Gavin Newsom is quite potentially the next governor of California; thus, you should know a thing or two about him.
Gavin Newsom has political experience on his resume, currently serving as the states Lieutenant Governor, which in other words means Vice Governor, and the man who would have stepped up to lead had anything happened to our current Governor Jerry Brown.
In addition, before becoming Lieutenant Governor in 2011, he served as the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco for two terms. As mayor, one of the biggest things he did in office was order the city to issue same-sex marriages licenses in 2004. This was a controversial topic at that point in time, going against the California Supreme Court, who at the time did not award marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Although his order was short-lived and ended that same year, he sparked national attention and movement to continue to fight for equal marriage rights.
As mayor, Gavin Newsom also focused on homelessness, with the Care Not Cash initiative. The initiative he promoted, focused on getting care and relocating the homeless off the streets in San Francisco and helping them find permanent homes.
As Lieutenant Governor, Gavin Newsom supported the measure to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in early 2014. He was one of the few statewide politicians to support legislation that changed drug and property crimes to misdemeanors and not felonies.
Education was another area of focus of Gavin Newsom, who believes there should be a “free community college tuition” plan. Newsom also helped secure $15 million of the state budget to help launch Promise Programs across the state, which offers financial assistance and support to help encourage students, who may still even be in elementary school, to attend college.
This article has mostly been about Gavin Newsom’s past in politics and if you would like to know more about him and his campaign promises, click here.
If you would like to know more about both him and the other candidates in the race for governor, click here.
Editor’s note: Newsom’s wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, is a filmmaker who produced the feminist documentary Miss Representation!