By CARLA MARINUCCI

12/03/2020 03:29 PM EST

Updated 12/03/2020 09:59 PM EST

SAN FRANCISCO — Prominent California Democratic strategist Nathan Ballard — a longtime friend and adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom — was arrested and jailed on two felony domestic violence charges in Napa that include an allegation of attempting to suffocate a four-year-old child with a pillow.

Ballard, 51, was booked on Oct. 18 on two felony charges of willful cruelty to a child with possible injury and death, and domestic violence, according to documents on file with the Napa County Sheriff's Office, shared with POLITICO. He will be formally charged Thursday, according to Napa County Assistant District Attorney Paul Gero.

Ballard is the founder of The Press Shop, a San Francisco-based public relations firm. Until Oct. 19 — the day after the alleged incident — he sat on the board of The Representation Project, a nonprofit founded by First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom to advance women’s rights.

"I’ve spent my career in crisis communications fighting on behalf the wrongfully accused, and now for the first time I really know what it feels like to be in their shoes," Ballard told POLITICO in a text message. "I will be exonerated. I love my children more than anything on earth, and we will be reunited.”

The former San Francisco deputy city attorney has been called a “media whisperer” for his high profile roles as the mouthpiece and crisis communications point person for a parade of public figures and A-list corporate clients. He served as spokesperson for then-San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, a role he has also played for the Democratic National Committee and the California Democratic Party, the Getty family, the Golden State Warriors, the Super Bowl and for the presidential campaigns of former Sen. John Kerry and Gen. Wesley Clark.

Henry Wofford, spokesperson for the Napa County Sheriff's Department, confirmed Ballard’s arrest in Napa. None of the three victims — an adult and two children — are identified due to privacy concerns.

Sources say the events occurred at the swanky Carneros Resort and Spa where, according to victim statements, Ballard reportedly “had consumed a large amount of alcohol and some marijuana.’’

The adult victim told authorities that Ballard “charged her and pushed her with both hands into the glass doors,’’ causing her to fall and hit the back of her head on the door. Ballard also stumbled and fell onto the ground, bleeding, according to documents on file with the Napa County Sheriff's department.

Then Ballard “attempted to suffocate the child victim with the pillow,’’ the adult victim told the police. “Ballard grabbed the pillow from the bed, placed it onto the child victim and laid on top of the pillow, placing his weight on the child victim who was under the pillow,’’ according to the report.

The adult victim said “she was able to remove the child victim from the room,’’ and locked herself and another child in a separate room away from Ballard.

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https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/12/03/prominent-democratic-strategist-and-newsom-adviser-facing-domestic-violence-charges-1340838