Newsom's main opponent in the race, incumbent Abel Maldonado, a Republican, supported Proposition 8, California's same-sex marriage ban that voters passed in 2008.

However, Karen England, executive director of the anti-gay Capitol Resource Institute, recently launched a write-in campaign for lieutenant governor that could bleed votes from Maldonado in the close race. England's move followed Maldonado's refusal to defend Prop 8 when he served as acting governor for a short time last month when Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently was in China on a trade mission.