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Gavin Newsom, who loves to use Trump-style trolling tactics, is widely considered the front-runner for the Democratic Party presidency.
He is riding a wave of interviews and podcasts, fueled by a new memoir, and trying to show that, as governor of California, he is not as liberal as his record might suggest. Unlike the majority of her party, for example, she opposes trans athletes competing against men.
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But there is one central fact about Newsom that, while it may be known to insiders and some in his home state, is certainly news to most Americans.
Gavin Newsom is dyslexic. Seriously dyslexic. And as a new profile in the New Yorker makes clear, it affects his life every day.
Newsom showed author Nathan Heller a “folder of his printed material, his reading from the night before. Nearly every word of the text was underlined. He flipped through a proof copy of his memoir, in which the underlining covered entire pages, the only way, he said, he could read any book, even his own. He pulled out another folder filled with lined paper and covered with his handwriting; he copied all the text he underlined into writing pads.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom listens to President Donald Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum at the Davos Congress Center on January 21, 2026 in Davos, Switzerland. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
And then it continues on yellow tiles.
The bottom line is that the governor is struggling to do what every working politician routinely needs to do, and that is make speeches. You have to copy each word and memorize it. In a TelePrompTer, “it sees lines of text… as a single image, like a Chinese character, which it uses to remember the next line.”
California Congresswoman Lateefah Simon says a four-hour podcast is easier for Newsom than a 10-minute speech.
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This disability affected his self-image growing up, when Newsom would sometimes pretend to be sick to get picked up early from school. “He always called himself stupid,” his sister said.
During the 90-minute trip to Sacramento with his wife, a documentary filmmaker, and their four children, he makes notes that are later transferred to cards and pads.
So if Newsom were to reach the Oval Office, he would clearly rely heavily on verbal briefings rather than poring over reports and documents.
The governor describes himself as someone who had a miserable upbringing and makes do with giant plates of macaroni and cheese. A former associate told the New Yorker that this was Newsom’s “I was born a poor black kid” story.
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks to a crowd at the Kershaw County Center on July 8, 2025 in Camden, South Carolina. The governor is on the first of a two-day tour of rural South Carolina counties, organized by the state Democratic Party. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
He actually vacationed with John Paul Getty’s family, thanks to his father’s connections. Newsom’s parents separated when he was three years old.
There is more to the narrative. Newsom’s sister, Hilary, chastised him for continuing to work while their mother practiced assisted suicide.
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Other parts of the life story told here are better known. The failure of Newsom’s marriage to Kimberly Guilfoyle, then a left-leaning lawyer in the district attorney’s office (who later joined Fox News, had an ill-fated engagement to Donald Trump Jr., and is now ambassador to Greece). How he had an affair with the city’s appointments secretary, who was married to one of his top assistants, and admitted, “Everything you’ve heard and read is true.”
And most damaging, during the pandemic, when the governor was urging Californians to avoid large gatherings, he dined, maskless, with medical executives and a lobbyist at the uber-stylish French Laundry. That led to a recall effort, which Newsom defeated by 24 points.
California Governor Gavin Newsom looks on during a bill signing event related to the redrawing of the state’s congressional maps on August 21, 2025, in Sacramento, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
The governor, who has repeatedly failed to solve the state’s homeless problem, is an unusual guy. He worked against a union petition to raise taxes on billionaires, saying it would drive them out of the state. He told President Donald Trump that keeping the border sealed was crucial and that he wanted to eliminate California’s sanctuary state status.
On Election Day last year, Newsom met with aides after spending three hours reading about electric vehicle policy.
“It’s a great way to start each day,” he said. “How many books could I have read! Literature! Philosophy!”
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Is America ready for Gavin Newsom, who has a large social media following, as a potential president? Are voters ready for him as a person, dyslexia and all, and as a politician, when California is so easily caricatured as a liberal La-La-Land?
I don’t know and I don’t think he does either. But we may soon find out.