Gavin Newsom

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gavin Newsom (2019)

Gavin Christopher Newsom (* 10. October 1967 in San Francisco , California ) is an American politician of the Democratic Party , and since January 7, 2019 Governor of California . He had previously been Lieutenant Governor of that state from 2011 . He served as Mayor of San Francisco from 2004 to 2011 .

Career

Earlier years

Newsom as a city councilor in 1999

Newsom's great grandfather immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1865 . Both of Gavin Newsom's parents were judges in California.

Newsom attended Redwood High School, graduating in 1985. He graduated from Santa Clara University in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in political science .

Mayor of San Francisco

Gavin Newsom at Stanford University in 2008

On December 9, 2003 Newsom won the mayoral election in San Francisco, on November 6, 2007 he was re-elected for a second term with over 75% of the vote.

Newsom became famous outside the United States in 2004 when it opened marriage to gays and lesbians in San Francisco. Many thousands of couples got married. These weddings were later declared invalid by the courts. The ban on gay marriages across California was later declared unconstitutional .

Lieutenant Governor of California

Newsom on an election campaign appearance in October 2010

Newsom initially sought the Democratic Party's candidacy for the California gubernatorial elections in 2010, but withdrew his application on October 30, 2009. Subsequently, he announced a candidacy for lieutenant governor . On November 2, 2010, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of California. Unlike in most American states, the California lieutenant governor is elected independently of the governor and not together as a team. He defeated the Republican incumbent Abel Maldonado with 50 versus 39 percent of the votes cast by a clear margin. He took office on January 10, 2011, a week after Governor Jerry Brown . The reason was that he wanted to fulfill his duties as mayor until his successor had been determined by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors . Ed Lee became the new mayor of San Francisco .

Gavin Newsom announced in September 2012 that he would run for the Democratic gubernatorial candidacy in 2014 if the 76-year-old incumbent Jerry Brown does not run for re-election. In the case of Brown's rejection, he was considered one of the most promising candidates for the highest office in the US West Coast state. However, Newsom also announced that it would back Governor Brown and seek re-election as Lieutenant Governor should Brown run for another term.

However, after Brown announced another candidacy for governorship in February 2014, Newsom ran for a second term as lieutenant governor in November 2014. He won the primary on June 3, 2014 by a clear margin. On election day, Newsom won with around 57.2 percent of the vote, well over Republican Ron Nehring , who had 42.8 percent. On January 5, 2015, he therefore took on a further term as deputy to the re-elected Governor Jerry Brown.

Elected governor in 2018

On February 11, 2015, it was announced that Newsom was planning to run for governorship in 2018. As early as January 13 of that year, Newsom announced that it did not want to run for the successor to Barbara Boxer in the US Senate in the November 2016 election after Boxer announced her withdrawal. Previously, Newsom had been traded as a possible candidate for the office. His waiver came in connection with the announced candidacy of Kamala Harris , Attorney General of California since 2011 . Newsom said he would support his party colleague's bid, while Harris, in turn, supported Newsom's bid for governor and entered the US Senate on January 3, 2017.

In the primaries on June 5, 2018, Newsom received the most votes by a clear margin with around 34%, ahead of Republican candidate John H. Cox . Unlike in most states, since 2012 the primary elections in California no longer take place separately by party, but all applicants are on a voting slip. In the main election, the two candidates with the strongest vote meet, regardless of party affiliation. As a result, Newsom ran against Cox in the November 6, 2018 gubernatorial election. In the democratic state, Newsom was the clear favorite against the ideologically right-wing Cox.

On November 6th, Gavin Newsom was elected as the new governor of California with 61.8% of the vote. It received over 7.3 million votes in absolute terms, more than ever been cast for a candidate for governor in the United States. Cox got 38.2% of the vote, which corresponds to around 4.5 million voters. In addition to California's rank as the most populous US state, the main reason for Newsom's record vote is the comparatively high voter turnout in the 2018 US elections.Cox also received almost 100,000 more votes in absolute terms than Governor Brown in his re-election in 2014, which he received with 60 % clearly decided for themselves. Newsom's 61.8% share of the vote is also the highest victory in a California gubernatorial election since 1950.

