During his governorship, Newsom faced criticism for his personal behavior and leadership style during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly due to strict lockdown measures that some felt were overly restrictive and economically damaging.

[4] He attended kindergarten and first grade at École Notre Dame Des Victoires, a French-American bilingual Catholic school in San Francisco, but eventually transferred out, due to the severe dyslexia that still affects him.

[25] Newsom also supported allowing restaurants to serve alcohol at their outdoor tables, banning tobacco advertisements visible from the streets, stiffer penalties for landlords who run afoul of rent-control laws, and a resolution, which was defeated, to commend Colin Powell for raising money for youth programs.

[29] The successfully passed ballot measure raised his political profile and provided the volunteers, donors, and campaign staff that helped make him a leading contender for the mayorship in 2003.

[43] Upon taking office for a second term, Newsom promised to focus on the environment, homelessness, health care, education, housing, and rebuilding San Francisco General Hospital.

[50] The same year, Newsom received the Leadership for Healthy Communities Award, along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City and three other public officials, for his commitment to making healthful food and physical activity options more accessible to children and families.

[52] Newsom secured $8 million in federal and local funds for the Better Streets program,[53] which ensures that public health perspectives are fully integrated into urban planning processes.

[55] Newsom gained national attention in 2004 when he directed the San Francisco city–county clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, violating state law.

"[58] Some observers noted that polls shifted in favor of Proposition 8 after the commercial's release; this, in turn, led to speculation that Newsom had inadvertently played a role in the amendment's passage.

In 2014, Newsom was the only statewide politician to endorse California Proposition 47, legislation that recategorized certain nonviolent offenses like drug and property crimes as misdemeanors as opposed to felonies.

[69] In July 2015, Newsom released the Blue Ribbon Commission on Marijuana Policy's final report, which he had convened with the American Civil Liberties Union of California in 2013.

[71] On February 24, 2017, in response to pro-enforcement statements by White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Newsom sent Attorney General Jeff Sessions and President Donald Trump a letter urging them not to increase federal enforcement against recreational cannabis firms opening in California.

[76][77] He sponsored successful legislation signed by Governor Brown in September 2016, that began the planning process for expanding computer science education to all state students, beginning as early as kindergarten.

[99] Newsom's attendance at a party at The French Laundry in November 2020, despite his public health measures;[100] voter anger over lockdowns, job losses, school and business closures;[101] and a $31 billion fraud scandal at the state unemployment agency[102] were credited for the recall's growing support.

[121] In January 2022, Newsom directed the state to begin dismantling its death row in San Quentin, to be transformed into a "space for rehabilitation programs",[122] as all the condemned inmates are moving to other prisons that have maximum security facilities.

Although immigrant rights groups wanted Newsom to end policies allowing the transfer to federal agents, the refugee was turned over for possible deportation upon release.

[129] Newsom wrote an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times saying Sirhan "still lacks the insight that would prevent him from making the kind of dangerous and destructive decisions he made in the past.

[139] The emergency declaration allowed state agencies to more easily procure equipment and services, share information on patients and alleviated restrictions on the use of state-owned properties and facilities.

[140] Newsom issued an executive order that allowed the state to commandeer hotels and medical facilities to treat COVID-19 patients and permitted government officials to hold teleconferences in private without violating open meeting laws.

Newsom provided state funds to pay for protective measures such as hotel room lodging for hospital and other essential workers fearing returning home and infecting family members.

[162] In a regular press conference on July 13 as he was ordering the reinstatement of the shutdown of bars and indoor dining in restaurants, he said, "We're seeing an increase in the spread of the virus, so that's why it's incumbent upon all of us to recognize soberly that COVID-19 is not going away any time soon until there is a vaccine or an effective therapy".

[185] In another report in April 2022, CapRadio found a program, hailed in 2020 by the Newsom administration to fast-track environmental reviews on high-priority fire prevention projects, had failed to make progress.

[209] The Sacramento Bee reported that Jennifer Siebel Newsom's nonprofit organization The Representation Project had received more than $800,000 in donations from corporations that had lobbied the state government in recent years, including PG&E, AT&T, Comcast, and Kaiser Permanente.

[210] In February 2024, Bloomberg News reported that Newsom pushed for an exemption for businesses that bake and sell bread in AB 1228,[211] a bill that raises the state's minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 per hour.

[229][230] On July 22, Newsom signed Senate Bill 1327, a law enabling private citizens to sue anyone who imports, distributes, manufactures or sells illegal firearms in California.

[232] On June 8, 2023, Newsom proposed a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution to raise the age to buy firearms to 21, institute universal background checks for gun purchases, mandate waiting periods and ban assault weapons for civilians.

[253] In his first week of office, Newsom threatened to withhold state funding for infrastructure to communities that failed to take actions to alleviate California's housing shortage.

[273] Newsom supports a series of tentative water-sharing agreements that would bring an end to the dispute between farmers, cities, fishers, and environmentalists over how much water should be left in the state's two most important rivers, the Sacramento and San Joaquin, which flow into the Delta.

[280] But he also vetoed several bills, passed by the Assembly by a wide margin, one of which would have instructed judges who preside over custody battles to take a parent's affirmation of a child's gender identity into account, and another of which would have mandated that insurance plans serving California residents cover the cost of gender-affirming care.

He then traveled to Beijing, where he met with Chinese president Xi Jinping, discussing issues including climate change, trade relations, and the response to fentanyl production.