Gavin Newsom PAC Bought Thousands of Books to Boost Sales

4:53 PM PT -- A rep for Gavin Newsom's political team tells TMZ ... "Governor Newsom did not do a "bulk buy" of $1.5M worth of books to boost sales. The book sales through his email list were individual sales done through a new, innovative approach that allows his list to receive copies of the book early. The campaign viewed the book offer as a major list-building and engagement opportunity – one of the largest of any campaign in the country."

The statement continues, "Supporters were invited to give whatever amount they could afford and still receive a copy of the book. The goal was participation and engagement, not fundraising. The campaign's list provided an opportunity for supporters to buy the book through a vendor consistently used by other authors. Each book was sold and sent out through the vendor, similar to buying from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. In total, more than 67,000 individual sales were made through the campaign's offers."

Want a copy of Gavin Newsom’s book? Turns out all it took was a donation -- and a PAC with deep pockets!

Here’s how it played out ... The New York Times reports Newsom’s political action committee shelled out more than $1.5M to scoop up copies of his memoir, "Young Man in a Hurry," and hand them out to supporters who chipped in -- any amount got you in the door.

And plenty of people took the bait. About 67,000 books were sent out through the donation deal -- accounting for roughly two-thirds of all print copies sold. Yeah … that bestseller run didn’t exactly happen the old-fashioned way.

Newsom himself leaned into the pitch ... blasting emails to supporters calling the book “very personal” and urging them to help bring more cash into the PAC after a pricey push to pass a redistricting measure designed to help Democrats grab more House seats.

To be clear, this move isn’t unheard of in political circles. Groups tied to Donald Trump Jr. have done similar promos ... and even Kamala Harris’ political arm dangled her memoir for donations. But Newsom’s numbers? Way bigger -- and way more expensive.

Federal filings show his PAC made two payments totaling $1,561,875 to a book distributor, listed as “books at cost” -- easily its largest expense of early 2026.

Team Newsom says don’t get it twisted … they claim the strategy actually made money, bringing in more from donations than the cost of the books -- and insist the governor didn’t pocket royalties on those copies.