Governor of California

Gavin Newsom at the California Democratic Party Conference in June 2019

Gavin Newsom was sworn in as the 40th Governor of California on January 7, 2019. He succeeded Jerry Brown , who could not run again in the 2018 gubernatorial election, but actively supported him in the election campaign. His party colleague Eleni Kounalakis was elected as Newsom's successor in the lieutenant governor's office, making her the first woman to take up this post. Newsom has a two-thirds majority of its party in both houses of the State Legislature .

On March 13, 2019, Newsom announced that it had placed a moratorium on the death penalty and preventing any execution in the state while he is still in office as governor. "Our system of the death penalty has been a failure in all respects," Newsom said. "Deliberately killing another person is wrong."

In June 2019, Newsom overruled the January 2019 parole board's release recommendation for Manson Family member Leslie Van Houten , stating that Van Houten continues to pose a threat to society.

On June 18, 2019, Newsom publicly apologized in his capacity as Governor of the State of California for the genocide of California's Native Americans and set up a commission to deal with the relationship with California's Native Americans . At the ceremony he said: “It is a shameful admission for me that until now I thought I was an educated person and yet knew so little about our past. (...) (The systematic slaughter) was genocide. There is no other word for it. "

Political positions

Newsom advocates same-sex marriage, abortion rights, universal health insurance, the legalization of marijuana, strict gun laws, and the rights of immigrants, including those without legal residence status. He is an opponent of the death penalty.

Private life

Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel at a parade in 2008

From 2001 to 2005 Gavin Newsom was with the television presenter Kimberly Guilfoyle married at the time with Donald Trump, Jr. , is romantically involved. On July 26, 2008, he married the actress Jennifer Siebel , the couple have four children who were born in 2009, 2011, 2013 and 2016.

In February 2007, Newsom announced that he had alcoholism . In connection with this, he stated that he was seeking medical treatment, which was successfully completed a few months later.

Web links

Commons : Gavin Newsom  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Gavin Newsom re-elected" , Queer.de, November 7, 2007
  2. ^ "The Struggle for Gay Marriage," San Francisco Chronicle, Feb.15, 2004
  3. ↑ a b Mark Z. Barabak, Evan Halper: Gavin Newsom drops out of California governor's race , Los Angeles Times, October 31, 2009, accessed online October 31, 2009
  4. ^ Anthony York: Gavin Newsom elected California lieutenant governor . Los Angeles Times . November 3, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
  5. ↑ Gavin Newsom to run for Calif. governor in 2014 if Brown declines The Los Angeles Times , September 6, 2012
  6. ↑ Los Angeles Times : Gov. Jerry Brown takes easy lead, will face Neel Kashkari in November on June 4th, 2014
  7. ↑ Gavin Newsom to Run for California Governor in 2018 , Bloomberg.com, February 11, 2015 (English)
  8. ↑ Kamala Harris to run for Boxer's Senate seat , Washington Post, Jan. 13, 2015
  9. ↑ Democrat Gavin Newsom Wins California Governor Primary But GOP Avoids Shutout ( Memento June 6, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), TIME, June 5, 2018 (English)
  10. ↑ Phil Willon, Melanie Mason and Dakota Smith: Gavin Newsom is elected California's next governor in a win for the resistance against Trump , in: Los Angeles Times, November 6, 2018, last accessed November 7, 2018.
  11. ^ Wit / AP / AFP / Reuters: California: Governor Gavin Newsom suspends executions. In: Spiegel Online . March 13, 2019, accessed April 12, 2020 .
  12. ^ "Leslie Van Houten: Charles Manson cult member has release refused by California governor" Independent.co.uk June 4, 2019
  13. ↑ Debra Krol, "California governor apologizes to California Indians," Indian Country Today, June 20, 2019
  14. ^ The Voter's Self Defense System. Retrieved December 19, 2018 .
  15. ↑ Newsom seeks treatment for alcohol abuse , SF-Gate, February 4, 2007 (English)
  16. ↑ Gavin Newsom's life story is a study in contrasts , Los Angeles Times , October 16, 2010 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Newsom, Gavin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Newsom, Gavin Christopher (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 10, 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH San Francisco , California