Do we like Gavin Newsom?
Our score: 7 out of 10. A long run of signed LGBTQ+ protections, held back by a contested line on trans athletes, a veto over costs and a wobble on oil.
Newsom talks openly about being dyslexic and a 960 SAT guy, and he tells that story a lot on his book tour. It's part of how he sells himself as a regular bloke who made it despite school. Long before the governor's office, he was the San Francisco mayor who in 2004 directed the city clerk to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples, which made him a national name.
The latest stoush was in February 2026, when a clip from his Atlanta book tour stop went viral. He told Mayor Andre Dickens “I'm like you” before talking about his dyslexia and SAT score, and critics online and the California GOP chair called it condescending, with some calling it racist. Newsom's office called the backlash manufactured outrage, and Dickens himself said it wasn't an attack on anyone. Where you land depends on whether you watch the clip or the whole conversation.
Now the harm check, and this is where he loses a few marks. In a March 2026 interview with Katie Couric he said trans women in women's sports is “deeply unfair”, while insisting he was not throwing the community under the bus. A year earlier on his podcast he told Charlie Kirk “I totally agree with you” on the fairness question, and he also gave Steve Bannon a platform as a guest. Interviewing opponents isn't the same as backing them, but trans advocates were not thrilled.
The record on bills is much better than the headlines on athletes. In the 2025 session he signed 12 LGBTQ+ related bills, including shielding gender-affirming care records from other states, easing name and gender marker changes, and extending family leave to chosen family. He vetoed two health bills, one on hormone therapy coverage and one on HIV prevention drugs, citing costs, and advocates called that heartbreaking. On the planet, environmental groups said his 2025 oil bill SB 237 was a step back from his own climate goals, while his side argued it would stabilise fuel supply.
The recent drama is the DOJ claim. Newsom said in a video that federal agents had visited friends and former employees and asked for records, and that Trump is “coming after me” because of his presidential ambitions. A person familiar with the matter told the AP there is no probe specifically targeting him but that several federal probes involve people around him, and the Justice Department declined to comment. Nothing has been proven either way, so treat it as an open question.
On the good stuff, the 2004 marriage licences were a real risk for a young mayor, and about 4,000 couples got licences before the courts stopped it. As governor he has signed laws protecting trans people and their families, and he criticised Florida's “Don't Say Gay” law. That's a sustained pattern of using the office for people who needed it, not just a few photo ops.