The Gavin Newsom Files | Part 1

Part 1. Meet The New – But Not Improved – Gavin Newsom

In February of 2025, one of America’s most radical, destructive politicians sought to rebrand himself as an open-minded moderate. Governor Gavin Newsom seemed to be counting on Americans having a short memory.  

In a promotional video for his new media venture, This Is Gavin Newsom, California’s governor promised “anything but the ordinary ‘politician’ podcast.” No matter that Newsom was a career politician of three decades, an elite figure with apparent presidential ambitions. His new casual-dress persona would be as an accessible man of the people. 

Newsom spoke of a need to “change the conversation,” by focusing on voters’ everyday concerns and talking across the political divide. It was clear that Governor Newsom also wanted to change the conversation around himself. 

A sympathetic media outlet had once labeled Gavin Newsom the “leader of liberal America,” and he seemed at times to see himself in that light. But the terminally woke liberalism of the Democratic Party had been crushed in the 2024 election, and California’s Democrat governor would have to rebrand himself accordingly. 

His new show grabbed headlines from the first episode, as Newsom hosted conservative activist Charlie Kirk and made a surprising concession to his guest on the issue of transgender athletes. 

When asked by Kirk whether he would “say no” to “men in female sports,” Newsom responded by agreeing with his guest: “I think it’s an issue of fairness, I completely agree with you on that. It is an issue of fairness – it’s deeply unfair … I am not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.”

Newsom’s common-sense statement – that it was unfair for biological men to compete in women’s sports – caused controversy on the political left, given the governor’s history as a firebrand supporter of gay and transgender ideology. 

Some suspected the exchange was a publicity stunt by Newsom, playing on the public’s growing disgust with transgenderism. He was also accused of hypocrisy, having proudly supported an earlier bill that specifically allowed biological males to compete in female sports. 

Newsom denied all of this, telling the LA Times that the exchange had not been planned and that he had been seeking a “balance” on the issue of transgender athletes in recent years. 

Far less reported, but equally striking, was a brief exchange between Newsom and Kirk on the subject of religion. California’s governor not only professed to “deeply admire” Kirk’s staunch and socially conservative evangelicalism, but also described himself as “a man of faith.” 

This is a claim many would question. Though raised as a Catholic, and still billing himself as such, Newsom has also called himself a “rebel” in relation to the Church and clearly acknowledged his dissent from doctrine. 

He has also claimed to be a “practicing Catholic” while engaging in outrageous and scandalous behavior, such as helping his own mother commit suicide. 

Another oddity in Newsom’s conversation with Kirk was a softening of tone toward pro-life advocates, whom the governor had previously accused of seeking to “criminalize women.” 

In a sharp contrast with his own prior rhetoric, Newsom now told Kirk there should be a place for pro-lifers in the Democratic Party: “There should be, on principle” he said. “That’s a deeply held personal point of view. God bless.” 

California’s governor did acknowledge that he himself remained “one of the biggest champions” of abortion. 

But the self-described “man of faith” did not mention how he had once waged a campaign of placing billboards in conservative-leaning states, blasphemously using a Bible verse to advertise abortion access in California. 

Clearly, the new-model Gavin Newsom of 2025 was striking a vastly different tone.  

In subsequent podcast episodes, Newsom chatted with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon about Bannon’s blue-collar Catholic roots. He likewise reflected on populist politicians’ appeal to such voters in his conversation with recent vice-presidential hopeful Tim Walz. While speaking to Charlie Kirk, he even asked the 31-year old conservative to give Democrats “some advice.” 

There was something surreal in hearing all this from California’s governor – a man who once famously declared that the whole nation would inevitably follow his state’s lead. It was like stumbling on an alternate-universe version of Gavin Newsom: one who had never crusaded nationally for gay and transgender causes, or been dubbed the “leader of liberal America.” 

Yet Gavin Newsom has not fundamentally changed, and his radicalism cannot be swept under the rug so easily.  

In this report we will show the true face, and the real record, of a man who claims to be Catholic while spearheading the country’s most anti-Christian agenda.  

Following the Democrats’ 2024 electoral wipeout, Gavin Newsom may be adjusting his style and image. But he remains the same ideologue who has trampled parental rights, championed the transgender mutilation of children, and taken pro-abortion advocacy to a sickening extreme. 

A few small concessions – such as granting the unfairness of men in women’s sports, or allowing the existence of pro-life Democrats – have changed none of this. 

Likewise, in the wake of his party’s 2024 disaster, Newsom was conveniently willing to criticize certain aspects of “liberal governance” – such as over-regulation and stalled building projects – in an interview with comedian Bill Maher. 

Yet these, too, are only minor admissions – from a man who clearly sees deep-blue California as both a success story and a model for the nation’s future. While he now critiques “liberal governance” around the edges, Gavin Newsom had already spent years establishing himself as its leading voice.  

Addressing a UN summit in September 2023, the governor said of his state: “We love to say about California, ‘the future happens there first.’ We are America’s coming attraction.”

A year before, Newsom ran a highly unusual political ad in Florida. The spot attacked Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis, while urging Floridians to “join the fight” and “join us in California,” where he promised “freedom to choose, freedom from hate and the freedom to love” – thinly veiled code for his social agenda, based on abortion and LGBTQ ideology.  

In a 2023 social media post, Newsom hailed California as “the true freedom state” and a beacon of “liberty and opportunity.” 

None of this has been taken back, either in word or deed, by the superficially new Gavin Newsom of 2025. As recently as January 2025, for instance, Newsom was still hailing California as “America, but in the future tense … California is the future.”

For a vast number of Americans, that prospect is deeply disturbing. Under Newsom’s leadership, California has been a paradise for drug-dealers and shoplifters – and a nightmare for residents crushed by the cost of living, rampant homelessness, and a horrific crime crisis. 

Newsom’s so-called “freedom state” was ranked among the most restrictive during the Covid-19 pandemic, and he lost three Supreme Court cases over his pandemic-era restrictions on religious freedom. One can still view a 2021 tweet in which he seems to advocate national vaccine mandates. 

In 2023, however, he did a convenient about-face on the pandemic – saying he “would’ve done everything differently” in light of increased knowledge and “collective wisdom,” while giving few specifics about what policies he would have changed. 

Clearly, Newsom’s 2025 reinvention – as an accessible, down-to-earth centrist – is not his first political makeover. As he readies his expected Democratic presidential run in 2028, we can expect further retooling of the governor’s public image. 

This makes it critical to ask: Who really is Gavin Newsom – personally, spiritually, and by the evidence of his public record?

The answers to these questions are disturbing. Yet they are important – for the future of our country, and perhaps even the future of the Church in America. 

For decades, Gavin Newsom has identified himself with the Catholic Church, while engaging in some of the most outrageous behavior in our country’s history. 

Governor Newsom has gravely betrayed both our Church and our nation. Catholics, and all Americans, deserve to know the depth of these betrayals. 

Beyond the cheap whitewashing efforts and the “moderate” makeover, this is the true Gavin Newsom.

Read Part 2 here.

About the Author: Benjamin Mann is a Byzantine Catholic and has written for several publications including Catholic News Agency, Catholic Exchange, and Real Clear Religion.

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