Gavin Newsom jumps onto the national stage and Bidenworld takes notice

Newsom has stressed that he isn’t challenging President Joe Biden — either on his stewardship of their party or as a candidate in two years. He’s reminded people that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris separately trekked across the country to stump for him in his recall election. But taken together, the moves have been widely interpreted as a relatively young executive using the specter of a future presidential bid to shine a bright spotlight on himself. And they’ve been enough to elicit early brushbacks from allies of Biden and Harris.

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“Everybody is trying to be relevant for the next race. He came through the recall election and he’s doing a pretty good job as governor. However, I think ambition makes people do different things,” said Cedric Richmond, a former senior Biden White House official who recently transitioned to a top role in the Democratic National Committee.

Richmond bristled at suggestions — advanced by Newsom and others — that Democrats aren’t taking the fight to Republicans on abortion and guns, and praised Biden for uniting the West against Ukraine, delivering baby formula and continuing to lead the response to Covid. Assessing the West Wing’s reaction to Newsom, Richmond added, “I am not sure they are reading the Gavin Newsom opinion pages about his desire to be politically relevant.”…

Facing no serious threat in his fall reelection, Newsom is now planning to do what he demanded of fellow Democrats: directly engage with Republicans in those culture wars. His most attention-grabbing idea so far is one he pitched staff on his own. He joined Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform, where he’s since gone after the GOP on red state murder rates. The governor’s team also has discussed going on Fox News, with one adviser arguing that for Newsom, “it’s about the feeling we’re getting our asses kicked; that the Trumpers are owning the libs and we have to get into the fighting mode and make this a choice.”

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Added another person close to Newsom: “He resents that shit [and] wants to push back on that narrative because he has the facts on his side.”

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