Is California Gov. Gavin Newsom related to former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? The two prominent California Democrats were once distantly related by marriage, but Newsom is not Pelosi’s nephew.
Ann Vandersteel, a right-wing video podcaster with more than 320,000 followers on X, claimed that Newsom is a “distant nephew” of Pelosi. “Don’t be fooled: GAVIN NEWSOM ISN’T GOING ANYWHERE,” she tweeted on Monday. “He’s Nancy Pelosi’s DISTANT NEPHEW. He can burn down the entire state, and AUNTIE WILL PROTECT HIM. He can bankrupt the entire state, and AUNT NANCY WILL PROTECT HIM.” Vandersteel added adamantly, “NONE OF THIS IS DEBATABLE.”
The claim also appeared on the social media platform Threads, in a reply to a separate post falsely claiming that current Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley had been removed from her position. (Crowley has not been fired or removed. Erik Scott, public information officer for the Los Angeles Fire Department, dismissed speculation of Crowley’s departure in a statement on Friday. ) Another Threads user replied to the incorrect post, claiming, “Newsom is Polosi’s [sic] nephew, so the liberals will do everything they can to keep him in office.”
These claims are false. Newsom is the nephew of Pelosi’s brother-in-law’s ex-wife. Newsom’s aunt, Belinda Newsom, in 1960 married Ron Pelosi—the older brother of Nancy’s husband, Paul Pelosi. However, the couple split and divorced in 1977. Belinda Newsom, who passed away in 2008, was the older sister of the California governor’s father, William Newsom III. Gavin Newsom, who was born in 1967, would have been about 10 years old when his aunt divorced Ron Pelosi. Paul and Nancy Pelosi were married in 1963.
So, although the former speaker was for a short period of time sisters-in-law with the California governor’s biological aunt, the family relation between the two California Democratic leaders and their families extends no further than that.
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