Ashley DiMella writes for FoxNews.com about an inconvenient truth for California’s governor.
Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political action committee spent more than $1.5 million buying thousands of copies of his new memoir — accounting for about two-thirds of all copies sold nationwide — according to campaign finance filings.
The PAC spending helped propel Newsom’s memoir, “Young Man in a Hurry,” onto the New York Times bestseller list and is raising new scrutiny as his national profile builds ahead of a possible 2028 presidential run.
In November, the Campaign for Democracy Committee launched a book campaign asking donors to contribute any amount to the PAC to receive the memoir when it was released on Feb. 24. Newsom spokesperson Nathan Click told the New York Times that the PAC bought about 67,000 copies—representing a substantial portion of the 97,400 total sold.
“We were thrilled with the response,” Click told the New York Times. “Our goal was to deepen the relationship between him and the millions of folks who have already expressed support for Governor Newsom’s work.”
The PAC made two payments totaling over $1.5 million to Porchlight Book Company, according to a FEC filing posted on Wednesday and reviewed by Fox News Digital.
When asked about the book’s ranking on the best seller list, a New York Times spokesperson explained the outlet places a dagger symbol on the list to indicate when a book’s ranking has been influenced by a bulk purchase.
“When The Times has reason to believe that sales of a book include a mix of organic and bulk sales, the book’s best-seller ranking is accompanied by a dagger. That’s what we did with the Newsom book,” Nicole Taylor, spokesperson for The Times, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
A spokesperson for Newsom told Fox News Digital later on Friday evening, “Governor Newsom did not do a ‘bulk buy’ of $1.5M worth of books to boost sales.”
