If there was one man Thursday night who stayed poised and on message, it was the one off the debate stage, waiting in the wings.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom was in Atlanta for the debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. A surrogate for the president, Newsom’s job — like others sent to the frenetic spin room by both candidates’ teams — was to highlight the positives of Biden’s debate performance.
But it was Newsom — who has shied away from frankly discussing any White House ambitions while simultaneously increasing his national portfolio — who emerged as the star post-debate.
Case in point, the hoards of reporters who surrounded Newsom the second he walked into the spin room, yelling questions about his own political future. As MSNBC’s Alex Wagner put it, “All of Trump’s short-list (vice presidential) nominees are walking around; no one wants to talk to them. It was like human piranhas descending on the governor at the end of this debate.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters in the spin room following the CNN Presidential Debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump at the McCamish Pavilion on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus on June 27, 2024 in Atlanta, Georgia. President Biden and former President Trump are faced off in the first presidential debate of the 2024 campaign. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Newsom, 56, did not stray, despite the trickier task at hand. As other Democrats sounded the alarm that Biden, at 81 years old, may need to seriously consider stepping aside and letting someone else lead the presidential ticket, the governor remained steadfastly loyal.
Biden “won on substance, and that’s what matters at the end of the day,” Newsom told one reporter.
“I will never turn my back on President Biden,” he said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom backed Biden after his debate with Donald Trump, despite Biden’s shaky performance that has rattled his fellow Democrats pic.twitter.com/rVCBI6JFH1
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 28, 2024
Waiting in the wings
Speculation about Newsom’s political future isn’t new.
Even while performing as a loyal solider for Biden — Newsom campaigned for the president in South Carolina and Nevada during the primary and popped up at a Republican primary debate last year to stand as a foil to tout Biden’s accomplishments — the governor has increased his national profile.
He’s run ads in red states criticizing abortion bans. He debated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once thought to be a formidable GOP White House contender.
“It’s been an open secret for a long time that (Newsom’s) poised” to advance his political career, said Matt Lesenyie, a Cal State Long Beach professor and expert in California politics.
But still, he waits.
For Newsom, that’s nothing new.
The former San Francisco mayor, who exudes a certain confidence, is used to waiting his political turn, so to …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
