From fires to mudslides, disaster has defined Newsom’s tenure

Gov. Gavin Newsom took office in 2018 facing one of the deadliest and most destructive fires in state history: the Camp Fire. Even before he was sworn in, Mr. Newsom accompanied Donald Trump, then the president, and Jerry Brown, then the governor, in surveying a fire that killed 85 people and consumed more than 153,000 acres in the Butte County town of Paradise.

On Friday, more than six years later, Mr. Newsom will welcome back Mr. Trump as the president comes to Los Angeles to see the aftermath of the latest devastating wildfires to sweep through California.

These new fires — in the Pacific Palisades section of Los Angeles and in Altadena — serve as a reminder that Mr. Newsom’s tenure as governor has been defined by catastrophe and crisis, whether natural or man-made: fires, mudslides, atmospheric rivers, the Covid Pandemic, violent protests against police brutality following the murder of George Floyd.

“It’s mind-boggling how many natural disasters and otherwise it has to deal with,” said Anthony Rendon, who served as speaker of the California Assembly from 2016 to 2023. “It’s something that has intertwined — and can – even be defined – his time in office as governor.

But Eaton’s challenge of the Stockades and Fires, both putting them out and overseeing the rebuilding of entire neighborhoods in the nation’s most populous county, may be his greatest test yet.