It’s normal for politicians to pose for pictures with their spouse and children after giving a momentous speech. But on Monday night Gavin Newsom, who was being sworn in as the 40th governor of California, discovered his family was to be the main event.
While Newsom was giving his inauguration speech, his two-year-old son, Dutch, wandered on to stage. Newsom swooped him up in his arms joking, “this is exactly how this was scripted,” before continuing to read from the teleprompter.
He later returned Dutch to the floor, hoping he might leave the stage, but the child stayed wandering around, at one point hiding behind the lectern, to the audible delight of the audience.
Newsom was able to ad-lib parts of his speech to recognise the stage invader, at one point saying: “We will support parents … and they need support, believe me.”
Solo attempts by another of his sons, seven-year-old Hunter, and his wife, the documentary-maker Jennifer Siebel Newsom, to corral Dutch back to his seat were unsuccessful. In the end it required a family team effort, Dutch being lightly escorted down the steps as though as he were an errant protester.
Newsom, a former mayor of San Francisco, has positioned himself as anti-Trump candidate and says he will use his governorship to “offer an alternative to the corruption and incompetence in the White House”. Many believe Newsom also harbours ambitions for national politics, and a charming moment with his family won’t have done those any damage.
