In abstract
California’s governor stood by President Biden to the bitter finish, however is taking a much less seen function within the Harris marketing campaign up to now. His talking slot on the Democratic Nationwide Conference might sign how outstanding he shall be till Election Day.
Till the second President Joe Biden’s reelection marketing campaign crashed to an finish final month, nobody remained a extra dedicated cheerleader than Gov. Gavin Newsom, who forcefully defended Biden in tv interviews and on the marketing campaign path towards calls to drop out.
However within the weeks since Biden did simply that, passing the torch to Vice President Kamala HarrisNewsom retreated from the function of surrogate.
Within the early part of the reformulated Harris marketing campaign, California’s governor has made only a handful of social media posts and public statements in help of the brand new Democratic nominee as his focus has shifted to clearing homeless encampments and launching a brand new weekly podcast with with former soccer participant Marshawn Lynch and sports activities agent Doug Hendrickson.
It’s a sophisticated dynamic for 2 of California’s most high-profile political leaders, who grew to become pleasant skilled rivals as they rose concurrently by means of San Francisco and statewide elected workplace. Newsom, extensively considered a future presidential contendermight see his ambitions delayed and diminished if Harris is elected in November. Harris is working to shortly redefine herself for voters as her Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, targets her as a radical who destroyed California alongside Newsom.
Their camps deny that Newsom and Harris have deliberately distanced themselves, whether or not for private or strategic causes. But what function Newsom performs at subsequent week’s Democratic Nationwide Conference in Chicago — nothing has been formally introduced but — could possibly be an essential sign of how outstanding the governor shall be within the marketing campaign amid fears that Trump will make the race a referendum on California.
“It will speak volumes,” mentioned David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State College. “It gives us a window into the Harris campaign’s thinking about his slot and his place.”
Newsom aides keep that the governor all the time deliberate to take a break from the presidential race over the summer time to focus on state points and that he’ll start campaigning for Harris after the conference. Additionally they urged that the change in his visibility seems extra substantial as a result of the Biden marketing campaign relied so closely on Newsom on the finish, when few different Democrats have been as keen to go to bat for the more and more unpopular president.
“There’s no ‘step back.’ Few have been as aggressive in making the case against Donald Trump and campaigning for Joe Biden and now Kamala Harris,” Nathan Click on, a spokesperson for Newsom, mentioned in an announcement. “We are finalizing plans with the Harris campaign for him to hit the national trail once more following next week’s convention. During that time, he has still been supporting VP Harris and her campaign from California — signing and sending fundraising emails on her behalf and attending the SF fundraiser over the weekend.”
At a blockbuster fundraiser in San Francisco on Sunday, attended by many state politicians, Harris singled out her “friend and colleague” Newsom for reward, calling him “an extraordinary leader for California and a national leader,” in response to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The Harris marketing campaign declined to debate the surrogate relationship with Newsom, however spokesperson Kevin Munoz wrote in an e mail that he “would strongly push back” towards the concept the governor had been given much less to do due to his ties to California.
Newsom was all over the place in late June and early July, as Biden fought to maintain his reelection marketing campaign afloat following a disastrous debate efficiency that stirred fellow Democrats to attempt to push him apart. California’s governor appeared on tv to swat down issues about Biden’s cognitive decline, rushed to the White Home for a damage-control assembly with Democratic governors that some participated in remotely, delivered a pep discuss to Biden marketing campaign employees on a convention nameand toured by means of swing states on the president’s behalf over the Fourth of July vacation weekend.
But when Biden abruptly ended his marketing campaign on July 21 and endorsed Harris as his successor, Newsom’s preliminary response supplied solely an appreciation for the president’s legacy. It was greater than 5 hours earlier than he publicly threw his help behind Harris, at the same time as a lot of the Democratic Occasion swiftly closed ranks behind her. Whereas some high Democrats took longer, together with former President Barack Obama and former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Newsom’s delay prompted hypothesis that he was assessing his personal path to the nomination, regardless of earlier assurances that he wouldn’t run towards Harris.
Since then, Newsom has hardly ever spoken publicly about Harris, foregoing nationwide media alternatives as different Democratic governors auditioning to be her working mate flooded the airwaves. Newsom was eclipsed as a surrogate — and an object of political fascination — by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, amongst others. Requested for recommendation on debating Trump, Newsom did inform the Fox affiliate in Los Angeles final week that “Kamala will clean his clock,” a clip shared by the Harris marketing campaign.
Newsom has posted occasional missives towards Trump on social media in current weeks, however didn’t point out Harris once more till Aug. 6when she chosen Walz as her vice presidential nominee. Newsom known as it a “brilliant choice” in a fundraising e mail that very same day, asking supporters to separate a donation between the Harris marketing campaign and his personal Marketing campaign for Democracy PAC. An analogous e mail was despatched to the Harris marketing campaign listing over the weekend beneath Newsom’s identify.
The Marketing campaign for Democracy launched final yr with leftover funds from Newsom’s 2022 reelection committee, serving as a automobile to boost cash for Democratic events and candidates throughout the nation and in addition to advertise the governor by means of his advocacy for pet causes resembling a constitutional modification on gun management. Days earlier than Biden deserted his marketing campaign, the PAC reported spending greater than $800,000 on textual content messages on the president’s behalf.
“It’s got to be chapping him that he’s not the guy. He needs to stay in the public eye and stay relevant.”
David McCuan, political science professor at Sonoma State College
Individuals on Newsom’s PAC mailing listing have really gotten extra updates up to now month about “Politickin’,” Newsom’s new podcast. Within the opening minutes of the premiere episode, launched a number of days after Biden dropped out, Newsom recounted how he heard the information and mentioned Harris was “lighting it up,” however the present has in any other case averted the subject of the presidential race.
Together with his lighter marketing campaign function, Newsom has turned extra vigorously to the gubernatorial duties that he was criticized for ignoring whereas out of the state. He has saved busiest the previous few weeks battling cities and counties over their response to a current Supreme Court docket ruling that gave them extra energy to crack down on individuals who sleep on the streets — thrusting him into the nationwide highlight on his personal phrases.
The governor’s order for California officers to start dismantling homeless encampments was introduced in The New York Instancesfrightening Trump to complain on-line that “Gavin Newscum” was solely appearing for “political reasons” to assist Harris’ marketing campaign. Although perpetually a high concern for Californians, widespread homelessness has additionally tarnished the state’s picture nationally and Newsom’s lack of ability to resolve it has given Republicans a potent assault.
Final week, Newsom threatened to withhold funding from native governments that don’t comply along with his order and traveled to Los Angeles to wash up an encampment, documented for posterity by a photographer that Politico reported is being paid $200,000 per yr by the governor’s workplace.
Now that nationwide consideration has shifted to Harris, these actions are one other approach for Newsom to get himself entrance and middle, mentioned McCuan, the Sonoma State professor, permitting the governor to construct his profile past California with out counting on the marketing campaign of a political rival.
“It’s got to be chapping him that he’s not the guy,” McCuan mentioned. “He needs to stay in the public eye and stay relevant.”
It’s one thing that Newsom, who phrases out as governor in the beginning of 2027, should proceed discovering methods to do if he desires to hunt the Democratic nomination for president in 4 or eight years. Ought to Harris win in November, basically foreclosing a Newsom marketing campaign till a minimum of 2032, his most suitable choice may simply be a submit in her administration — and the job utility begins with how he performs on the marketing campaign path this fall.
