California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) attended the first presidential debate of the 2024 general election at the CNN studio in Atlanta — watching from the sidelines as he did his best to support President Joe Biden as a surrogate.
Newsom, 56, has repeatedly been mentioned as a possible replacement for Biden, in the event he is unable to continue running. At 81 years old, Biden’s age appeared to show at the debate — though aides said he had a cold.
The California governor has repeatedly dismissed speculation that he would step in for Biden. In 2022, he reassured the Biden White House that he would not mount a primary challenge, and became a vocal Biden surrogate instead.
He was in Atlanta to speak to reporters ahead of the debate — though he, like everyone else, was excluded from the studio itself, in accordance with the rules for the debate, which said that there would be no live audience present.
But Newsom has certainly been auditioning for a national leadership role — if not in 2024, then in a future year. His recent “State of the State” address in California downplayed local issues in favor of attacks on national Republicans.
Last year, Newsom set up a fundraising operation that was described as “presidential” in scope. The Sacramento Bee noted at the time:
Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking fundraising steps often used by potential presidential candidates, setting up multiple committees that in their first three months have raised and spent millions of dollars.
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Forming the trio of fundraising committees allows prospective candidates like Newsom to begin building a base of support and explore a run for federal office without saying it outright, according to Brendan Glavin, senior data analyst at Open Secrets.
Biden is still his party’s presumptive nominee, after a “democratic” process that excluded rivals, such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who left the Democratic Party to pursue an independent candidacy).
But with some Democrats wondering openly about Biden’s age, Newsom may be waiting in the wings in more ways than one.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
