Newsom, Harris Double Down On Support For Biden

Governor Gavin Newsom and Vice President Kamala Harris continued to defend and support President Joe Biden on Thursday, despite both of the lawmakers being considered the top two replacement candidates for Biden in the election and Biden’s Democratic support continuing to slip.

Last Thursday, President Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Republican challenger Donald Trump immediately called into question if he was still physically able to be President for another term. While Biden’s performance had been expected to assuage any concerns over Biden’s age or mental faculties, it instead exacerbated it, as Biden repeatedly tripped over his lines, forgot major policy talking points like Medicare mid sentence, and was hard to understand. Even former President Trump, who was more subdued than in previous debates against Biden, noted after one of his responses “I don’t know if he knows what he said, either.”

Newsom, who was in Atlanta for the debate as a Biden surrogate and had expected to field questions on Biden’s strong performance, instead spent the evening in both damage control and dismissing calls for him to replace Biden on the ticket. Throughout the rest of the week and into this week, the story continued to top the news cycle, with support for Biden plummeting and calls to replace him growing as a result. In the last week alone, Biden has lost three points in his approval rating, killing all gains he had gotten following the Trump court verdict last month. In terms of national polling a virtual 41% ties between Biden and Trump, with 9% for Kennedy, prior to the debate has radically shifted, with Trump now out ahead with 42.2%, Biden with 39.7% and Kennedy at 10%.

And during the last week, multiple candidates to replace Biden have been floated by top Democrats, despite Biden saying that he wouldn’t leave the race. This has included Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, former First Lady Michelle Obama, and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. However, the top two have both been Californians – Harris and Newsom.

Newsom has remained Biden’s go-to surrogate in the press to defend him, with the Governor being sent on a whirlwind trip to battle ground states for much of the first half of July to defend Biden, including an upcoming prominent New Hampshire event next week. The trip is also doubling as a way for Newsom to gain more national exposure before a likely 2028 run. At the same time, Harris has stepped up her public appearances with Biden, with political analysts noting that, should Biden drop out, she would be the only candidate entitled to the current war chest of funds already raised. She’s also the only candidate who is polling better in an election against Trump than Biden is right now.

With Biden still fighting for his political life, both Newsom and Harris spent Independence Day defending Biden and dismissing any notion that they would replace them. Newsom spent the day in western Michigan, not only stumping for Biden, but also defending him one again both to Democratic supporters and the press.

“This is a serious moment in American history. It’s not complicated,” said Newsom in South Haven, Michigan on Thursday. “What I need to convince you of is not to be fatalistic, not to fall prey to all of this negativity. Do more. Worry less.”

Newsom and Harris

While Newsom took care of swing states, Harris stayed close to the President on Thursday, skipping her usual Fourth of July events in favor of being with Biden all day. For many of the events she was added last minute by Biden staffers, including being part of a meeting of Governors that reportedly went bad when Biden said he would be going to bed earlier, would not be doing any more late events, and would get more sleep while campaigning.

Biden himself also confirmed that he would not be leaving the race.

“I admit I screwed up in last week’s debate,” said Biden in an interview with a Wisconsin radio station on Wednesday. “I made a mistake. But I’m the nominee of the Democratic Party. No one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving.”

Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz added that “President Biden is our nominee, Vice President Harris is our running mate, and we will win this November.”

Despite the continued support on Thursday, political analysts told the Globe on Friday that Biden’s political future is still very much in the balance going into the weekend, with both Harris and Newsom remaining the top two candidates.

“First of all, the Trump campaign is playing this very smart,” said Melissa Spielman, a political analyst who focuses on presidential primaries, to the Globe on Friday. “He’s not going on a huge tour and bashing Biden at every turn. His campaign is, instead, letting the Democrats do all the damage to themselves. Trump has said a few things, but if he was out there repeatedly doing it, it might give sympathy to Biden. So, instead, they’re letting the Dems do it all to themselves. And it’s working. You’ve seen the polls.

“To your question of the top two replacement candidates being from California, well, that’s how it shook out. Harris is being asked to replace Biden more and more. Her being at all the events with Biden? They’re keeping her as close as possible. As for Newsom, they know he has his heart set on 2028, and if Harris got in, 2028 would be out of the question for him if Harris won. So it’s all a balancing act of keeping Biden in while keeping the two Californians at bay. Harris is kept close, Newsom is out on the trail, and should Biden win, then the two can duke it out in 2028. That’s the timeline. That’s best case scenario.

“But Trump is surging, Harris is polling better than Biden in such a race, and Newsom is lying in wait. That’s not to mention other top Democrats out there like Whitmer. But for right now, yeah, it’s the Californians who have the best chance. And everyone, Democrat, Republican, whoever, knows it. This will be an interesting next couple of days, as Biden has a bunch of interviews and a press conference lined up. We should have a better feeling after that.”

As of Friday, Newsom is set to continue on his national campaign tour for Biden, with Harris staying in Washington with the President.