Gavin Newsom’s Democrat Fangirls | The American Spectator

Not since Barack Obama graced American politics has a politician provoked the excited screams of prepubescent girls and Democrats as California Governor Gavin Newsom. Everywhere he goes, crowds greet him with near-idolization, as if he were an A-list celebrity rather than a politician.

Perhaps the phenomenon began at the COP30 climate summit last month in Brazil, following Newsom’s successful effort to gerrymander California in Democrats’ favor. According to Reuters, conference attendees “swarmed” the governor wherever he walked, and occasional cheers broke out for him. According to the New York Times, Newsom was “trailed by crowds” to such an extent that his United Nations security detail struggled to get him to his events on time. At one point, the Times added, Newsom “waved to an applauding crowd.” One headline on the climate conference read, “Newsom Is the Star of COP30.” Another said, “Newsom is a rock star at COP.”

Reportedly, the same thing happened last week at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meetings in Los Angeles, California.

“[A] throng of delegates jockeyed for selfies with the California governor for more than half an hour,” reported Politico. The crowds, which at one point “surrounded” the governor, apparently grew so large that Newsom “resorted to group pictures.” Politico summarized the appearance by saying, “[T]he spectacle of his drop-in appearance injected an aura of celebrity into an otherwise-staid opening day.” (RELATED: The Biggest Winner of This Year’s Elections: Gavin Newsom)

Fox News said that, at the DNC meetings, Newsom “landed the red carpet treatment” and “was treated like a VIP.” The news outlet quoted one anonymous Democratic National Committee member who said, “Newsom received a rock star reception as he was mobbed by party leaders and activists alike while he attempted to walk from meeting to meeting.” And Newsom, unlike Kamala Harris, did not even deliver an address during the meetings.

This is far from the first time in Newsom’s political career that people have treated him like a celebrity.

In fact, I argued in my book, Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust for Unbridled Power, that the secret to Newsom’s success as mayor of San Francisco was that he was seen as more of a celebrity than a politician, which kept his constituents feeling fascinated by him and positive toward him, no matter what he actually did.

Newsom sealed his celebrity status when, at the beginning of his time as mayor, he ordered the city to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples. The action reverberated across the country. In an interview with 60 Minutes, host Bob Simon told Newsom, “You may have set a record for instant fame in this country.” The Boston Globe reported later that year that Newsom, though he was just a mayor, made “the A-list of just about every party worth going to at this year’s Democratic National Convention.”

At one point, as mayor, Newsom dated a Hollywood starlet, Sofia Milos, who was starring in CSI: Miami, and visited her at the celebrity-favored Chateau Marmont hotel. That same year, he went on a date with Erin Brodie, who had recently won a reality TV dating show. An article in the New York Times that same year was entirely dedicated to covering the mayor’s dating life and celebrity connections; it was headlined “By Day, the Mayor; By Night, an Item.” Thus, when Newsom was caught having an affair with his best friend and campaign manager’s wife, who had recently given birth to their first child, all was quickly forgiven because Newsom was already seen as a Hollywood playboy type with national star power. (RELATED: Gavin Newsom Plots Memoir to Recast Personal Scandals)

When Newsom became California’s lieutenant governor — conventionally a position of little import that no one paid attention to — he was given his own talk show on Current TV, The Gavin Newsom Show. In announcing the show, former Vice President Al Gore pointed to Newsom’s connections in the world of entertainment. It was the first time that a sitting statewide elected official had ever hosted a cable TV show. The lieutenant governor nabbed interviews with the likes of Elon Musk and Lance Armstrong.

Newsom has often acted as though he were a celebrity. His wedding to Kimberly Guilfoyle cost the equivalent of over $380,000 today and took place at the opulent Getty estate. Numerous guests to his second wedding flew in on private jets; they included Google co-founder Sergey Brin, U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, Sex and the City star Jason Lewis, Google co-founder Larry Page, then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Charles Schwab, and former Secretary of State George Shultz. His dinner at the elite French Laundry restaurant during the pandemic encompasses for many Newsom’s sense that he is above average Americans.

Rapper Nikki Minaj perhaps caught on to Newsom’s perception of himself as a celebrity Monday when she posted on X that Newsom is “the cute boy who got everything handed to him b/c of how cute & sexy & hot & smoking he was… He thinks he’s Tom Cruise only difference is, his next mission IS impossible. He should get another leading role.”

With Newsom’s rise to the top of early polls in the Democratic primary race, and amid growing speculation that he is the candidate to beat, Newsom is perhaps at his peak of fame and celebrity status. But with the start of Democratic primary season just around the corner, opponents are bound to act against Newsom soon if they want to have any prayer of beating him. (RELATED: Gavin Newsom’s Very Good Year*)

Axios reported today that his Democratic rivals are increasingly nervous about how quickly Newsom has burst out of the gate and are “plotting how to take [him] down.” The two emerging strategies for how to do so, per Axios, are 1) arguing that Newsom is too liberal and too connected with the coastal elite, and 2) using Newsom’s many scandals against him, including his affair with his subordinate.

Another possible avenue of attack is the criminal indictment that has recently entangled Newsom’s former chief of staff. Recently, California Rep. Ro Khanna made waves when he said the indictments are a “toxic stain” on California. Khanna is right: The indictments cast suspicion on all that Newsom’s administration has done, especially given the level of power that the chief of staff had in the administration, as well as her allegations that the FBI (under President Joe Biden) was investigating Gavin Newsom himself. (RELATED: Arrest of Newsom’s Ex-Chief of Staff Prompts Allegations of Misconduct Within the Governor’s Office)

Right now, Newsom is riding a wave of adulation normally reserved for celebrities. Unfortunately for Newsom, his rivals have plenty of material on him that they can use against him to take him down.

Ellie Gardey Holmes is the author of Newsom Unleashed: The Progressive Lust for Unbridled Power.