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ARE DEMOCRATS TURNING ON GAVIN NEWSOM?

  |   By Polling+ Staff

ARE DEMOCRATS TURNING ON GAVIN NEWSOM?
By Jeffrey Lord

Well this is interesting.
In an appearance on talk radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show, California Congressman Ro Khanna, a decidedly progressive Democrat, turned on California’s decidedly progressive Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom.
The conversation went like this, with Hewitt discussing hypotheticals about the future of the Democrats. It went like this:
HH: I’m back now with Congressman Ro Khanna. We’re going to do some politics during the break. Congressman, you did hypos at Yale Law, right? I mean, you did lots of hypos.
RK: Sure.
HH: Yeah, so here’s my hypo. President Biden wins the South Carolina primary, and then he and the First Lady announce you know what, we’re too old for this job, and we’re just not going to run anymore. So Gavin Newsom enters, as does Roy Cooper, as does maybe Jared Polis, as does maybe Gretchen Whitmer, and of course, Vice President Harris. Would you be in favor of Gavin Newsom? Would you be endorsing the governor of California, who would be a formidable, almost impossible to beat nominee?
RK: Oh, I don’t think he’d be impossible to beat. I think we’d have a lot of other contenders.
HH: I mean a Republican. As a Republican, we couldn’t beat Gavin in the general.
RK: I disagree with that, actually. I think you’d have people like Shapiro and others would be better candidates, potentially, in the Midwest. And I think Biden is a stronger candidate in Ohio, in Michigan, in Wisconsin, and in large parts of the country.
HH: But my hypo is that he’d decided to retire, because he should. And I don’t expect you to comment on this.
RK: I figured, yeah, I think there, you know, I mean, I would consider the Governor, but I think you’d have other stronger candidates in the Midwest. I don’t, I think the key is who’s going to win Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, and I think it’s going to take someone who can connect in those places.
HH: Well, Gretchen Whitmer’s up there, but I don’t think she can win. But I do think you’re right about, do you know Governor Shapiro? I do. I don’t think he’s a Yalie. Is he is a Yale Law…
RK: I like Governor Shapiro, and I think there’d be others. I think there’d be a number of candidates who would be in that conversation. Gavin certainly would be, but you know, I think it’s going to be important for someone to win in the Midwest, and to understand that you have to have a vision for America. And maybe he’ll be able to do it, but you know, I wouldn’t assume that he would somehow be the strongest.
Well now.
There is a leading California progressive Democrat throwing his state’s decidedly progressive Democrat governor under the bus.
And apparently Rep. Khanna is not the only Californian skeptical of the idea of the California governor running for president.
Back there in March of this year a Quinnipiac University poll, written by Polling Analyst Tim Malloy, headlined: “7 In 10 Voters Don’t Want Gov. Newsom To Run For President In 2024.” Malloy summed up the Newsom problem this way:
“GAVIN NEWSOM IN 2024?
Voters say 70 – 22 percent they would not like to see Governor Gavin Newsom run for president in 2024.
Among Democrats, 54 percent say they do not want to see Newsom run for president in 2024, while 35 percent say they would like to see him run.
‘A resounding thumbs down from the home team as California voters tell the Governor: if you have designs on the big job beyond Sacramento, we’re not on board…’”
Doubtless this has not escaped the attention of the Biden White House. Note that no less than the UK’s Daily Mail has reported this: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/bidens-advisors-fume-at-gavin-newsoms-plan-to-debate-desantis-amid-fears-he-is-running-a-shadow-2024-campaign-its-disrespectful/ar-AA1fR550
Biden’s advisors fume at Gavin Newsom’s plan to debate DeSantis amid fears he is running a ‘shadow 2024 campaign’: ‘It’s disrespectful’
So what do we have here?
What we have bubbling just under the political surface is a surprising antagonism by progressive Democrats – both in California and the White House – towards California’s oh-so ambitious progressive Democrat Governor Newsom.
With Newsom’s own voters making it crystal clear they do not want him to run for president.
As 2024 approaches, doubtless this lack of support for Newsom by his own Democrats is but one early twist in the political road that stretches out ahead.
Without doubt there will be more.