Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-Calif., was called “embarrassingly handsome” in the opening sentence of a Vogue magazine profile published on Sunday, prompting mockery from critics.

“Let’s get this out of the way: He is embarrassingly handsome, his hair seasoned with silver, at ease with his own eminence as he delivers his final State of the State address,” the opening line read.

Newsom is considered a 2028 contender for the White House, as his gubernatorial term is set to end in 2026.

“It must drive Trump nuts. Newsom: lithe, ardent, energetic, a glimmer of optimism in his eye; Kennedy-esque. Add to that his stunning wife and four adorable kids, and the executive strut of a self-made millionaire who has spent the past seven years at the helm of a state big, complex, and rich enough to be a nation of its own,” the magazine article continued.

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Annmarie Hordern, a political correspondent at BloombergTV, wrote, “Governor Newsom oversees a state that ranks among the world’s top five largest economies, yet has the second highest unemployment rate in the US after Washington DC. Vogue opens with — ‘He is embarrassingly handsome.'”
 

The author of the profile also wrote that she didn’t get to touch on certain topics, including the Los Angeles wildfires. 

“Gavin Newsom does have the capacity to surprise. You can’t say that about many politicians of his stature—or that their minds are still pliable. There were topics I didn’t get to discuss with him—the LA wildfires, contraction and corporate consolidation in Hollywood, homelessness, the coming AI apocalypse, to name a few—but where we did range, I saw a man who likes spitballing, trying ideas on for size,” the journalist writes.

Nathan Brand, an advisor to Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C. said the article was “embarrassing, even for Vogue.”

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Byron York of the Washington Examiner wrote, “You really can’t make this up.” 

He also quoted the part of the profile that lauded Newsom as “Kennedy-esque.”

Conservative commentator Steve Guest also called out the lede sentence of the Vogue profile and called it “disgusting.”

“These people are insufferable,” wrote Curtis Houck, Managing Editor at NewsBusters.

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Gavin Newsom, governor of California, holding a knee protector during the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Jan. 22, 2026.   (Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said Newsom was getting the “Beto treatment,” in reference to Beto O’Rourke’s 2019 Vanity Fair profile.

Others described the profile as “political activism.”

NewsBusters analyst Jorge Bonilla also drew a parallel to O’Rourke’s Vogue profile.

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Radio host Larry O’Connor described the profile as “erotically charged fan fiction.”