Who on the left views him negatively? My strongest impression was that he's a hero on the left for facilitating gay marriages in San Francisco, though admittedly that was 10 years ago.
Not at all, no. Andrew Cuomo is a good comparison here; gay marriage was not controversial in San Francisco even ten years ago. Throughout his tenure as mayor Newsom was identified with the right, and by the end he was deeply unpopular in the city. I would never vote for him if there were a Democratic alternative on the ballot.
