The potential field of contenders for the 2024 Democratic nomination for president reportedly lost a major player on Saturday, as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) told Politico that he is not running and is “all in” for a Joe Biden re-election campaign.
Newsom said he wanted to quiet speculation that he might be a leading candidate to challenge Biden for the party’s nomination. In order to ease apparent tensions inside the Biden administration, he said that he has “told everyone in the White House, from the chief of staff to the first lady” that they can rely on him to support Biden’s campaign for another term.
California Gov. Newsom: "I’m all in, count me in" on Biden's re-election bid https://t.co/ZMYCZHrstx
— Connor Ryan (@connortryan) November 26, 2022
Concerns have grown this year that Biden’s health, age, and approval ratings will make reelection against the likes of President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) difficult. As a result, Newsom’s name has been one of those most mentioned as a potential replacement to lead the Democratic ticket in two years.
Now it appears that Biden’s standing inside his party has been bolstered after the midterm elections, in which the Republican “red wave” did not come to pass at the level most people expected.
In a press conference after Election Day earlier this month, Biden said he intends to run in 2024 and will make a final decision and announcement by early 2023. He said, “I think everybody wants me to run, but we’re going to have discussions about it.”
Newsom reportedly called Biden after he was declared the winner in his reelection bid as governor of the Golden State soon after the polls closed on Election Day and said: “I’m all in; put me in coach. We have your back.”
Of course, President Trump has already declared his candidacy for the GOP nomination for president in 2024. As Trump is clearly the biggest concern that Democrats have, they have given Biden more of a cushion in 2022. Now, the person who was expected to be his most dangerous rival for the Democratic nomination has publicly supported him for reelection.
Newsom said this week, “I hope he runs, I’ll enthusiastically support him. He not only beat Trump once, I think he can beat him again.”
