Gov. Newsom To Highlight Democratic Summer Campaign Event In New Hampshire As Dems Continue Damage Control

Governor Gavin Newsom increased his presence on the Democratic campaign trail on Monday when his presence headlighting a major Presidential campaign event in New Hampshire as a surrogate for President Joe Biden was expanded, further fueling speculation that Newsom could be in line to replace Biden on the Democratic ticket.

Between 2021 and 2023, Governor Newsom was one of the favorite possible candidates for a run for the Democratic ticket in 2024 should Biden have decided that he didn’t want to run again or would have to not run again because of health or age concerns. However, as early as November 2022, Newsom was denying presidential interest for 2024, throwing all his support behind Biden. However, a surge in unpopularity for Biden in 2023, along with polls showing that nearly three quarters of Americans didn’t want Biden to run in 2024, renewed interest in a possible Newsom 2024 run.

Finally, in September 2023, Newsom fully backed out of any sort of 2024 by officially supporting the Biden/Harris 2024 ticket. Since then, he has been one of the Biden campaigns “go-to” surrogates on the campaign trail and in interviews. Following a sort of a “test run” during the APEC conference in San Francisco last November, Newsom has since appeared at countless events in place of Biden. He has been a major fundraising machine, and during early primaries, stumped for Biden everywhere. Most recently, Newsom was in Atlanta during the presidential debate and was tasked with going on the offensive against Trump and on the defensive for Biden in front of reporters. By all accounts, Newsom and other Democrats expected a relatively easy night, with former President Donald Trump’s recent legal woes being their ace in the hole for any difficult questions about Biden.

At the same time, Newsom acting as a surrogate for Biden in 2024 is largely seen as his latest stepping stone towards a 2028 presidential run. While he has not confirmed anything due to the race being well over 4 years away, it has been something of an open secret that he now wants to run in 2028. In just the past 9 months since his full backing of Biden in the 2024 election, Newsom has increased his foreign policy profile by taking high-profile international visits to places like Israel and China, has attended fundraisers or donated to candidates in key early primary states, has said that a new memoir is on the way, has been signaling a move back to Marin County, has debated likely 2028 Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and has generally done more and more things hinting of a run following the end of his Governorship in January 2027.

But on Thursday, an unexpectedly poor performance by Biden in the debate began to throw everything into question. Newsom, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris, were suddenly bombarded with questions if they were going to replace Biden. Newsom feverishly denied them, being caught off guard, as he had not prepped for this scenario.

“I will never turn my back on President Biden. Never turn my back on President Biden, I don’t know a Democrat in my party that would do so,” stressed an agitated Newsom in Atlanta last Thursday. “I think it’s unhelpful, and I think it’s unnecessary. We’ve got to go in, we’ve got to keep our head high, and, as I say, we’ve got to have the back of this president. You don’t turn your back because of one performance.”

Since then, Democrats have ramped up calls to replace Biden. The DNC were even forced to come out and say that there was indeed a way for them to get Biden off the ticket. While Harris and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer have been hounded by the press in recent days about replacing Biden, Newsom has been the most sought after because of his long history in looking towards the presidency. Over the weekend, Newsom even went on a Twitter spree, saying multiple times how he was for the president and raising money for him.

Yesterday, we were able to raise $1M for POTUS and Dems across the country in small, individual donations.

This team is absolutely incredible.

The outcome of this election is not something to sit back and experience. It's something to manifest.

Let's keep it up. https://t.co/m4L90WDBNZ

— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 29, 2024

This led to Monday, when News was brought out as the headliner for a major July 8th event in New Hampshire – his first major public surrogacy for Biden since the debate. Sponsored by New Hampshire House and Senate Democrats, the “Blue Summer Campaign Kick-Off” will have Newsom headline the event in the New England swing state. During the Monday announcement, event leaders stressed that the event was on behalf of President Biden, with no mention of any replacement talk for Newsom.

“We look forward to welcoming Governor Newsom to New Hampshire to campaign on behalf of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris as we work to once again defeat Donald Trump,” said New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley on Monday. “It’s never been more important to mobilize Democrats across the state to defeat him and re-elect our President, Joe Biden, who has consistently fought for and delivered for New Hampshire.”

Despite this, it is expected that Newsom will face many questions from the press during the event about possibly replacing Biden, as calls to replace Biden have broken through usual news cycle lengths. Since the debate last week, Trump has also pushed back forward in the polls, breaking past Biden’s previous resurgence following Trump’s trial in New York. Biden’s approval rating also shot down by several points since the debate last week. Combined with calls from many to replace Biden in the election, Newsom’s New Hampshire trip next week is expected to be full of replacement questions.

“You can bet Newsom, his team, and every Democratic higher up are preparing very much for events like what is going on in New Hampshire next week,” Melissa Spielman, a political analyst who focuses on presidential primaries, told the Globe Tuesday. “There’s a handful of names out there right now. Newsom, Whitmer, and [Secretary of Transportation Pete] Buttigieg all have that major name recognition and younger age that the Democrats have been desperate for. Harris has it too, not to mention being the only candidate who would have access to the Biden-Harris war chest funds should Biden drop out.”

“For the Democrats this is ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t.’ Everyone is upset there. They expected to be riding high on Trump’s conviction and court battles. But Biden dropped the ball hard. So that’s why the conversation the last 5 days has been all about if Harris or Newsom should replace Biden.”

“Should nothing happen regarding the situation for the next week, what Newsom says there should be really interesting. All eyes will be on him. Question is if he will continue to tow the party line or if he makes more open comments on the situation.”

Newsom is expected to be in New Hampshire next week.