West
Newsom's progressive activism, debate skills among vulnerabilities in potential national campaign: expert
While Gavin Newsom is being floated as a potential replacement should President Biden drop out of the 2024 presidential race, the liberal governor may not be the strongest candidate to take on former President Trump, a California political observer tells Fox News Digital.
Newsom may be popular among Democratic leaders and the progressive caucus for the Golden State’s liberal policies, but it’s unclear how popular he would be on a nationwide ticket. In his own state, Republicans have railed against the governor’s policies on the economy, homelessness and crime.
“Nevertheless, his popularity even here in California is sliding, with one recent poll showing that a majority of voters think the state is headed in the wrong direction,” California Policy Center president William Swaim told Fox News Digital.
“And he doesn’t seem to have captured the national party’s enthusiasm as anything more than a Biden surrogate,” Swaim added. “There’s this important strategic consideration for Democrats: Newsom brings nothing to a national ticket.”
NEWSOM TO HEADLINE DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN EVENT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE EVENT
President Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom (Getty Images)
Regardless of which Democrat runs for president, California’s electoral votes will go to the Democrats, Swaim said, but if Democrats turned to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer or Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to top the presidential ticket, they could potentially win over their respective and very crucial swing states in November.
Last year, Newsom debated Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hosted by Fox News’ Sean Hannity. The two governors particularly exchanged blows over their states’ different approaches to taxes and handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, in a debate with Trump, “he might persuade undecideds who don’t follow California politics that he’s worked miracles here.”
“And like Trump, he’s a clever debater, a counterpuncher who shifts any attack onto more hospitable terrain and then simply makes stuff up on the fly,” Swaim said. “That’s a real skill – diabolical but effective with low-information voters. You saw this in his televised debate with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: in one instance, he accused DeSantis of lying California has the nation’s highest taxes. We all know the truth, and in May, Newsom admitted the truth and said the state has the highest taxes in the nation.”
LIBERAL COLUMNIST PRAISES ‘PATRIOTIC’ NEWSOM FOR ‘SHADOW CAMPAIGN,’ SLAMS DEMOCRATS FOR BACKING BIDEN
Donald Trump arrives at Trump Tower, May 30, 2024 after being found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. (Felipe Ramales for Fox News Digital)
Nonetheless, all eyes are on his purported shadow campaign, despite Newsom’s fervent assertion that he supports the Biden-Harris ticket.
“I will never turn my back on President Biden,” Newsom said on Thursday in a comment that appeared designed to dispel rumors that he’s running a shadow campaign. “I don’t know a Democrat in my party that would do so. And especially after tonight, we have his back.”
Newsom added: “I spent a lot of time with him. I know Joe Biden. I know what he’s accomplished in the last three and a half years. I know what he’s capable of. And I have no trepidations.”
DESANTIS VS NEWSOM FACE OFF ON ABORTION, TRANSGENDERISM, WOKENESS AND MORE
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters after the debate between President Biden and former President Trump in Atlanta, Thursday, June 27, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Newsom is also headed to New Hampshire to headline a Democratic campaign event just days after the Biden-Trump presidential debate, fueling more speculation that he may be preparing to step in if Biden backs out of the 2024 race.
The July 8 event, called the “Blue Summer Campaign Kick-Off,” is being spearheaded by the New Hampshire House and Senate Democrats.
New Hampshire is a key swing state in the general election and Newsom, who is a top surrogate for Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign, will also be campaigning for the president and other Democrats up and down the ticket during his stop in the Granite State, according to sources familiar with his plans.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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Denver, CO
After venue drama, Melat Kiros makes her case for a ‘new generation of leaders’ in Congress | Rocky Mountain PBS
Piker didn’t show up to the event. The rally was originally scheduled to take place at ReelWorks, an event space in Five Points. But last week, Kiros announced the rally had moved to the Ogden Theater on Colfax. Then, on Sunday, after Piker had already arrived in Denver, Kiros posted an Instagram video confirming the rally would instead take place at the Capitol.
In the video, Kiros accused DeGette of using her “donor class” to “silence” the event. On Hasan Piker’s Twitch stream Sunday, Denver-based political strategist and Kiros campaign adviser Deep Singh Badhesha told Piker that the venue cancellations were the result of venue owners receiving pushback from “corporations,” including threats of lawsuits.
“There was something happening with venue owners, that they were talking to each other” Singh Badhesha said.
Rocky Mountain PBS reached out to DeGette’s campaign for comment, but did not hear back before deadline. In a text to Denverite, DeGette campaign spokesperson James Owens said the claim that the congresswoman pressured venues to block Piker and Kiros’ rally was “ridiculous.”
“If Melat Kiros wants to campaign with someone who said America deserved 9/11 we’d do nothing to stop her,” Owens said in the text, according to Denverite.
Piker did say that “America deserved 9/11” during a 2019 livestream, though he later apologized for the remark. Piker’s critics — not limited to one side of the congressional aisle, but almost always to Piker’s ideological right — often invoke his purposefully inflammatory comments when campaigning against candidates Piker has endorsed.
Earlier this year, Piker said on the Pod Save America podcast that he would vote for Hamas over Israel because he is a “lesser evil voter.” It’s a comment he has doubled down on.
“This is not a statement they would ever hear in polite society, and that’s kind of the purpose of it,” Piker said in an interview this month with Vox’. “It is intentionally provocative, but I don’t think it’s inappropriate.”
Ballots for the June 30 primary are already in the mail across Colorado. Kiros’ rally at the Capitol is part of a final sprint in her race to unseat DeGette. Speakers at the rally reminded the audience multiple times that the election was just over two weeks away.
“We have 16 days to show this entire city that we are not waiting for permission, we’re not asking for our turn, we are taking back power and we are delivering on a better world for everybody,” Kiros said.
Piker has pushed back on the notion that he is a “kingmaker” for left-wing candidates, but the streamer’s association — if not physical presence — with the Denver rally nevertheless brings more attention to the Kiros campaign at a time when Democratic voters, from New York City, to Maine, to California, are weighing whether to ride with establishment-backed incumbents or to give progressive challengers a chance at flipping control of Congress.
After years of planning and anticipation, tomorrow’s the big day – Seattle’s first FIFA World Cup match, Belgium vs. Egypt at noon, with five more matches to follow here over the next three weeks. Whether you’re going to the game or just going to, or near, SODO and/or downtown, the map above shows some key things you need to know – particularly the area that’ll be closed off to motor-vehicle traffic. Some buses will be rerouted as a result – including West Seattle’s Route 21; go here to get reroute details. You can also read more about the pedestrian zone on this SDOT page, which says the street closures should start about four hours before the matches and end
The West Seattle Water Taxi‘s schedule will be affected too – a round trip will be added on World Cup match days during what otherwise is a two-hour gap in the WSWT schedule – a 10 am departure from downtown’s Pier 50 to Seacrest, and a 10:15 am departure from West Seattle.
We’ll be watching traffic/transportation closely through the day, with updates as (if) events warrant! If you see something your neighbors should know about, on the roads/path/water (or at the stadium!), we’re at 206-293-6302, text or voice, any time.
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