Newsom Credits Marriage Equality for Career

San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, now the lieutenant governor-elect of California, said Tuesday that he believes his decision to allow same-sex marriages in 2004 helped him win reelection.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports on a meeting between the Democratic mayor and its editorial board.

"Newsom answered that the decision allowed him to take more risks," the Chronicle reports. "He talked about the fate of his predecessors. Willie Brown, Newsom said, barely won re-election against Tom Ammiano. (Actually Da Mayor won in a landslide.) Predecessors Frank Jordan and Art Agnos failed to be re-elected. And he opined on his decision to allow same-sex marriages:

'If I'd not done that, I would never have been re-elected,' he said."