised for his swift response to the coronavirus pandemic, similar to his New York counterpart, Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
• Newsom warned of a second wave of COVID-19 on Wednesday, saying “I don’t anticipate that normalcy that many of us wish for happening any time soon.”
• The governor is also a multimillionaire thanks to his ownership of PlumpJack Group, which operates wineries, restaurants, bars, and more.
• Newsom was once married to Donald Trump Jr.’s current girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, and is now married to an actress and filmmaker, Jennifer Siebel, with whom he has four children.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

---

Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, issued a state-wide stay-at-home order on March 19. He was the first US governor to do so.

Source: The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, Business Insider

---

He is also planning a multi-state response to the pandemic along with Oregon and Washington, which entails a coordinated economic reopening effort.

Source: The Atlantic, Business Insider

---

Additionally, he requested autopsies be performed on individuals who may have died due to the novel coronavirus as far back as December, following news that two individuals who died in February posthumously tested positive for COVID-19.

Source: Mercury News

---

Newsom's swift response to the pandemic has been generally praised. Before the pandemic, his approval rating was 42%. Now, Newsom's approval rating is 83%, according to Morning Consult polls.

Source: FiveThirtyEight, Morning Consult

---

The 52-year-old is a San Francisco native.

Source: The New Yorker

---

His parents divorced when he was two-years-old. His father was a California judge and close counsel to the oil billionaire Gordon Getty.

Source: The New Yorker

---

Newsom studied political science and played baseball on a partial scholarship at Santa Clara University.

Source: San Francisco Gate

---

After graduating, Newsom opened PlumpJack Wine & Spirits with his father's close friend, billionaire Gordon Getty, in 1992. They went on to open off-shoots, including bars, restaurants, and liquor stores under the umbrella company, PlumpJack Group.

Source: Forbes, The New Yorker

---

Getty, who has an estimated net worth of $2.1 billion, previously said he "thought of Newsom as a son," according to The New Yorker.

Source: Forbes, The New Yorker

---

By the early 2000s, Newsom was involved with 11 businesses including PlumpJack, and Getty was the main investor in 10 of them. Newsom owned 49% of the label when he became the mayor of San Francisco in 2003.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle, The New Yorker

---

While he sold his stakes in San Francisco-based businesses after becoming mayor, he has always maintained his stakes in businesses based elsewhere. Today, that amounts to 23 businesses under the PlumpJack Group umbrella.

Source: Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker

---

A 2017 disclosure showed that Newsom had more than $6 million in investments and assets. There is also an additional $10 million-plus held by PlumpJack businesses, which now sit in a blind trust out of Newsom's control.

Source: Los Angeles Times, The New Yorker, Los Angeles Times

---

Newsom was married to Kimberly Guilfoyle when he took public office in 2004. The pair married in 2001 and divorced in 2006. She went on to become a Fox News host and is currently in a relationship with Donald Trump Jr.

Source: Business Insider

---

In 2004, Guilfoyle told The New Yorker: "If San Francisco were a woman, [Newsom] would have married her."

Source: The New Yorker

---

Newsom was always known to champion liberal causes. As mayor, he prioritized affordable housing and gained national attention when he issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples in spite of state law at the time.

Source: Los Angeles Times

---

In 2007, it surfaced that Newsom had an affair with his secretary, who was also the wife of his deputy chief of staff, in 2005. Following headlines, he publicly sought counseling for alcohol abuse. He was re-elected as mayor that year with 72% of the vote.

Source: The New Yorker

---

He married Jennifer Siebel, a filmmaker and actress, shortly after in 2008. They currently live just outside of Sacramento and have four children together.

Source: People

---

After serving two terms as San Francisco mayor, Newsom went on to become the lieutenant governor of California in 2010. He failed to land the gubernatorial nomination that same year.

Source: New York Times

---

As lieutenant governor, his main duty was to step in should the governor be temporarily absent from the office. In 2015, Newsom announced he would campaign to succeed Jerry Brown as the governor of California in 2018.

Source: Sacramento Bee, Politico, Ballotpedia

---

Newsom ran for governor positioning himself as the antithesis to President Trump, pledging to support initiatives ranging from healthcare to affordable housing and public education.

Source: Los Angeles Times, Washington Post

---

At his inauguration in January 2019, he said: "We will offer an alternative to the corruption and incompetence in the White House. Our government will be progressive, principled, and always on the side of the people."

Source: Washington Post

---

Newsom earns a yearly salary of $201,680 as California's governor.

Source: Business Insider

---

Both Newsom's supporters and critics have noted he had an erratic first year as governor, focused on too many causes, resulting in Newsom telling the Los Angeles Times: "If today's critique is we're swinging at a lot of pitches, absolutely, that is fair criticism."

Source: Los Angeles Times

---

As governor, Newsom halted all death row executions, blocked the approval of fracking in the state, and pulled many National Guard troops from the US-Mexico border.

Source: Los Angeles Times

---

Newsom has also faced challenges like mass blackouts, for which he publicly faulted California's largest utilities provider, Pacific Gas & Electric, and earthquakes, which he responded to by issuing a state of emergency.

Source: Los Angeles Times

---

The coronavirus pandemic set the stage for yet another state of emergency in California, and in an April 22 press briefing, Newsom said: "I don't anticipate that normalcy that many of us wish for happening any time soon."

Source: Business Insider