Gavin Newsom PAC Bought Thousands of Books to Boost Sales
Gavin Newsom Campaign Cash Turns Memoir Into Mega Seller
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.
The memoir landed on the NYT bestseller list … but this wasn’t just a book launch -- it was a fundraising strategy with a glossy cover.