Jennifer Siebel Newsom sought to redefine the role of first spouse. Now, she faces her biggest test

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Set us as preferred Jennifer Siebel Newsom was frustrated.She was standing behind her husband, California Gov.Gavin Newsom, at a February press conference to celebrate a new bill that would give Planned Parenthood emergency funds.

A throng of women’s advocates, including herself, had spoken about how the law would help women access healthcare.But now reporters were asking a barrage of off-topic questions, from the California High Speed Rail to the 2028 Olympics.She paced, she swayed, she laughed with displeasure.

Finally, she stepped closer to her husband and gently nudged him aside.She found it “incredulous,” she said, that they had assembled all these allies only for the reporters to ask about other issues.“This happens over and over and over and over again,” she said as Newsom smiled awkwardly.

“You wonder why we have such a horrific war on women in this country and that these guys are getting away with it.Because you don’t seem to care.

So I just offer that with love.” All of a sudden, Siebel Newsom herself was the news.One of Sacramento’s top female journalists, Ashley Zavala, shot back on X that reporters were just doing their jobs and the way they were treated “was not normal.” Right-wing media blasted out headlines from “Gavin Newsom’s wife scolds reporters” to “Gavin Newsom’s wife slams reporters for ‘horrific war on women’ in extraordinary rant.”The scene underscores Siebel Newsom’s predicament as her husband positions himself as Trump’s chief antagonist and prepares for a possible 2028 White House run.

She came to Sacramento with a mission to speak up for women, calling herself “first partner” to signal she would carry on the theme of her work as a documentary filmmaker and nonprofit leader: dismantling gender norms.But as her husband raises his national profile wit...