Newsom Affirms His Support For VP Harris, Having No Interest In Running In 2024 In New Interview

In a CNN interview earlier this week, Governor Gavin Newsom affirmed that he would be in support of Vice President Kamala Harris going on the Democratic ticket with President Joe Biden, as well as saying once again that he has no interest in running for president in 2024.

For over a year, Governor Newsom has repeatedly said that he will not be running for President in 2024. Every major interview has brought the issue up. This is because of the fact that whenever Newsom says that, something comes up that points to him obviously preparing to run for the position, such as creating new major out of state ads. Most recently, this speculation has been fueled by him agreeing to debate Florida Governor and 2024 GOP presidential entrant Ron DeSantis, visiting many red states, and people working for Harris coming out and chastising his decision to have a debate and overshadow Harris in 2024 and for a possible 2028 run.

“It’s disrespectful. Joe Biden is running with Kamala Harris. That’s the Democratic ticket,” said a Harris advisor last month.

With a his debate with DeSantis now stalled over some of the debate terms, and the public seeing his recent actions as creating a growing rift between him and Harris, Governor Newsom addressed the issues during an interview with CNN earlier this week. Once again, Newsom crushed any speculation once again that he is looking at a 2024 presidential run.

“The answer is no,” said Newsom. “No ambiguity. I’m not that guy. I’m just not.”

Newsom then also addressed where he stood with Harris and the campaign. Even with 73% of Americans not wanting Biden to run in 2024 and Kamala Harris only having a 39% approval rating, Newsom stood by the two on Monday.

Newsom confirms support for Biden-Harris ticket

“Of course Harris should be the Democratic 2024 vice presidential nominee,” continued Newsom. ” The Biden-Harris administration is a masterclass in terms of performance, bipartisan deals on infrastructure, bipartisan deals on guns and debt ceiling, on the CHIPS and Science Act. I mean, by definition, if I think this administration last two, two and a half years, has been one of the most outstanding administrations the last few decades, and she’s a member of that administration, she gets to lay and claim credit to a lot of that success. The answer is absolutely.

“Democrats need to get out of this sort of navel-gazing about Joe Biden, and let’s get going. Let’s get on the train. This train has left the proverbial station.”

While the interview made it clear that he is now firmly in the Biden-Harris camp for 2024, Newsom is still looking at ironing over the remaining issues between him and DeSantis to make the debate between them happen, potentially setting up a 2028 run. Newsom has not denied wanting to run in 2028, only in 2024.

“It has been made pretty clear to Newsom by the Democratic leadership that it is going to be a Biden-Harris 2024 ticket,” said Michael Springer, an elections analyst in Washington who focuses on presidential primaries. “There is the remote chance that, if something happens to Biden, he becomes the white knight and comes in as the party savior, but, yeah, remote.”

“What is obvious is that he has been broadening his message a bit and has stayed away from more controversial things in recent months. He was all in support of abortion, but 61% of the country approves of them, so it was a safe bet for him. But between that, him debating DeSantis, who may also run in 2028 all things depending, putting ads in other states, visiting red states, and him getting a greater national profile, he has not exactly been quiet. They are all usually indications that he would run in the next cycle or two.”

“We need to see what bills he passes this month and in October. There’s a lot of bills currently awaiting approval, and many of them touch on issues that are more on the controversial side. Like decriminalizing many drugs. By this time next month, when the dust settles on this, we need to take stock and see what he approved and didn’t. If he vetoed the more controversial bills, I would say it is a good indicator of him continuing to build a presidential run for 2028.”

More on Newsom’s debate with DeSantis is expected to be released soon.