SouthernWorldwide.com – Wealthy Democrats with higher political ambitions are increasingly highlighting stories of childhood hardship and family trauma, as privilege is becoming a political liability within the party.
This trend is particularly evident in politicians like California Governor Gavin Newsom, who has used his memoir and media appearances to frame his upbringing as a narrative of contrasts. While acknowledging elite access through family ties to the Getty fortune, Newsom also describes a childhood marked by divorce, dyslexia, financial struggles, odd jobs, and his mother taking in foster children to make ends meet.
J.P. De Gance, founder of the nonprofit Communio, observed that these politicians are leaning into narratives of family trauma and childhood resentment. He noted that traditionally, candidates would share their “hardscrabble” stories, perhaps starting as a busser, to connect with voters.
De Gance suggests that this type of personal storytelling may become more prevalent as Democrats from affluent backgrounds seek to connect with voters experiencing economic strain, family breakdown, and addiction, especially as the nation approaches the 2028 presidential election.
A spokesperson for Governor Newsom defended his memoir, stating it aims to tell the “complete and unvarnished story” of his upbringing.
De Gance, whose organization focuses on strengthening marriages and families through churches, collaborated on a study from the Austin Institute. He argues that figures like Newsom and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, another Democrat from a wealthy background, reflect a broader shift in Democratic political messaging towards emotional struggles and childhood trauma, which he believes resonates with a wider range of voters.
“This reflection on childhood resentment, childhood trauma and I think in a certain sense we should expect more of this because I think in a sense Pritzker, Newsom and others are reflecting what they’re seeing in a lot of in a lot of the electorate,” De Gance stated.
The Austin Institute’s 2025 Relationships in America Survey found that voters whose parents remained married throughout their childhood were 67% more likely to identify as conservative or very conservative. Conversely, only 46% of Americans under 30 grew up in an intact family.
“A majority of Americans now under age 30 … have grown up in a home where mom and dad didn’t stay married through childhood,” De Gance explained.
The survey also indicated that former Vice President Kamala Harris performed better among 2024 voters whose parents did not stay married during their childhood, while President Donald Trump saw stronger support from voters whose parents remained married.
Newsom has openly discussed his parents’ divorce, his struggles with dyslexia, and a challenging upbringing, which included eating simple meals like Wonder Bread sandwiches and mac and cheese, despite his privileged connections.
“By relating themselves as victims of past family resentment and trauma, it’s also a desire to associate with elements of victim groups,” De Gance commented.
Newsom’s father, Bill, was a close friend and advisor to billionaire Gordon Getty, assisting in managing parts of the Getty family fortune. The New Yorker reported in 2004 that Gordon Getty would take a young Gavin Newsom and his sister on vacations to Kenya and Canada.
A February profile of Newsom in Vogue, published ahead of his memoir’s release, reignited criticism regarding the characterization of his childhood as financially difficult, given his close ties to one of the world’s most prominent and wealthy families.
“People assume Newsom comes from money. He doesn’t. Access, yes. Privilege, yes. Money, no. The most compelling aspect of Newsom’s biography is his schizophrenic upbringing, vis-à-vis wealth,” the Vogue profile stated. It further explained that after his parents’ divorce, his father provided little financial support, and his mother, Tessa Newsom, struggled to keep the family afloat.
“Young Gavin chipped in, picking up a newspaper route and a job as a busboy. They took in foster kids because the government stipend helped pay the rent. Meanwhile, there were the Gettys,” Vogue continued, detailing the Newsom family’s connections to the influential Getty family, an American dynasty built on oil.
J.B. Pritzker, another wealthy Democratic governor considered a potential contender for 2028 and an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune, has also spoken about early family trauma. This includes the death of his father in his childhood, his mother’s alcoholism, and a feeling of being “robbed” of a normal upbringing.
Pritzker has likened himself to an orphan, stating he matured faster and that life as an orphan felt like “a sense of being robbed,” as he told The New Yorker.
Pritzker has emphasized his early work ethic, starting as a busboy at one of his family’s hotels as a teenager.
“The hotel business had made the family wealthy enough that Pritzker and his siblings would never have to have real jobs, but [Pritzker’s mother] had gone out of her way to instill in them the value of work,” The New Yorker reported in a 2023 profile. “When Pritzker was a teenager, he had been a busboy at Rickey’s Hyatt House, the hotel that launched the family fortune.”
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“You have to work twice as hard as the guy next to you, because you didn’t earn this,” Pritzker shared, quoting his mother’s advice from his childhood to The New Yorker.
