Gavin Newsom affair returns to spotlight as Ruby Rippey speaks out
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When he won office in 2003 at age 36, Gavin Newsom was the youngest San Francisco mayor elected in more than a century. Photo: Paul Chinn/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
The woman at the center of Gavin Newsom's biggest political scandal is telling her story for the first time, reviving a chapter of San Francisco political history as the governor faces fresh national scrutiny ahead of a potential 2028 presidential bid.
Why it matters: For many longtime San Franciscans, the extramarital affair is old news — a scandal that rocked City Hall and almost ended Newsom's career nearly 20 years ago.
- But as the governor lays the groundwork for a possible White House run, the episode is reaching a broader national audience unfamiliar with one of the defining controversies of his political rise.
Driving the news: Ruby Rippey, Newsom's appointments secretary while he was San Francisco's mayor, detailed in Vanity Fair this week the 2005 affair that ruptured her marriage to Newsom's friend and then-deputy chief of staff Alex Tourk.
- Rippey decided to speak out after reading Newsom's memoir — in which he acknowledged the affair in a single paragraph — saying it prompted her to reclaim a story that in her view has been told almost exclusively through his lens.
- She disputes Newsom's portrayal of the affair as a brief episode, writing that the relationship spanned months and included repeated late-night meetings.
- She also denies Newsom's claim that he confessed to Tourk, writing that she was the one who told her husband. She argues the public narrative has largely focused on Newsom's political redemption while overlooking the lasting effect it had on her life.
The other side: Newsom's office declined to comment on Rippey's essay beyond pointing to the governor's public apology from nearly two decades ago, per Politico.
- Newsom has repeatedly acknowledged the affair since it became public, calling it one of the "biggest mistakes" of his life.
The big picture: The essay arrives as Newsom closes out his final year as California governor while raising his national profile through a memoir, podcast appearances and other media engagements.
- Newsom is increasingly facing the vetting reserved for likely presidential contenders, where decades-old controversies often resurface.
Catch up quick: The affair became public in 2007 when Newsom publicly apologized and Tourk resigned. The then-mayor was already divorced from his first wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, when it began.
- His political ambitions were nearly derailed, but the scandal did not stop him from later winning statewide office.
Between the lines: While the affair was consensual, Rippey writes that she now views it differently because of the power imbalance between a mayor and a subordinate.
- She also reflects on her recovery from addiction, saying she is speaking out because she no longer wants to be a footnote in Newsom's political story.
- "Until now, silence felt like the right choice," she wrote in a private Facebook post cited by the SF Standard. "Now it feels necessary to offer a fuller account of what happened, rather than allowing a misleading account to stand as the whole story."