Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has enthusiastically endorsed the Biden-Harris 2024 presidential ticket, despite his comment that the first debate against former President Donald Trump “did not go as well” as Biden had hoped.
Newsom made the comments during a Van Buren Dems BBQ for Biden-Harris in South Haven, Michigan on Thursday and told supporters: “I was asked and tasked by President Biden, proudly, to fly from California to Georgia to represent the campaign right after that debate.”
“I had a lot of talking points in mind, you may have noticed if you saw me, I didn’t bring them with me. And that’s to make the obvious point – things did not go as well as the campaign had hoped, and obviously did not go as well as President Biden had hoped,” he said.
Newsom has vociferously denied that he is running a “shadow campaign” to take over for President Biden’s 2024 election bid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIfqZ_dXtfE
“It could have gone two or three hours,” Newsom said of the meeting. “And I mean this with absolute conviction. That was the Joe Biden I remember from two weeks ago. That was the Joe Biden that I remember from two years ago. That’s the Joe Biden that I’m looking forward to reelecting as president of the United States.”
The meeting was meant to spread support among party chairs as a response to the decreasing faith in Biden following the CNN debate.
Among the Democratic governors in attendance were those who hold DGA leadership positions, including Governor Tim Walz (D-MI), Governor Wes Moore (D-MD), and Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI).
Newsom claims to have been “going wherever” the White House asks because he still believes “in his character.”
The California governor is also set to take the stage at Democratic events in New Hampshire next week, which prompted even more chattering that he could be introducing himself as a 2024 presidential candidate.
To these rumors, Newsom has said, “I will never turn my back on President Biden,” Newsom said on Thursday in a comment that appeared designed to dispel rumors that he’s running a shadow campaign. “I don’t know a Democrat in my party that would do so. And especially after tonight, we have his back.”
Before the first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle last week, a report in The Washington Journal made headlines about Biden’s mental acuity. The White House rejected the disclosure, which highlighted the worries of several lawmakers on Capitol Hill about Biden’s intellectual sharpness, stating that his age had been noted in closed meetings.
