Newsom affair as mayor resurfaces amid presidential run rumors

Key Points:

• Ruby Rippey, former aide to Gov. Gavin Newsom, publicly detailed a monthslong affair with Newsom in 2005 when he was San Francisco mayor, in a Vanity Fair essay released Tuesday.
• Rippey describes the affair as consensual, countering earlier remarks by Jennifer Siebel Newsom that suggested Rippey was intoxicated and the encounters were minor incidents.
• The affair began during a July Fourth celebration and occurred while Newsom was undergoing a divorce; it led to secret meetings amid Rippey’s personal struggles with alcoholism.
• Rippey credits the affair as a turning point that prompted her journey toward sobriety, now over 20 years, and shares advice she received from Kamala Harris to wait before speaking publicly.
• Newsom previously acknowledged the affair publicly in 2007 and referred to it as a brief mistake in his memoir, but Rippey’s detailed account may be new to those outside the Bay Area and comes amid speculation about Newsom’s potential 2028 presidential run.