Gavin Newsom officially announces run for Governor of California

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has officially announced that he’s running for Governor of California after months of speculation.

Newsom, a champion of gay rights and well regarded in the Bay Area tech community, said in a statement that: “I’m running for Governor because California needs a new direction. In San Francisco, we’ve defended people’s civil rights, created a universal health care program, protected teachers from layoffs and enacted a local stimulus plan that will put people back to work and save jobs. And we’ve done it while balancing our budgets and seeing our bond ratings go up.”

The campaign naturally includes social media elements. Along with the official campaign site, Newsom is also encouraging people to link into the campaign via Facebook and Twitter.

The announcement video below. The interesting thing is that while Newsom mentions progressive issues such as universal healthcare and green tech, the overriding theme is one of fiscal responsibility. Given the state of California’s finances this is not surprising, but the polling must be showing that it’s the lead issue for the election given the attention Newsom gives it.