Gavin Newsom is the Democratic governor of California, and may soon be at the height of the party, as he’s been beset by rampant 2024 speculation.
Newsom, 54, is subject to frequent debate about whether he’ll run for president on the Democratic ticket—including rumors and conspiracy theories that he’ll take over as the nominee for the party if something happens to President Joe Biden, who turns 81 this November.
Who is Gavin Newsom?
Newsom has been governor of California since 2018. Before he made it to the top position in California politics, he was lieutenant governor of California for two terms. According to his official biography, Newsom “got involved in politics in 1995 as a volunteer for Willie Brown’s campaign for mayor of San Francisco. Mayor Brown appointed Newsom first to a vacancy on the Parking and Traffic Commission and in 1997, to a vacant seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.”
He then ran for and was elected mayor of San Francisco in 2003.
Newsom gained some national prominence in 2004, when he challenged the same-sex marriage ban in California by directing the San Francisco city-county clerk to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Before getting into politics, Newsom “earned a small fortune as a wine entrepreneur,” reported the New York Times. Newsom’s wine store business was called the PlumpJack Group, and he started it with backing from Gordon Getty, heir to the Getty oil fortune, according to the Orange County Register.
Newsom grew up in a well-connected San Francisco family, and once he entered California politics quickly became a political celebrity.
He used to be married to now prominent Trump supporter Kimberly Guilfoyle, who’s been engaged to Donald Trump Jr. since New Year’s Eve in 2020.
The couple met in 1995, and they got married in 2001.
Guilfoyle quit her job in the San Francisco city district attorney’s office to work on Newsom’s successful 2003 mayoral campaign. The couple divorced in 2005, citing career demands and the difficulty of living on opposite sides of the country.
Newsom remarried in 2008, tying the knot with Jennifer Siebl, an actress and documentary filmmaker.
In 2021, as governor, he was subject to a recall vote, which he ultimately won.
Newsom has long been speculated as a possible contender for the Democratic presidential nomination but has yet to announce his candidacy.
“He’s not going anywhere,” Newsom told the New York Times earlier in September about Biden. “It’s time for all of us to get on the train and buck up.”
Gavin Newsom height
When it comes to figuring out Newsom’s height, it’s hard to get an exact bead on what his actual height is. Newsom told the New York Times that he was a “standard 6-foot-3-inch first baseman” while discussing his high school and college baseball career.
Pictures of Newsom with former President Donald Trump might give a clue to the accuracy of Newsom’s self-reported height.
According to the Japan Times, Trump has been listed at around 6’2” to 6’3”, including on booking documents when he was arrested at a Fulton County jail.
In photos of Newsom and Trump meeting in 2018 to survey the aftermath of wildfires in California, Newsom looks about an inch or so taller than Trump, so if Trump really is the height he’s listed in on his arrest records, then Newsom probably is around 6’3”.
According to the Japan Times, Joe Biden is six feet tall. A photo of Biden with Newsom during a campaign event where Biden supported Newsom in the recall campaign shows Newsom standing a good half a head taller than Biden.
If Biden’s reported height is accurate, then Newsom’s height would check out too.
So, while there’s no way to be completely sure about Newsom’s height without getting a tape measure and testing for yourself the next time you see him, he probably is 6’3”.
