Gavin Newsom appeared on stage in support of his book “Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery” in McGirt Auditorium in Rock Hill, South Carolina, on Monday Feb. 23, 2026. The event was set up as a moderated discussion with former Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison. (Photo by Mark Susko/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)
ROCK HILL — California Gov. Gavin Newsom checked two boxes this week for potential presidential hopefuls: releasing a memoir, out Tuesday, and spending time talking to voters in South Carolina.
He spent the day before the release of his memoir “Young Man in a Hurry” in the Palmetto State, doing meet and greets in Berkeley and Clarendon counties before a book tour stop in Rock Hill.
The book isn’t a political highlight reel but an exploration of his complicated relationships with his parents and his struggles with dyslexia, Newsom told Jaime Harrison, the former Democratic National Committee chairman who interviewed him before an audience at the McGirt Auditorium in Rock Hill.
“It’s messy; a lot of you may not have shown up if you had actually read it,” Newsom joked Monday.
The book discusses his struggles in school and his strained relationship with his father, whom he describes as absent from much of his childhood.
Sariah Gilliam, the president of Winthrop University’s NAACP collegiate chapter, attended the book tour stop and said she felt more connected with Newsom after hearing him talk about his dyslexia.
“It’s very hard to relate to politicians nowadays,” she said, and hearing him talk about his struggles helped make a connection.
But she was less impressed by his answer to a question from Harrison on how the likely contender for president in 2028 would win over Black voters who decide Democratic primaries in early voting South Carolina.
South Carolina is in contention to keep its first-in-the-nation status from 2024 — or at least its previously long-held first-in-the-South status — on national Democrats’ 2028 presidential nominating calendar.
“We don’t have a huge Black population in California but that doesn’t mean that not connected to the cause of racial justice, social justice, economic justice,” Newsom responded without giving specifics. He went on to praise Martin Luther King Jr.
“He beat around the bush a little bit,” Gilliam said about his answer.
She wanted to hear more policy ideas from him that improved the lives of Black Americans. “I wish he could be more bold about his intentions for the Black community,” she said.
The stop in Rock Hill came a day after a similar on-stage interview format in Atlanta, with Mayor Andre Dickens, brought a barrage of criticism.
While interviewing Newsom on stage, Dickens referenced the governor delving into his dyslexia diagnosis in the book, asking him: “What do you want us to take from that?”
Newsom responded that he’s trying to be more authentic.
“I’m not trying to impress you, I’m just trying to impress upon you, ‘I’m like you. I’m not better than you.’ I’m a 960 SAT guy,” he said about his score on the college entrance exam. “You’ve never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech.”
The comments drew strong pushback from Black conservatives, including U.S. Sen. Tim Scott and female rapper Nicki Minaj, a newly outspoken Trump loyalist.
“His way of bonding with black ppl is to tell them how stupid he is & that he can’t read,” Minaj wrote on X Monday alongside a clip of the talk.
“Black Americans aren’t your low bar,” Scott posted later Monday. “Stop using your mediocre academics as a way to patronize communities. It’s ridiculous!”
Newsom fired back with his own X post directed at Fox News host Sean Hannity, who also criticized the governor’s comments.
“You didn’t give a shit about the President of the United States of America posting an ape video of President Obama or calling African nations shitholes — but you’re going to call me racist for talking about my lifelong struggle with dyslexia?” he wrote.
“Amen Governor!” Harrison responded in a retweet. He and Newsom didn’t discuss the comments on stage.
Ahead of former President Joe Biden’s planned visit to Columbia on Friday, Harrison also asked Newsom what he thinks of fellow Democrats making Biden an “easy target.”
“I’ll never turn my back on Joe Biden,” Newsom responded.
His day in South Carolina began with meet and greets in Clarendon and Berkeley counties organized by the state Democratic Party.
About 100 people, ranging from college students to a 101-year-old World War II veteran, gathered in Manning to hear him talk about civil rights history and lob attacks against President Donald Trump.
Newsom said he’d chosen to “fight fire with fire” when it came to dealing with Trump. The California governor has raised his national profile through all-caps, hyperbolic social media posts mocking and imitating Trump.
Dan Czekalski, a 73-year-old retiree, drove from Lugoff to see Newsom and said he likes how he “confronts Trump head-on.”
“I think it’ll take somebody like him to straighten this country back out,” said Czekalski, who wants Newsom to run for president.
Rep. Fawn Pedalino, R-Turbeville, who in 2022 flipped a state House seat long held by a Black Democrat, posted a video Friday on Facebook ahead of his visit to the district she represents.
“South Carolina isn’t looking to become California,” she said. “We are building something … people are moving toward, not away from. So, governor, welcome to South Carolina. Take notes if you’d like.”
Newsom was last in South Carolina for a two-day tour in July.
Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
