Former Newsom aide details past affair in Vanity Fair

A former aide to California Governor Gavin Newsom has published a detailed first-person account of their affair, which occurred while he was mayor of San Francisco and she was a subordinate employee married to his close friend and campaign manager. Ruby Rippey's essay was published by Vanity Fair on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, as Newsom concludes his final year as governor and is widely considered a potential presidential contender.

Rippey, who served as Newsom's appointments secretary, describes a relationship that began in the summer of 2005 and lasted several months. She traces its start to a wedding on July 2, 2005, in Napa Valley, where she drank heavily. Her memory of that night is fragmented, but she writes of waking up beside Newsom, having passed out and wet the bed. She states all encounters were consensual, including those she was too intoxicated to fully recall.

The affair was conducted in secret while Rippey was married to Alex Tourk, Newsom's then-deputy chief of staff and later his campaign manager. Rippey details arranging meetings at Newsom's penthouse, a private bar, and hotels, including an incident at a Los Angeles hotel where she later realized she had torn the...