Will Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom move to Sacramento? Maybe not

California gubernatorial Democratic candidate Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom during a bus tour kickoff outside City Hall Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) California gubernatorial Democratic candidate Gavin Newsom and his wife Jennifer Siebel Newsom during a bus tour kickoff outside City Hall Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg) Photo: Eric Risberg / Associated Press Photo: Eric Risberg / Associated Press Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close Will Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom move to Sacramento? Maybe not 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

If you think Gavin Newsom is already measuring the drapes at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento — think again.

Newsom has hesitated when asked if he plans to move into the restored 25-room mansion, making it clear that his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and four children — all under the age of 10 — may be happy to stay put in Marin County.

“We haven’t decided,” Newsom said. “Jen hasn’t seen the house. And we have the kids and schools to think about. It’s all too much to get our arms around.”

Plus, now they only live a couple of blocks from Newsom’s sister, Hilary Newsom, and her husband, Geoff Callan.

Not to mention that the governor-elect’s filmmaker wife has an office a half mile from home, in Ross, and her parents also live nearby.

Gov. Jerry Brown, during his first stint as governor in 1975, famously eschewed the 17-room governor’s residence built (but never lived in) by Ronald and Nancy Reagan in the suburb of Carmichael. Instead, Brown rented a $250-per-month apartment near downtown Sacramento.

His successor, George Deukmejian, formed a foundation that purchased another suburban house where first he and then Govs. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis lived — at least when they weren’t at their homes in Southern California. And Arnold Schwarzenegger kept a 2,000-square-foot hotel penthouse across from the Capitol for a spell during his time as governor before opting to commute home nightly to L.A. on his private jet.

When Brown began his second stint as governor, he decidedly upgraded — splitting his time between a $3,000-a-month Sacramento loft leased by his friends and a home he purchased in the Oakland hills. But after the century-old, three-story governor’s mansion occupied by his late father, Pat Brown, back in the 1960s underwent a $4.1 million renovation, Jerry Brown — along with his wife, Anne Gust Brown, and their two dogs — moved in three years ago.

For Newsom, however, the old mansion apparently doesn’t have the same sentimental pull. While he hasn’t ruled out house-hunting in Sacramento, he may well continue the routine he developed as lieutenant governor, having a California Highway Patrol driver shuttle him from Kentfield to the capital and back.

Of course, now he’ll have additional companions — as governor, he’ll have a full security entourage wherever he goes.

San Francisco Chronicle columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross appear Sundays, Mondays and Wednesdays. Matier can be seen on the KPIX TV morning and evening news. He can also be heard on KCBS radio Monday through Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 5:50 p.m. Got a tip? Call (415) 777-8815, or email matierandross@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matierandross