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."
