Growing Ire in Biden, Harris Camps Over Gavin Newsom’s ‘Shadow’ Campaign

A possible debate later this year between California Governor Gavin Newsom and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has irritated advisors for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, according to new reports on Sunday, with some even calling it “disrespectful.”

“California Gov. Gavin Newsom is increasingly being viewed as a nuisance to some of President Joe Biden’s political advisers,” NBC reported.

For about a year, a debate between Newsom and DeSantis has long been rumored. Both Governors have had a long history of slighting the other state, from Newsom running ads in Florida praising California, to DeSantis backing sanctuary state flights for migrants to California, to both Governors fighting over companies like Disney placing jobs in their respective states. This growing tension, as well as Newsom and DeSantis being seen as likely Presidential challengers in the next few presidential election cycles, led to both agreeing to an off-election debate earlier this month.

Currently both sides are deadlocked over some of the debate terms. Under the debate terms outlined by Newsom in his letter to Fox News host Sean Hannity, the debate would only be between the two candidates with no audience, aired live, last for 90 minutes, be moderated by Hannity, with neither candidate allowed to use notes during the debate. In addition, each candidate would get a four minute opening for remarks and would have 90 seconds to respond to each question and initially rebut, with an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent rebuttal. A final 2 minute closing remark would also be given, with speaking order determined by coin flip.

However, the DeSantis camp has said that they want a live audience for the debate, with audience members having a “50-50 split” ideologically, as well as notes allowed for the debaters. DeSantis also wants no opening remarks and instead wants a 2 minute long video for each candidate approved by Fox News beforehand. He also proposed several dates for the debate between September and November, with more GOP-friendlier debate locations and the policy-based debate including non-policy questions.

While some terms of the debate have been agreed upon, such as Hannity as the host, both sides are currently at an impasse over others. Both have regularly dodged questions about the status of the debate, and no official date or location of the debate has been announced. Despite this, news of a possible unprecedented debate between two sitting Governors has raised many eyebrows across the country, with many preemptively denouncing it as a publicity stunt, something that takes away attention from the 2024 Presidential primary races, or something that gives extra attention to both DeSantis and Newsom.

On Sunday, advisors in the Biden and Harris camps sounded off, saying that the proposed debate would be stepping on too many toes. For Biden, advisors said that the debate might lead people to think that Newsom would be running against Biden in 2024 for the Democratic nomination, despite the Governor stating multiple times that he wouldn’t and polls showing that 70% of Californian voters wouldn’t want him to. More concerning for Biden’s campaign is that the debate could give DeSantis the boost needed to finally overtake Donald Trump in Republican candidate polling, and give Biden a fresh threat rather than a 2020 rematch.

Other advisors for Biden did note that the debate could actually be a good thing for the party, as it would be a platform to put out party policies early and would give the Biden team valuable debate tape to prep with over likely 2024 debate questions.

“What he’s doing here is appropriate for a surrogate. It would not be appropriate for the president or the vice president,” said a Biden advisor to members of the press on Sunday. “We’re in close touch with him. This is the kind of thing we want surrogates to do.”

In addition, some advisors have even said that Biden himself endorsed the idea of a Newsom-DeSantis debate.

“Governor Newsom is a strong partner and surrogate for the Biden-Harris campaign,” added Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz. “We coordinate closely on campaigning, whether it’s fundraising or media. When he brought the debate idea to us, we endorsed it.”

Harris’ advisors see debate as disrespectful

Harris’ team, meanwhile, took a much more hardlined stance. As Harris is currently trying to maneuver in place for a 2028 presidential run, her team sees the debate as something that is both overshadowing her second race as Vice President in 2024 and a huge leap for Newsom to position himself in the 2028 race.

On Sunday, a Harris advisor told some members of the press that “It’s disrespectful. Joe Biden is running with Kamala Harris. That’s the Democratic ticket.”

With Biden’s team mixed about the debate and Harris’ outright against it, political experts told the Globe on Monday that a Newsom-DeSantis debate could now have a lot more riding on it than previously thought.

“When it first came up, it was largely posturing by the two,” said Chicago-based debate preparation specialist Lauren Kowalski. “Newsom wanted to defend his policies in California, and DeSantis his in Florida. But, for the Democrats, this has become more and more of a thing. 73% of the Country doesn’t want Biden to run in 2024. And then there is his age too. There is some worry that Biden ultimately won’t run next year. And with Trump’s current legal problems, he may not be in either. So, the next favorites in each party, Newsom and DeSantis, are there. Under that scenario, this debate would be a precursor of things to come, and would lead many to see them as the two candidates early on before any primaries. At the very least, it gives them all the more recognition before 2028.”

“Biden is running as long as he is able to, and Harris? She has that sense of entitlement that 2028 will be her year to run, like what Hilary Clinton thought 2008 would have been before Obama joined the pack or 2016 before trump started surging in the Midwest. To her, Newsom, whom she knows very well from her California days, is trying to disrupt all that. Look at how plainly her people are saying that. ‘Joe Biden is running with Kamala Harris. That’s the Democratic ticket.’ That is saying a lot right there.”

“DeSantis and Newsom are obviously building up to a debate, even if it is up in the air right now. DeSantis has more Republican candidate debates ahead of Iowa to practice in, and team Newsom gets to study them to formulate better answers. At the same time, Biden is hoping that no major gaffes will be made and that Newsom will give him some kudos, and Harris, well, it’s more complicated to put it mildly.”

The decision over a possible Newsom-DeSantis debate will be made soon, likely before the September 27th Republican candidate debate at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.