After being tested and singed by fire as California's governor, Newsom seeks another term
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Four years ago, Gavin Newsom delivered an election-night acceptance speech that promised to make California "a place of opportunity, safety and affordability for everyone," ending a gubernatorial campaign stuffed with audacious policy goals.
Less than 36 hours later, as acting governor, he was leading the state through a trio of tragedies that took more than 100 lives: a mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, a wildfire that barreled through Malibu and the devastating Camp fire in Butte County.
"That's a bit of baptism by fire, isn't it? Quite literally, not figuratively," Newsom said in a recent interview, days before voters cast their ballots in the November election. "Gunfire. Wildfires."
In the midst of a reelection campaign, Newsom insisted he wasn't in a reflective mood. But then he drifted back to those fatal events 60 days before he took the oath of office.
That time served as a "preview of things to come" in a first term dominated by extraordinary crises, Newsom said.
