Gavin Newsom

American politician and businessman who is the 40th governor of California, serving since January 2019. Previously, he was elected the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, California, in a run-off election on 9 December 2003.

At 36, Newsom, who was well-funded and endorsed by Democrats like Al Gore and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, fought an upstart in the mayoral race, Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez, who surpassed Newsom in some TV polls. Newsom is the youngest mayor of San Francisco in over a century. Newsom has been a member of the city's Board of Supervisors. His public service career began in 1996 when he was appointed President of San Francisco's Parking and Traffic Commission. Later that year, he was appointed to fill a vacant seat on the Board of Supervisors and was subsequently voted into the position in 1998, 2000, and 2002. An entrepreneur, he opened the first of several businesses in 1992, the PlumpJack Wine Shop which now includes several offshoot businesses in the food and hospitality industry. Newsom graduated from Santa Clara University in 1989 and is married to a San Francisco Assistant District Attorney.

On 10 February 2004, the newly elected San Francisco mayor asked the county clerk to change marriage license applications to gender-neutral wording, allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. The first marriages were performed on 12 February 2004. In allowing same sex marriages, Newsom defied a California state ban.

The mayor of San Francisco announced on 5 January 2005 that he and his wife of three years will divorce. In his statement, Newsom claimed that their high-profile bi-coastal careers were responsible for the dissolution of their marriage. His wife had taken on a job as an analyst for Court TV in New York just after his election in 2004. The divorce became final in March 2006.