Gov. Gavin Newsom stood out at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum, the site of the second Republican presidential nomination debate.
The two-term California governor with a rising national profile was in the spin room following the showdown between seven of the GOP White House hopefuls. Newsom attended the debate as a high-profile surrogate on behalf of President Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign.
Fox News host Sean Hannity repeatedly asked Newsom following the debate if he would run for president in 2024 "under any circumstances." Newsom responded "of course not," and said that he is looking forward to Biden's second inauguration.
Speculation still runs rampant that Newsom’s secretly mulling a White House run in 2024 should something happen to Biden, thanks in part to the governor’s six trips this year to red states, an upcoming prime-time debate in Georgia with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Fox News’ "Hannity." He also has a burgeoning political operation that’s distribution millions to Democratic causes and candidates.
Asked by Fox Digital about his upcoming debate with DeSantis, Newsom said that the Florida governor "had a bad night" at the Reagan Library face-off. "Nikki Haley laid him out."
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Newsom’s moves have positioned him as a leading voice in the Democratic Party at a time of rising concerns among Democrats over the 80-year-old president’s political durability, his negative approval ratings, and new polls that indicate former President Donald Trump — the commanding front-runner right now for the GOP nomination — either ahead or tied with Biden in 2024 general election matchups.
But Newsom has repeatedly emphasized his support for Biden’s re-election and has stressed its time Democrats rally around the president.
"President Biden is going to run, and [I’m] looking forward to getting him reelected. I think there’s been so much wallowing in the last few months, and hand wringing in this respect. But we’re gearing up for the campaign," Newsom said earlier this month in an NBC News interview.
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And days later the governor said that "the answer is no" when asked during a CNN interview if he was considering a 2024 White House run. "No ambiguity."
"Let’s get on the train. This train has left the proverbial station," he added.
The telegenic 55-year-old Newsom has also spotlighted his support for Vice President Kamala Harris, a fellow Californian whose approval ratings are further underwater than Biden’s numbers.
After former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a recent CNN interview appeared to avoid directly answering whether the vice president was the best running mate for Biden on the Democratic ticket in 2024 — saying that the president "thinks so" and "that’s what matters" — Newsom was more adamant.
"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," Newsom said to the question of Harris' suitability for the ticket. "The answer is absolutely."
Newsom’s reassuring support for Biden has appeared to put the president’s re-election campaign at ease.
A source in Biden’s 2024 team told Fox News that the president’s been appreciative of the governor’s support and that Newsom’s in constant contact with the campaign and the White House
"He's been a tremendous asset to the campaign and we're really grateful to have him as part of our national advisory board," Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez told reporters on Wednesday.
She emphasized that Newsom’s "tremendously helpful in helping to raise money, helping to ensure that he's getting out on the airwaves and making sure people know what this president has done and… what's at stake in this election."
"He also can talk about the tremendous benefits that California has gained as a result of the historic legislation and policies that we've put forward," she added.
Newsom joined Fox News' "Hannity" following Wednesday night's GOP showdown, taking aim at the Republican candidates on the stage and arguing that "Biden won the debate tonight."
While Newsom’s political moves may set him up for a potential White House run in 2028, Republicans aren’t ready to drop speculation the term-limited governor’s still angling for a possible 2024 bid.
"I think he's already running for the White House. I think every single one of these interviews, this debate that he's doing with Governor DeSantis, these are all brushback pitches to Vice President Harris," California GOP chair Jessica Milan Patterson said earlier this week in a Fox Business interview.
"He's trying to tell the world that he's the number one guy and that he's going to be running for this seat for whatever reasons Joe Biden ends up not being their nominee," she argued.
